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You know you're a pilgrim(or soon to be) when...

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You can't stop thinking about kilos and kilometres and smiling while you do.

Oh, and afterwards you still pick the seats outside cafés so the sun is on your right to even the tan and fight the urge to take your shoes off! :wink:
 
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You are both thrilled and anxious that lift off is in a certain number of days..my number now being 18...
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Camino de Santiago Forum mobile app
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

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...you have a feeling that wearing wool sox and sandals will be your new style when you get home :)
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
you walk to the local shops thinking "I just want to keep on walking until I reach Santiago", and you actually live some 1500 miles away...

This waiting is killing me, :(
 
- when you get a lump in your throat and become all teary-eyed on suddenly spotting some other backpackers getting onto the Madrid-Pamplona train – and you then suddenly - for the first time actually - realize that this is for real, and no longer just a phantasy...

annelise

PS: just became teary-eyed again on posting this ...
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
When you go to your local store, buy a few slices of Jamon, a bread roll and eat it as you go for your walk.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

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you start weighing your underwear...

then wonder...do I need any at all?? :shock:
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Re: Re: You know you're a pilgrim(or soon to be) when...

Choweth said:
You'd rather watch sales at REI (or other outdoor stores) than anywhere else.


{Candace, Texas, USA)
http://www.pilgrimontherun.com
-a blog about life, a bucket list, and a future pilgrimage-

That's so me!
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
mmm042 said:
When you get home, see a yellow arrow painted on the ground, and without thinking start following it and looking for the next one. (Yes, I've done this.)
.....and then you take photos of them...........(and Yes, we have done this)
 
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You have to leave the Way because of injury. It is devastating, heartbreaking and the only thing that helps you through this is not only the thought of your Pilgrim friends striding towards their goal, but that you will return some day to continue what you had held so dear for so long.

Karin..... On the way home...
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Tia Valeria said:
mmm042 said:
When you get home, see a yellow arrow painted on the ground, and without thinking start following it and looking for the next one. (Yes, I've done this.)
.....and then you take photos of them...........(and Yes, we have done this)


Oh my gosh!! I did this just last week! I was on a walk in Forest Park in Portland and saw a yellow arrow on the pavement and stopped and took a photo of it!! Ultreia!
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I got mine today, too! Starting to get excited....only 84 more days!
 
...on your first travel afterwards, you open the door to a pretty standard hotel room and think "This isn't right! There's room for at least 5 more people in here."
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
carriedavey said:
45 years since receiving the sacraments you pour out your heart to a kindly priest and beg forgiveness for your many sins.

yes ;o)
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
There are many! But here are a few, with love... and appreciation for you asking the question!

You know you're a pilgrim when...

Most everywhere you go, you carry lengths of toilet paper with you... and you often grab "just a few sheets more, in case" when you're out and about different places! (maybe this is more of a woman thing ;))

After you return from the Camino, your first instinct is to say "Buen Camino!" to everyone you meet, and you're surprised when you get strange looks in return. (After you get to the point where you stop yourself from saying it in time, you just feel a little disappointed.)

If you see a yellow arrow painted anywhere, you immediately want to follow it and see where it goes. (And you have the urge to paint yellow arrows in your hometown too!)

You go clothes shopping, and look at everything from the perspective of "Yes, but could I wear it on the Camino??" and decide not to get things that won't work as everyday clothes *and* on the trail.

You look around at your belongings back home and think, "I really have too much stuff!!!"

You see news stories about fighting and misunderstandings around the world (as with what's happening in Turkey right now, for example), and you think of your Camino friends from those places, and how well you got along with people from all sorts of different backgrounds, religions, political beliefs... the loving Camino community... and your heart feels a twinge of "Why can't they get along and love each other like on the Camino?"

You think about distance in terms of how many hours or days it would take you to walk there.

You dream about your favourite food treats you enjoyed when on the Camino, rejoicing when you happen to find one in a local shop, and looking forward to having the others again when you return to Spain. Lemon yogurt... KAS Naranja... Cola Cao... Mmmmm!!!

You appreciate your feet, and the rest of your dear body, in a way you never did before.

You love to check out the Camino webcams and see who's walking past O Cebreiro, or exploring the town square in Portomarin, or arriving at the Cathedral... http://www.crtvg.es/crtvg/camaras-web/c ... b-ervlwqSo

You know you are stronger than you thought you were, you can go farther than you thought you could, and you can handle more than you thought you were able to.

