Breakfast with Lisa & Josh #18

Welcome back to Breakfast with Lisa & Josh!

We did it. We actually finished the Camino de Santiago. Not the traditional way, not the hard way, definitely not the easy way, but, as Frank Sinatra famously said “And more, much more than this, I did it my way”. Truthfully, I think that’s what the Camino is all about. Finding your own way. I’m really proud that we did exactly that.

We’re going to be making a whole probably-too-long documentary about the entire experience, but I just wanted to take a moment to spoil the ending for you all. After walking 200+ miles for over two weeks, you get to the finish line to discover that there is no finish line. It’s just, well, really, another start line.

Once you walk into the city of Santiago de Compostela, which feels comparatively gigantic and overly loud when put against the backdrop of weeks of introspective thought and complete silence, you have this overwhelming selfish feeling that people should be clapping for you, and that there should be a parade with a marching band in honor of you and all of the other pilgrims who have completed this incredible and challenging journey. Fireworks, high fives, shots, riotous applause. Instead, you’re met mostly with indifference, with a side helping of being made to feel like you’re a nuisance to the town.

It takes a while to take yourself out of this mindset, because more than likely, you have been on an incredible journey, you’ve overcome significant amounts of difficulty, and you’ve reemerged back into society a changed person. The mistake we made was that we had assumed that this was also an *outward* journey - one that the rest of the world could see, or identify with. When, in fact, the whole point of the thing was that the only thing that really changed could only be seen by you. It was our mindset, our way of seeing the world and the way we fit into it that had changed. I’m not sure anyone would even know how to throw the right party for something like that. It was a lot to expect of a city.

The one thing that all pilgrims shared upon reaching Santiago was the overwhelming feeling of “Well, that didn’t end how I expected it to - what do I do now?” This is most evidenced by the photo below - it’s this feeling that was just overwhelmingly on everyone’s face when we all arrived in a big group to the cathedral - the finish line, the end of the Camino.

Pilgrims just sitting around outside of the Cathedral, patiently waiting for the fireworks and marching band to come by.

It takes a little while to adapt to the idea that absolutely nobody cares about the journey you’ve just had except you, and the handful of other pilgrims who were changed in the same way. It feels both bad and freeing at the same time - like you have a secret to share, but nobody to share it with. Much like, now that I think about it, the feeling you get after coming home from a long trip overseas. It becomes difficult to convey why you’re different without sounding like a self-centered twat, so you end up just keeping it to yourself.

The hundreds of miles. The dozens of hours spent reflecting on your place in this world as you walk on autopilot through some of the world’s most beautiful scenery, but all you can think about is why you can’t seem to connect with your friends from high school as much anymore, why you’re having trouble keeping your peace of mind for any longer than 3 seconds at a time, and why you still sometimes think about that one super-embarassing thing that happened to you 20 years ago instead of just letting it go. Like, for real John from high school, everybody thought about recreating the Napoleon Dynamite dancing scene to ask their date out. Right? Right?? God why do I still think about this??

So, I’ve come to feel at peace about the idea that the Camino, from the beginning, was meant to be a solo journey that’s taken around other people. You can chat with people along the way, and in fact meeting amazing people is one of the best parts of it, but the Camino itself - that you have to do on your own.

Videos this week

After spoiling the ending, I figured it would only be right to share with you our video of the start. Us worrying about the logistics of an inner journey. Seems pretty foolish now, but at the time it was all we could think about :)

We also had an amazing time visiting the Thermal Baths in Budapest. So, so beautiful, warm, almost healing. This is one of those rights of passage for me - something that I have to do on every trip to Europe, no matter what. It felt like a bit of hope in the world that seems to be almost fully encapsulated with bad news lately.

What’s going on now?

We’re in Porto right now, letting our bodies recover from the Camino by drinking Port. It really puts a beating on every part of your body along the way. The Camino, and the Port.

After Porto we head to Lisbon for a few nights, and then we are off to somewhere new for both of us! The Azores await :) Some have called it the Hawaii of Europe. Maybe after we’re done, we’ll be calling Hawaii the Azores of the Pacific. Who knows?

So, that’s it for this week. More great videos coming soon!

See you next Sunday…ish :)

- josh (and lisa)

Oh, and if you want to learn how we afford to take all these trips after quitting our jobs last year, you’ll likely be interested in our Skillshare course on Travel Hacking and Frequent Flier Miles. It’s been really taking off lately, but we still have a few uses of this link left for those of you who want to see the class for free. It comes with a free month of Skillshare, which is more than enough to watch our class and any of the other great courses on there!

Check it out here: https://skl.sh/3wstHhf

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