She made one decision that led to 14 months in Europe - here's how it started | Susie on the sofa

And eventually arrive in Santiago. And it's, it's less about the arrival into Santiago as the journey, but the, the journey is the destination. It's less about Santiago being the destination, but it's about every day, the decisions you make, the walking that you do, the people that you meet, the connections you form, um, to eventually arrive at Santiago de Compostela. But the, the destination is in every step in the journey. So it's a long walk across Across Europe.

In summary, it's a very long walk. Very long walk. And the hardcore pilgrims actually carry everything that they need, including water, food, their clothes. Lesser hardcore pilgrims can get it shipped ahead, but I think that— would you agree that when you're going inwards, it's sort of a metaphorical experience to carry all of your belongings with you on that journey to really get the full experience?

Absolutely, yeah. So you carry, yeah, you carry your physical stuff and you get with your physical baggage and you carry your emotional baggage as well. And it is definitely a metaphor because you start with too much physical baggage and emotional baggage and you shed it along the way.

I love that. Yeah, you've got the physical baggage physically, and then I know that you like halved your pack weight pretty quickly. I did, because it's like, um, probably 20-25 kilometer days, sometimes even more, which in miles is like around the 16- 18 miles per day, but every day. Yeah, for up to 800 to 1,000 kilometers, which is like 500, 600 miles. Like, I, I can, I can only imagine because I obviously haven't done one yet, um, but I can only imagine that you have no idea what you're getting yourself in for.

You have no idea. It is, uh, I remember feeling like a deer in headlights when I started the first one. You don't know where you're supposed to be going. You don't know what you're supposed to be doing. How do you know where you're going? You have apps, obviously, but, uh, there's, there's so many processes. There's a whole trust process that you go through along with the shedding, along with the connections. Um, but yeah, you have no idea. I was like a deer in headlights for the first week on the first Camino that I did. I was like, what have I gotten myself in for? How much stuff have I got on my back? Why is my— why is my— why are my hips hurting? Why are my shoulders hurting? And yeah, it's, it's a whole experience to, to unpack.

And I love that because I like— Cass and I are both very much into like, your body talks to you. And so I remember when she was on the Camino and the certain parts of her body that were hurting, and we'd look it up. We have this book that shows us what, um, what body part represents what emotional baggage that you've got. So I think that that was a really interesting correlation to look at. Yes, you had physical ailments because you were carrying physical things, but also knowing you were there to shed the emotional baggage, and maybe the physical ailments were pointing you in the direction of what might need shedding emotionally.

Absolutely were. Absolutely. Through the first one and the second one, it was very interesting.

Yes, and we will unpack the second one a bit later because I'm really interested to understand the— once you think you know what you're in for, but I'm guessing the second one shows you a whole lot of that you had no idea was there. But I want to jump back to the part where you talked about learning to trust yourself, because Cass and I were talking this morning about how important the process is to learn how to trust yourself. And when we were younger, we used to backpack in Southeast Asia a lot, and The Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring was my Bible. Like, I love that book. I slept with that book. I read that book. We were planning here, we were going there. And I think those early backpacking days were fantastic because They allowed you to learn to trust yourself, trust that you can figure things out, and the consequences weren't really very big. Like, the stakes were not high. Okay, you didn't make it to your destination, or that hostel was full, so okay, we just go to the book and we'll find a hostel. Or there's none there, a guide will help us find a hostel. So, so the stakes aren't so high. So I love it that then you've built on that experience on a Camino where you think, well, I've done that, but this is a very different experience. So it's learning how to trust yourself in a new environment. So explain some— like, I remember you saying that your brain was just so full of Camino decisions, like a million decisions that you don't have to make in normal life. So can you just talk about like a day in the life of the pilgrim and the decisions you were making and And what was consuming your thoughts at that time?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, so it— and, and the Camino is, it's a very— once you get into the routine, it is a, it's a very simplified day, but you have, you're constantly making decisions and the decisions start as soon as you wake up. So, um, what time am I waking up? What time do I want to start walking? Is it a hot day? Do I want to walk in the heat? If it's a cool day, maybe I can start a little bit later. And then, um, when you start, how, how far are you actually going to walk that day? So you have to— so how far are you going to walk that day? When are you going to stop to have a break to eat? When are you going to stop to have some water? Uh, where's the next bathroom? Um, uh, how much stuff are you going to carry? Are you going to carry your bag? Are you not going to carry your bag? Um, and they're just— they're— you're constantly making decisions. So on when you actually decide, okay, I'm going to walk 25 K's today, sometimes there's deviations. So you can take the normal route or you can take the road less traveled, which is a deviation. Generally it's longer. So do I want to walk further today? Do I want to have a different experience to everyone else? Do I want to walk with people? Do I not want to walk with people? Do I want to stop and look at the cathedral or the church or the historic relic or the Roman bridge or whatever it is? Um, uh, yeah, do I want to walk with people? Do I want to talk today? Do I not want to talk today? Do I want to have headphones in? Do I not want to have headphones in?

Like, it's just, it's constantly It's constant decision-making all day.

Have I eaten enough food? Have I drunk enough water? Um, do I want to stop in this town? When do I want to eat lunch? Do I want to take my shoes off? Do I want to swap my socks? Do I need to put on more anti-friction cream? Um, are my feet— uh, am I getting any hot spots? Like, you, you become— and, and then once you actually get to the destination in the afternoon, it's like, okay, well then I need to make all the decisions for the next day. How far do I want to walk? Where am I going to stop? What route am I going to take? And you do become— you get decision fatigue because it's every day you have to make these decisions, and every day you're walking through different places. And you're staying at different places and you're meeting different people. Um, and it's— they're, they're life decisions, but they're just in this microcosm of a Camino bubble. Um, and it's new. Every single day is new. You have— unless you've walked that particular Camino, you don't know what towns you're going to be walking through. You don't know what services are going to be there. Are they going to have a cafe? Is there going to be a bar? Is it Sunday and then everything's shut?

Exactly.

So do you have to actually make sure you have enough food to cover you for a couple of days? And then you get to the end of the day and you, you fall exhausted into bed, and then you wake up and do everything again the next day for 800 kilometers.