In any, every, moment, you can imagine yourself back to being on the Camino trail, and you feel uplifted, supported, encouraged, and blessed all over again, to have had such an amazing, blessed and life-changing experience... one that will carry and be with you forever.

Oh, and yes, JennyH94... Camino blue and yellow, best colour combination ever. <3

And Karin... I struggled with injury on my first Camino, and I'm sorry you had to leave yours! But I was able to walk again, healthy and recovered, and I hope you may be too, if you wish.

Caminoheart xoxo
 
When you book your ticket, and start to count the days.

Trevor (departing OZ on the 17th Sept. :shock:
 
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Re: Re: You know you're a pilgrim(or soon to be) when...

trevorcc said:
When you book your ticket, and start to count the days.

Trevor (departing OZ on the 17th Sept. :shock:

I put a countdown widget on my phone at 100 days... 80 to go!
 
you don't need shampoo - soap will do ... you don't need toothpaste - salt from the refugio kitchen works fine, you lose your guidebook and it doesn't matter, you leave your reading glasses in a cafe in Astorga and only realize this when you are halfway to Rabanal. This doesn't matter anymore either. You stop hurrying for fear there won't be any beds left in the next refugio. There are no beds left so you just keep walking to the next one. You learn what it means to be self-resilient. You learn humility too.
 
Caminoheart's 'The Way Of Love' youtube clip is your absolute favourite Camino clip. This clip found it's way to me mid last year after my first Camino - injured and sad - the beautiful photos and video clips, and the soundtrack 'Day By Day' by Doug and the Slugs (best name for a band!) became my mantra for healing. I play the clip most days and it's been sent to more people than Caminoheart will ever know. To see her post on this thread has been amazing, and to have an opportunity to thank her, is a huge privilege for me. JennyH94
 
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You've walked to Santiago and you didn't plan to go onto the coast but really want to but can't because of travel timeline.
You've walked to Santiago and you want to walk it again.

When you're walking and know that you're part of a continum of humanity that has been walking for centuries.

When you're walking along the paved Roman road and your feet are sanding away the stones like the thousands of others who have tread that way too.

When a year after you've walked you're missing the fact that you're not going to be walking in Spain this year.

When you're walking and passing peregrinos call out "buen camino!" and you shout it back!
When you're on the way and daily you meet people from all over the world and have great conversations with them!
When you think "how many people walked into Santiago today?"
You know your're a pilgrim when you eat pimientos de padron most days!
When you happen to be in Santiago and there's a pilgrim's mass with the Bishop, you're not Catholic, but tears well up because this is something that you have wanted to do for most ofyour adult life.....

When you just want to return.
 
JennyH94 said:
Caminoheart's 'The Way Of Love' youtube clip is your absolute favourite Camino clip. This clip found it's way to me mid last year after my first Camino - injured and sad - the beautiful photos and video clips, and the soundtrack 'Day By Day' by Doug and the Slugs (best name for a band!) became my mantra for healing. I play the clip most days and it's been sent to more people than Caminoheart will ever know. To see her post on this thread has been amazing, and to have an opportunity to thank her, is a huge privilege for me. JennyH94

JennyH, thank you so much!! Your message was a wonderful gift for me to wake up to this morning here in Canada! I am touched and moved that you've been enjoying my "Way of Love" Camino video, and that it's been with you as part of your journey. I'm also pleased that you love the song "Day By Day" too. Doug Bennett, lead singer for Doug and the Slugs (I know... such a great name for a band!), was a creative poetic soul, and that song has spoken to my heart since I first heard it.

I was recently able to thank a pilgrim who had an important impact on me when I was researching and getting ready to walk my first Camino in 2010. She thanked me for my words, and in turn she mentioned a couple of former pilgrims that had helped her on her way, when she was getting ready to set out. This makes me think of another couple of "finish the sentence" statements near and dear to me...

You know you're a pilgrim when...

You feel super excited for pilgrims on their way to the Camino, especially if it's their first time, but even if they've walked before (and sometimes you feel a little envious and wish you were going too ;)).

You look forward to finding ways to give back and help others on their Camino journey, because you remember how thankful you were to find support and guidance when you needed it, and it's joyful to be able to inspire and encourage people, and pay forward some of the gifts you've received.

That's how it is for this pilgrim, anyway.

Buen Camino!

Caminoheart/Rachel
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
When you've been traveling by train from Amsterdam for 14 hours and you haven't seen anyone resembling a pilgrim for the entire way and your next-to-the-last connection is late getting into Bayonne. You have only 60 seconds to get across the station to the tiny single-car train to St. Jean Pied-de-Port...the final one for the evening! You run as fast as you can, bursting into the train to discover the luggage racks full of backpacks, and everyone wearing hiking boots. And there are still two seats left.

