Travel - Exploring the Past Through the Present

Don't confuse having a career with having a life.

- Hillary Clinton

Over the course of the last few years, graduating two years before Covid and having my Community College AA Degree inturrupted because of it, travel has been a very important part of my well being. Having the freedom to explore the world and see what the world has to offer has been an amazing expirence. I hope to here explain in more detail what that has included as I move through my 20s.

In 2025, I traveled solo to Spain to complete the Camino de Santiago along the Camino Frances. This included a 500+ mile trip by foot from the East side of Spain to the West. Not a single inch was to be covered by car, bike, scooter, or any other form of transportation to be as authentic as possible, and I stuck to that. This would include going up and over the Pyrennes Mountains, over flat, dry, and sun scorched mesas, and through thick and dark forrests.

It was a major physical undertaking that I trained for an entire year to do. While not in the best of shape, I was determined to not take any shortcuts and cover the distance on foot. Starting out from St Jean Pied de Port in mid June, I made my way through the tall and steep mountains within the first 24 hours. Through the first third of the camino was plains and forrest the middle section was going to be a longer and harder endevour.

The Long Quiet

There is a saying about the Camino that it is in three pieces. The first part challenges you Physically. The second challenges you Mentally. The third part brings you pure joy and strengthens you Spiritually. This is absolutely true. The first third of the Camino Frances crosses an entire mountain range, through many hills going up and down, and long stretches of time without shade or water relief. If not prepared, this can lead to heat stroke or sunburns, severe leg and foot pain, and a possible early end to your camino.

The second part is through the Mesa, a long flat part of the country that does not change much in scenery besides having cornfields, grass plains, and little to no tree cover. This part is all about mental toughness as there is not much to do when walking besides be alone with your thoughts, not even alot of sound either in those early morning hikes so it is truly you alone and quiet with whatever you need to come to terms with inside of you. Many choose to skip this part as they cannot handle long days of introspection. I, on the other hand, am from Iowa in the USA, so long stretches of flat land and field after fields of farm land are not new to me.

I also am comfortable doing self intropection and talking through what is bothering me. These weeks were very eye opening to me and helped further cement this expirence in my life. I highly recommend not only traveling, but taking these times to check in yourself when not on vacation.

The third part as you exit the mesa bookended by Burgos and Leon was more forrests, lush vineyards, and mountains. Changes of scenery was welcomed as well as the feeling of nearing completion. The spirituality of the people and places continued to nail home the importance of what you are doing and why you are there. To walk the path millions before you have taken and to have the ability to do it all in one go was not lost on me.Soaking up the time in small and large churches alike while also sampling the lovely food at each stop made a huge weight come off my shoulders. Laying down everything at the base of la Cruz de Ferro then drinking from the stream across from it wil be an expirence that I will not forget ever.

Not only did this expirence invigorate me and renew me spiritually, it also made me think of what the next adventure would be. I learned on the Camino that there is a "sister" camino in Japan called the Kumano Kodo. While considerably shorter then the Camino de Santiago (only 2 days versus about 32 days) they are the only two protected pilgrimages in the world. They are reknowned as spiritual and important paths for the world and their culture. The other walk that I would like to do would be the Shikoku 88 temples which encircles the fourth largest island of Japan. This is about the same length of the Camino so I look forward to the time of self discovery and learning about myself.

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