The Way

Week Thirty-Nine

WELCOME! If you are new here, I am Sarah. I took a break from nursing and decided to buy a one way ticket to travel the world solo.

Every week I reflect on where I am at, what I am learning, and music I am listening to among many other fun travel and personal growth topics with some pretty cool pictures.

Thank you for reading and following my journey. Please share, comment, or subscribe if you love travel and the transformation it can bring.

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Where am I?

Portugal.

I am still in Northern Portugal this week, close to Porto. It happens to be right on the line of El Camino de Santiago. El Camino de Santiago or The way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrim trail that has multiple routes and starting points in France, Spain, and Portugal but all finish at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, where St. James is buried. El Camino translates to the way, pathway, or road.

The Portuguese route is becoming one of the more popular routes for pilgrims, a lot start in Porto because it checks off the 100km requirement and is close to an international airport. The other requirements are to get two stamps everyday in the pilgrim passport. I first heard about this from my Spanish teacher before I left Nebraska and then I kept hearing more about it as I traveled along. I heard it on a travel podcasts, met people who have walked it, and watched the movie The Way one night in my hostel. The movie is sad, motivating, and heartfelt all wrapped in one. If you are interested in learning about or walking el Camino de Santiago I would give that a watch in preparation. So all week I have been seeing all the signs, symbols, and pilgrims with seashells on their backpacks walking along the way.

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My Adventures.

I have gone back and forth in my mind whether to try to walk the Camino de Santiago on this year long journey because I am Portugal and I will be in Spain later in the summer. Both perfect starting places for the camino.

What I have realized these past few months is I am tired of fast travel. Traveling is exhilarating but tiring and the planning it takes to coordinate my travels is time consuming, especially moving at a quick pace. I don’t have the right shoes or clothes or bag for the journey right now and those things might be the most import part when walking anywhere from 8-15 miles or more per day. And my Mom and I had planned on walking it together. I am finally easing into enjoying slow travel, people watching, and sleeping in the same bed for a week or more at a time (absolute heaven). I’m not sure I want to interrupt the travel rhythm I have going right now.

So this week I laid on the beach, people watched, slept in the same bed every night, watched the sunset, admired and observed many pilgrims passing by, but for ONE day only I decided to walk along El Camino de Santiago and officially became a pilgrim.

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A Lesson I Learned.

The beauty about the Camino De Santiago is that every journey is unique to every individual pilgrim and why they are walking the way. Some people are walking because of spiritual reasons, religion, overall experience, bucket list item, life crises, to meet new people, healing, nature, adventure, or just for the wine and food. There are young people, old people, and people from all over the world walking. I saw people walking solo, in pairs with cute matching outfits, couples, and big groups of people. Some people walk 10 days and some people walk 30 or more, it all depends on how each individual wants to walk their camino and their starting point. Some people walk part of it and then come back at a later date to finish it.

I don’t know why I want to walk it but I do, ever since I heard about it that first time I have felt called to be a pilgrim. I feel called to show up everyday, walk, and see what unfolds. I walked all along the coastline, I passed through quaint fishing villages, stopped and had lunch on the beach, walked some more, and then walked all the way back to my nice comfy bed. I realized while walking that I made the right decision to walk only one day and not attempt the entire journey at this moment in time. I was tired at the end and thankful I didn’t have to get up again the next day to walk, but it ignited something in me to want to come back and finish. I want to come back with better shoes, more energy for fast travel, and my Mom. There are some things I don’t want to do alone and I discovered pretty fast that this is one of them, I want to share this experience with her someday or at least walk our very first Camino together. I have a feeling I’ll want to return to walk all the different routes throughout my lifetime.

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In My Feels.

I feel a little homesick after my sister and friend traveled back home. Homesickness alway triggers confusion for me but that is nothing new. I have felt confused ever since 2020. I thought traveling would help with that confusion but to be honest I think I am more confused now than when I began traveling. But I am feeling more comfortable about living in confusion, transition, and uncertainty. I wake up everyday and try to walk straight into the confusion instead of running away or distracting myself. I am leaning hard into it with a few tears (okay maybe a lot sometimes). I’m scared but I’m excited with every feeling in between. There are a million places I have the privilege to visit but somedays I really want to come home. Long term solo travel does not fix any problems or cure any anxiety- at least it’s not a cure for me and I don’t think it’s suppose to be. It’s suppose to challenge me and make me a better person and that is exactly what it’s doing even if it feels like the mental battle walks 10 miles per day.

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What I Miss Most From Home.

My Mom. I always miss her but it’s Mother’s day this week for the States so I am missing her extra and the family gatherings that are happening this weekend. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s reading this, you deserve much more than one special day a year but I hope this day was extra special and filled with love and tenderness (if the day is tough for you) because no matter how old we get, we will always miss our Mom.

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Kindness I Received From Strangers.

I was invited over for a traditional Portuguese lunch by my Airbnb host. It was a lovely meal prepared with the freshest ingredients including fish, rice, sautéed fresh spinach from the garden, potatoes, wine, and even barnacles. Yes I know what you are thinking…. barnacles???? Yes, barnacles. I tried them and I like them, I think they are good. I can now add that to the list of adventurous foods I have tried.

Being invited to a family style dinner complete with a grandma cooking was exactly what I needed. Even if I can’t speak the language I felt welcome, taken care of, and part of the family.

Music I am Playing on Repeat.

I blame Tik Tok for this one. This song has been on my repeat playlist for awhile now. I sing along loudly and dance around whenever it comes on. It’s all about facing that confusion in the unknown or unwritten in life. I watched a video the other day about a woman describing how a lot of people live life like trying not to lose, instead of living life to win. I felt that deep inside. For a lot of my life I have been playing not to lose instead of to win, taking the safe planned route instead of the scenic one and stoping for breaks and to smell the flowers along the way. So this all feels very foreign to me just like all the countries I visit, so when confusion comes up for me I try remember I am just beginning, staring at the blank page, and now I am playing to win.

the rest is still unwritten

xoxo,

Sarah