Chris & Laura
 
You are walking backwards 5 kms because you want to see Eunate. You know it isn't too likely that even the private alburgue will let you stay, heading the wrong direction.

And you know it doesn't matter. You know, that you can sleep in a field if you need to. Not because you have done that, but because now you trust more than you fear.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
....you're looking and walking on ANY sandy or grassy patch along a paved road or sidewalk to walk on, no matter how short the distance...because any cushioning is better than none!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
...you cut off labels and washing instructions from your gear and clothes in order to save a few extra grams.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Kevin - last time I started out with 12 kg... I am not doing that mistake again. Super-duper-light is the motto this time :)
 
Camillis I stopped after weighing my disposable earplugs - lightweight I know ;-)
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Kevin :D - aint there yet.

It is funny how walking day in and out can be so fabulous. Counting the days until I can go - approx 70 now... Walking with the pack, testing different sock combinations, editing my excel spread sheet packing list. Totally weird - definitely a sign of preparing a Camino. Wish I could go now, but really enjoy preparing for it.
 
...you're currently traveling through Europe on holiday and buy a raincoat in Denmark and lightweight, waterproof, comfortable boots in Amsterdam for you're Camino in October of 2014 :)
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
you return home from your Camino, smile and say a bright 'Good Morning' to a stranger you pass in the street, and get a blank stare in return ... and your heart contracts
 
Seeing a small child wearing trousers with a shell design - gave me huge nostalgia! And worse. In my hometown of Condom, when I visit for shopping, seeing pilgrims is so moving, almost unbearable.....knowing I have 10 months before I start again having stopped because of muscle strain after 580 kms.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Yogini13- ditto on the reading any thing I can find on the Camino. Books, blogs, forums, maps.

Ditto also on buying things as I travel or browse the forum or blogs. So far I've bought an Altus Raincoat, plug converters, a Macabi skirt, and sandals. I've put some of my lightweight quick dry undies aside so they don't get worn out before the Camino. :p

I've test washed and dried my wool socks and Macabi skirt. Both passed by the way :D

Also
You know your a pilgrim or going to be when you:

Look at the weight of something before checking out any of the other features.

Want to warn everyone about the evils of cotton.

I don't leave until September 2014 :roll:
 
...you keep counting down the days until it's time to start walking - exactly two months tomorrow!! :D
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Like this? ;)
 

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Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Re: You know you're a pilgrim when...

You receive PM's from Rebekah Scott, Johnnie Walker and Ivar Revke, all begging for your advice .
 
Thanks for screenshot clearskies
It's also just the thing to remind someone special that you are counting the days until you see them again. Just loaded the app onto my iphone, set it and sent the shot. Guess I just gained a brownie point!
 
charlesx said:
you return home from your Camino, smile and say a bright 'Good Morning' to a stranger you pass in the street, and get a blank stare in return ... and your heart contracts

Yep. I needed weeks before I could refrain myself from saying 'hi' to everyone. Got a lot of weird looks.

You know you're a pilgrim when you just can't think of anything else to spend your off-time and holidays on other than prepping for or walking the camino.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
Just dug out my carry on bag instead of my backpack for a short trip to visit a friend. It just feels so wrong to leave my Backpack sitting there. I feel very guilty for some reason and am almost tempted to be stupid.
 
you finally accept that you WERE on a pilgrimage and not the "walking holiday in Spain" you vaguely referred to before you went because you couldn't be bothered to keep explaining the fact that you didn't actually know why you had been thinking about it for nearly 20 years.
You accept that you don't need to know "why?"and that you plan to complete the bits of the Pilgrimage you missed in the future.
 
I was surprised at how many people could not fathom why I would do a pilgrimage. For me, it was in thanksgiving... for many things that have gone right. And I travelled by car to Fatima, carrying others intentions as well as my own, to offer up at the site. If you want to check out my blog that starts with my preparations over a year ago, feel free....

http://www.michelesway.weebly.com



Sent from my GT-P3113 using Camino de Santiago Forum mobile app
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
...you start planning your next hiking trip right after returning. AnnaPurna Circuit, here I come!
 
