Our first day on this epic journey is a travel day. The beauty of the Camino de Santiago is that you can travel to (or start walking to) Santiago from anywhere in Europe. But we wanted to walk the most popular route as it has the best supported infrastructure for pilgrims.

 

While we were excited about putting in the mileage and walk for long hours, we had little desire to rough it. Most routes converge in St Jean Pied-du-Port, the official staring point of the French Camino. And so, we took the train across France from Paris to Bayonne in the Aquitaine region southwest of France. Many of my friends view train travel as very romantic. Sadly, for me long rides feel more like a very slow and excruciating wilting of my body and spirit. On this first day of the many on long road ahead, I felt that sitting on the train for 4 hours would be my hardest day on the Camino.

 

Early in the morning, we learned that our train from Bayonne to St. Jean was cancelled. So, we were nervous approaching the station not knowing what to expect. Fortunately, this wasn’t our first rodeo. We’d learned on previous trips to plan for every eventuality yet to be prepared for the unexpected. Being a compulsive planner, adaptability wasn’t something I was born with, nor something I was naturally good at. I am certainly not the “playing things by ear” kind of woman. I believe in thorough preparation. Yes, I am that person having the detailed spreadsheet for everything. Planning trips is basically my therapy. But as my grandmother used to say in Yiddish:” Mann Tracht Un Gott Lacht,” which means: “Man Plans and God laughs.” Necessity is the mother of resourcefulness and creativity.

 

Life and travel have taught us to place a premium on adaptability and to hone and cultivate a set of essential skills to successfully problem-solve and manage life on the road when things go wrong. So, we were ready to embrace the experience and accept what the universe had in store for us. Fortunately, nothing more taxing than looking for us bus along with about 60+ of our Camino fellow walkers. I just love hearing many different languages around me. It was exciting to check in to our first hotel on the route, and I got emotional checking in at the pilgrim’s office and getting my first passport stamp. Buen Camino!