Camino Francés - Arrival in Pamplona

It is very early in the morning, a few stars and the moon still shimmer silver, while on the other side the sun is already painting the sky pink. The streets are still empty, I enjoy the peaceful silence. We arrive at the airport around six o'clock, in a few hours my journey will start in Pamplona and I will walk about 700km through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela over the next few weeks. At least that's my plan!

I am curious how the most well-known and most traveled route of the Camino de Santiago will go for me, if I can endure it, what it will do to me.

A last hug from my parents and the journey and a few weeks of "offline" can begin.

It's incredible that I'm actually here now. In hiking boots that I bought years ago - always with the thought in the back of my mind of walking this path with them - and with a backpack on my back, lots of little lucky charms gifts from friends and family in the form of necklaces and pendants on the backpack and a mini compass on my wrist so I don't get lost.

I don't remember how many years I have wanted to walk this path. And now I have finally made it possible for myself. It may sound cheesy, but the feeling is indescribable. And somehow indefinable, incomparable. I also have to admit that I am a little proud of myself, because I feel like I am no longer wasting my life meaninglessly, bored and unhappy in the office, just living day by day without anything really happening, but using my time, allowing myself to enjoy my own life and to do the things I have dreamed of for so long.

I am already inspired and thrilled by the idea of ​​doing such a tour again, but also to do without the plane.

From now on, I want to get by with as little as possible for the next few weeks. Give up everything that is not absolutely necessary to walk this path, simply live day by day, not plan anything beyond the next meal and the place to sleep the next night. To be completely devoted to nature, the ever-changing landscapes, places, new people, challenges, and simply my thoughts. I consciously did not bring any music, audiobooks (or even paper ones!) or other things for "pastime". Because that's not what it's about for me. In everyday life, we are constantly distracted and influenced by external things. We often have no opportunity to perceive what is happening around us, to let our thoughts run free and let them enter our consciousness.

I don't want to distract myself with anything or "pass the time on the way" (that sounds totally absurd to me, I can't imagine that I have to bridge boredom here) but to consciously perceive, absorb and deal with what will encounter me here. Whether it's people, animals, new places or thoughts and memories, suppressed dreams or wishes that are now allowed to come to light.

It is probably self-evident that from now on the mobile phone will only be turned on for emergencies. Or for absolutely worth-capturing photo motifs for posterity :-)