You're at Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station in Singapore on the most crowded Saturday morning possible, when EVERYONE is trying to get on the same train as you, and you are attempting to 'remove' yourself from the congestion by day-dreaming about the Camino, and yep, you guessed it, you turn around and the person behind you is wearing a striped polo shirt in Camino colours - blue and yellow! Gotta love this! Cheers - JennyH94.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
...on your first travel afterwards, you open the door to a pretty standard hotel room and think "This isn't right! There's room for at least 5 more people in here."
How true!!! Also caught myself heading to the bathroom sink to hand wash my underwear then realized I packed a lot of undies & don't have to hand wash at all.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
When you smile at every stranger.
Then you remember the pilgrim prayer when you get angry with someone.
And you've walked to Santiago and you want to walk it again.
You check the Camino Forum every day.
And you become addicted to books of other 'Camino pilgrims'.
Is that "When you know your a Pilgrim' ?
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
You believe he is insane
because the music he dances to
cannot be grasped by your ears.

Rumi

This is the actual quote someone was so kind as to send me...and its sooo true for the Camino
 
...you haven't even walked the Camino once and you participate along with this thread as if you know from experience what you're talking about.

...you take walks around the neighborhood looking everywhere for a stone of the perfect size and shape to bring to Cruce de Ferro. Once you've selected one from the several that you've picked up over the last few weeks, you head to the crafts store to buy acrylic paint so that you can incribe personal notes onto the stone you'll leave behind.
 
When you smile at all those you pass as you are out walking, and they do not know why.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
When you nod and smile at everybody carrying a backpack, and though some of them look at you as if you are strange, there's always some who smile back as if they know.
 
I was surprised at how many people could not fathom why I would do a pilgrimage.

YES! My husband and I are walking the Camino next summer in celebration of my 40th birthday. Fortunately, most people I know either think it is a great idea and seem to understand the motivation, or at least they take the "Yeah, well Jennifer is weird" approach - accept that I have different interests than they do and leave it at that. HOWEVER, there are quite a few people in my life who are totally perplexed by this desire to walk the Camino and want to know why. Why can't I celebrate by going to a resort in the Caribbean like a "normal" person? Why do I want to walk half way across Spain? Why do I want to spend my vacation walking my legs off and sleeping in rooms with bunches of strangers. And I try to explain, but they just don't get it - maybe they don't want to get it.
 
YES! My husband and I are walking the Camino next summer in celebration of my 40th birthday. Fortunately, most people I know either think it is a great idea and seem to understand the motivation, or at least they take the "Yeah, well Jennifer is weird" approach - accept that I have different interests than they do and leave it at that. HOWEVER, there are quite a few people in my life who are totally perplexed by this desire to walk the Camino and want to know why. Why can't I celebrate by going to a resort in the Caribbean like a "normal" person? Why do I want to walk half way across Spain? Why do I want to spend my vacation walking my legs off and sleeping in rooms with bunches of strangers. And I try to explain, but they just don't get it - maybe they don't want to get it.

They don´t get it because they have´t been" blessed".;)

Buen Camino!
 
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november_moon-- St James' Way is said to call certain people and not others. I didn't even realize it at first, but it's been slowly drawing me in after a friend walked 1600 km from the middle of France. I ignored it at first but, sooner or later, the confluence of life experiences struck so deep that I felt compelled to book the trip.

Maybe it's because some people's lives don't present questions in a way that forces introspection in a Camino-like way; maybe it's because self-satisfaction and comfortable pleasure prevent them from seeing the attraction to the charism of the Camino. For some reason, lack of creature comforts and living simply with a singleness of mind and heart scare the #$*! out of some people. Who knows the exact reasons but why would we even want them on the road with us if they can't possibly fathom someone else's journey. I'd rather walk with others and not have to explain why: the only subjects on the Camino should be happiness, health, and prosperity.

...sorry for digressing from this thread topic:)

Que tengan un gran Camino! Viva Santiago!
 
......when I was out on a training walk and met a couple who asked for directions. We got talking and I discovered they had walked to Santiago from O Cebreiro. As we parted company they wished me my first 'buen camino'. It took me a few minutes to realise the significance of this, but it brought a smile to my face for days.
 
......when I was out on a training walk and met a couple who asked for directions. We got talking and I discovered they had walked to Santiago from O Cebreiro. As we parted company they wished me my first 'buen camino'. It took me a few minutes to realise the significance of this, but it brought a smile to my face for days.

Yes Magwood that was it! After buying a bit of kit in the Trekkers shop in SJPdP I was given my first "Buen Camino" - it put a massive, involuntary smile on my face
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
When you celebrate that the Camino is due within 10 days with a walk up the local mountain (1420 meters) and down again and feel sooooooo ready to leave (ok, I am sore in my legs today, but so very happy). Only 9 days to go!!!!!!!!!! :-D
 

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