I turned 30 last year. An important number, right?
I wanted to do something special to celebrate it and reflect on my life. That’s why I decided to walk the Camino. I started working on this project to visualize my walk right after my trip, but I never got around to publishing it or writing this article. Until today, when I got a charge from WordPress that reminded me I never finished my Camino project (but I will publish it anyway). It also made me realize how long it’s been since my last post.
It has been 9 months since my walk (plus another 8 months since I wrote this draft, so it has been almost one and a half years since my walk now.) Well, better late than never. 🤣
What distracted me?
After my vacation in Spain, I got the notice that our team was made redundant after the reorganization. I don’t know where I am heading after Santiago.
The journey
solo vs companion
I was about to walk the Camino by myself. I told a friend about it one month before my trip, and she said she could join me. We hadn’t seen each other for three years since I moved to the Netherlands, and it was great to catch up along the way.
one backpack = essentials only
I didn’t use the shipping service for my backpack. The idea was to carry all the things that are essential in my life with me and feel the weight. It makes a difference to walk 20 km a day with a backpack versus just walking from home to the train station.
I was surprised by how simple life can be with just 6 kg of belongings. I lived with only the essentials for three weeks. That’s one week walking the Camino and two weeks traveling in Spain afterward.
unexpected
We went to Alicante and Valencia to relax after the 110 km walk. Then we ran into the flood in Valencia. When we went to the train station to go back to Madrid, all the trains were canceled. The car rental companies had run out of cars as well. We had to book another night of accommodation in Valencia.
We didn’t bring our driving licenses because we hadn’t planned to drive on this trip. At the car rental place, we met an American couple who offered to give us a ride the next day.
Luckily, we made it to our flight.
Life is unexpected. I didn’t expect my friend to travel from Dallas to join my walk and celebrate my 30th birthday with me. I didn’t expect the flood in Valencia to be so terrible. I didn’t expect the Airbnb host in Madrid not to charge us for the night we had to stay in Valencia. I’m grateful that it all turned out all right.
Next version
There is always something to improve, but I should learn to live with it, for this project and for the next decade of my life.
Maybe I will keep working on the visuals. Maybe someday I will finish the whole 800 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago.
Qichun Dai 