I'm amazed at how determined I have to be even to prepare. The number of people who have suggested to me that I am wasting my time! Why would they bother with that? There are a fair sized gaggle who have told me that it is too dangerous for a single woman to travel alone. Amazing. Then there are those who are concerned that I shouldn't go if I don't speak the language/s - once again it is too dangerous. It's an interesting world isn't it? Although the language used changes the ideas expressed aren't much different to ones that Jane Austen's heroines would have heard. Do men get these messages?
It's really not having the desired effect - I'm thinking of a trip to Africa next or cycling through Vietnam. Of course there is also the underlying message that I am too old - although before I was too young. And the question, what is wrong with Australia? (We have some nice walks here.)
And finally there is the message that I am being irresponsible. With this I agree. I am being irresponsible - that is the point. I need to step from under my responsibilities and take a break. I'm stale and I need a fresh view point and some new input. It's not like I'm not coming back - everything will still be there when I return. To believe it is not is to let fear and anxiety take over my life - which would be evidence that I need a holiday!
62 days to go! My daughter helped me buy to the tickets, so irritated I might be but I certainly do have supporters. Thank you guys. I guess I had better go walk off my irritation and practice for the next 62 days.
Saturday 25 June 2011
Friday 10 June 2011
Saving or spending?
http://www.news.com.au/money/were-boozing-less-and-saving-more/story-e6frfmci-1226072706782?from=igoogle+gadget+compact+news_rss
According to this news item Aussies are saving more and changing their spending habits quite a lot. I wonder how true this is for us? I certainly decided that I would save for this trip rather than put it on the card. This may be the first really big ticket item I have saved and paid for, rather than paid off, since I was a teen.
I think the fact that I am going by myself and leaving my husband of 30 years at home may have something to do with it. Odd isn't it that after such a long time you still have to negotiate money matters carefully to some extent. When I was a teenager I thought that by 25 I would have the world and relationships all sorted out. I wouldn't be putting so much time and angst into worrying about people and things. Huh - that didn't work out.
It so didn't work out that I am planning on walking 800 km to either work it out peacefully or just get away from thinking about it altogether! I'll just have to wait and see which it turns out to be - or if something else again happens.
Buen Camino.
According to this news item Aussies are saving more and changing their spending habits quite a lot. I wonder how true this is for us? I certainly decided that I would save for this trip rather than put it on the card. This may be the first really big ticket item I have saved and paid for, rather than paid off, since I was a teen.
I think the fact that I am going by myself and leaving my husband of 30 years at home may have something to do with it. Odd isn't it that after such a long time you still have to negotiate money matters carefully to some extent. When I was a teenager I thought that by 25 I would have the world and relationships all sorted out. I wouldn't be putting so much time and angst into worrying about people and things. Huh - that didn't work out.
It so didn't work out that I am planning on walking 800 km to either work it out peacefully or just get away from thinking about it altogether! I'll just have to wait and see which it turns out to be - or if something else again happens.
Buen Camino.
Thursday 9 June 2011
A beginning
How nerve wracking - a beginning.
I'm learning to travel the information superhighway in a new way in preparation for my walking trip. I'm heading off on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela but, unlike the pilgrims that have been walking The Way for over a thousand years, my preparation includes the technology to stay connected! Nothing like getting involved in the extremely complex in preparation for the extremely simple. You would think that deciding to walk from Point A (St Jean Pied de Port, France) to Point B (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) would be simple - after all I've been walking all my life. Instead I have been preparing for almost a year in order to leave Australia at the end of August, 2011.
So when is the beginning? How do we recognise them? And when is this beginning the middle of something else? I've been asked a few times when did I hear about the Camino but I honestly can't remember. I do remember that last year, after my 50th birthday, I decided it was time and that was what I wanted to do.
I am fascinated by the combination of the physical, the historical and the spiritual that I am expecting to find. I'm not expecting to be rewarded with a free trip to heaven or a free pass through purgatory, but I am expecting to be rewarded. It's odd to not know exactly what I expect that reward to be but to head for the goal anyway.
Buen Camino! Ultreya!
I'm learning to travel the information superhighway in a new way in preparation for my walking trip. I'm heading off on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela but, unlike the pilgrims that have been walking The Way for over a thousand years, my preparation includes the technology to stay connected! Nothing like getting involved in the extremely complex in preparation for the extremely simple. You would think that deciding to walk from Point A (St Jean Pied de Port, France) to Point B (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) would be simple - after all I've been walking all my life. Instead I have been preparing for almost a year in order to leave Australia at the end of August, 2011.
So when is the beginning? How do we recognise them? And when is this beginning the middle of something else? I've been asked a few times when did I hear about the Camino but I honestly can't remember. I do remember that last year, after my 50th birthday, I decided it was time and that was what I wanted to do.
I am fascinated by the combination of the physical, the historical and the spiritual that I am expecting to find. I'm not expecting to be rewarded with a free trip to heaven or a free pass through purgatory, but I am expecting to be rewarded. It's odd to not know exactly what I expect that reward to be but to head for the goal anyway.
Buen Camino! Ultreya!
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