Welcome Back to Breakfast with Lisa & Josh!

Soundtrack for this newsletter: Led Zeppelin - Ramble On

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Yep, you read that right.

We’re doing the Camino again. This time, the Portuguese route.

Different country, same-ish quest. Walk a lot. Think a lot.

Changing our lives, one step at a time.

We’re 5 days in, and honestly, this Camino feels entirely different from our first.

When we finished our last Camino, we both looked at each other and said the same thing - “never again”.

How naive we were. We didn’t even realize what effect walking that sacred pilgrimage had on us until much, much later - in fact, it’s still sinking in right now. That’s part of the wonder of it, it’s 1/3 therapy, 1/3 exercise, 1/3 straight up magic.

Looking back at it, it was one the best things we’d ever done.

So when we were planning our next adventure to go on, I decided to make a powerpoint presentation with all the options (as I always do, plz don’t judge), and I just kinda threw doing the Camino a second time in there as a bit of a joke.

We both looked at all the options, and I could tell we were both having the same warm-and-fuzzies about doing the Camino. Nostalgic memories flooded in our brains simultaneously - beautiful and friendly cafes with delicious food and limitless wine, spectacular vistas, tiny remote villages filled with smiling faces, meeting friends along the same way, that feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long days hike. It just felt right.

We definitely had entirely forgotten about the literal endless miles of walking in the sun that made the first one so hard.

What really made the choice for us was the effect that the Camino has had on our lives. Since finishing it, our outlook on life has changed in such a complete fashion that it’s hard to quantify - but I’ll try.

• More of a focus on the journey, less of a focus on the destination

• Ability to appreciate more of the details, more of the small stuff that we would otherwise overlook

• Understanding that the best part of the story happens through and on the OTHER side of the hard part

• Newfound willingness to sit, in silence, with our own minds, instead of constantly seeking distraction

• Always finding OUR way to do anything, instead of going for the default path

These are my first thoughts on our changes since then.

How did that happen?

Honestly, I don’t know. Like I said, 1/3 of the Camino is magic.

The Portuguese Camino is similar, in that it is a really, really long walk through beautiful towns filled with really friendly people.

Other than that, the feeling of it is entirely different. The vibe at this time of year is basically quiet and pretty empty - we’ve only seen 1 other person on the trail over the 80-or-so miles we’ve walked. There are beautiful coasts, massive tourist towns, and miles and miles of nothingness along the way.

I also think our approach to this thing has changed dramatically.

We were in a pretty narrow-minded space at the beginning of the last Camino. I think, this time, we’re more able to settle in and really enjoy the experience for what it is.

And we’re having an absolute blast.

We’ll have videos all about it coming out in the next week.

We can’t wait to show you this experience. It feels like a lot more fun, more lighthearted (even when we have food poisoning, like we did yesterday) take on the Camino. I’d go so far as to say that we’re starting to think that this is the way the Camino was supposed to feel all along.

For now though, we’re beat after another 15 mile walk, so I’ll keep this one short :)

That’s all for this week - see you next Sunday!

Today

Viana do Castelo, Portugal! Just ate a gigantic pizza after a 15 mile walk.

The (Near) Future

Almost to Spain!

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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/lisaandjosh02221

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