Our Walk Along the Camino Frances

Home after the Camino Frances We were awake at 5 AM out of habit, but we both sat in the hotel room until 8 AM, uncertain what to do with the extra time. By 9 we had enjoyed a brief breakfast in the lobby, checked out, and boarded the shuttle to the Charles de Gaul airport. Checked in, we were on the 11:30 AM flight from Paris to Montreal before changing aircraft for a short jump from Montreal to Toronto.  Our flights were again long, but safe and uneventful. Without the excitement of the Camino keeping us awake as we crossed the Atlantic this time, we both slept well and arrived in Toronto at 8 PM.  Here we again gathered our luggage and waited for the Airlink bus which took us from Toronto to the small town we currently call home. We arrived home at midnight. Here it did not take long for the silence of our own home in our own neighbourhood to get to us. Ironically, after weeks of being frustrated by the noises of others at night, and the hurried mornings on the Camino...

Fast Transit Navigating Home  Leaving Santiago de Compostela We awoke this morning early and wandered back to the cathedral to spend some time watching excited pilgrims rush into the main square. It was here that the depression began to settle in. Our trek was done and we didn't belong in the flood of new pilgrims who came with their groups to finish their quests. Two days after arriving it is clear the transformation from pilgrim to tourist is complete, and it is time to go home and figure out how to fit the Camino into our lives back in Canada. With all of this in mind, we began our homeward journey. We hired a taxi from our hotel to the small, clean, and modern-looking Santiago airport to catch our Air Iberia flight to Madrid.  At first, this was a stunning experience, as the taxi was travelling at a much faster speed than we had been for the past 4 - 5 weeks.  However, by the time we arrived at the airport, we had already begun to adjust back to...

We awoke early on our final morning in Santiago in order to return to the Cathedral and partake in the early morning mass at 8 am. Today's itinerary had been the subject of debate for almost a week prior to arriving in Santiago. Shortly after leaving Portomarin we had begun discussing the possibility of what to do with our extra day. We had explored the notion of taking a bus to Finisterre and back, but thought that it would be better to have the time to more fully enjoy that route.  We had also considered moving our flights by 2-3 days in order to hike to Finisterre and Muxia, but that option came at the cost of almost $800.00 in fees. Added to all of this was the fact that any of these choices meant that we would have to essentially walk away from our friends after the pilgrim's mass without any time for goodbyes or reflection. As a result, for our "extra day in Santiago" we ultimately decided to spend the time, enjoy the city and museums, and to have a final...