Pre-Trip

My Camino journey is about to begin as I’m getting ready to board a plane to Paris from Pearson Airport. After a two-year Covid-induced postponement I’m about to embark on an 800 km trek beginning in France (for one day) then walk from one end of Spain to the other.
Since April 19, I’ve been at home in Nova Scotia with my parents, comfortably scheduled to leave Cape Breton today, but my plans were abruptly cut short on Thursday, 11:30 pm, when Air France sent an email informing me that their May 1 flight from Paris to Biarritz (southern France) had been cancelled, and my flight to Paris had been pushed up one day earlier to accommodate the new flight to Biarritz.
This may have been a minor adjustment for someone living in Toronto, but I immediately scrambled - with Cathy’s help from Yellowknife- to cancel my Saturday bus trip to Halifax, and my Sunday flight to Toronto, before rescheduling to accommodate the one-day earlier flight to Paris. Air France did offer a curt apology with an option for a refund if I chose to cancel.
My main concern is that the trip has already been laid out with hostels/hotels already reserved, requiring that I be at specific places on specified days. As a result, I will be in Paris one day earlier than planned, but, even now, I am wary of the Biarritz connection. I’ve been allotted 75 minutes -if we land as scheduled - to collect my luggage, get through customs, then get to the right gate before embarking for Biarritz. We’ll see what happens!
When I mention to family and friends that I’m walking 17-28 kms/day for 37 days I’m met with admiration from most, but there are others who feel I’m insane. I’ve always been intrigued by the many people (some followers on this blog) who have completed this pilgrimage. For most, it has been a transformative experience. I’m drawn to the physical element, although from the comfort of this airport chair, it seems more of an exercise in injury prevention than an aerobic challenge. I’m looking forward to meeting the adventurers who choose to go on this journey, often reminded of the story Marylou shares of the young Irish girl who did the whole trip pushing her infant in a stroller. As with most journeys, the quality of the trip is shaped by the people we meet along the way. And, finally, there are those who do this as primarily a spiritual journey. While I don’t question the power of the spirit, my experience is more along the lines of what John Brierly describes as “a spiritual being on a human journey rather than a human being on a spiritual journey.
So, it’s off to Paris. The adventure begins…and I promise subsequent blogs will be shorter than this one.Read more