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The Fourth Camino: Part 5
Check out parts one, two, three, and four! I barely slept that night. The snores, the creaking metal beds, and my aching knees kept me awake staring at the bedsprings of the bunk above me for hours. I’m no stranger to insomnia, and I’ve gotten pretty good at dealing with it, even on a hike.…
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The Fourth Camino: Part 4
If you’re just joining us, here is part 1, part 2, and part 3. “What is it about Camino people and motivational phrases?” Ben asked about a month before our trip. Camino people–myself included–love a good lofty expression. Everyone walks their own Camino. The Camino begins when you reach Santiago. The Camino provides. There is…
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The Fourth Camino: Part 3
You can find part one here and part two here! The grip of the old world finally loosened when we woke up the next morning. We were in Spain. No more airplanes, check-in booths, train tickets. The spell of a difficult transition was broken. Our original plan had us getting up at 6 am and…
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The Fourth Camino: Part 2
You can find part 1 here!:) We woke the next morning at 7 am, just three hours after getting home. I’m not supposed to be here, I thought as I winced against the NYC sun. We hadn’t even closed the shades. My hiking pants were draped across my laundry bin. Should I just put them…
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The Fourth Camino: Part One
I ironed a hole in my hiking pants three days before we left for Spain. We’d canceled and rescheduled this trip so many times. And now that it was so painfully close, I obsessed over every detail—down to ironing pants I’d spend the next three weeks washing in a bucket. As you’d suspect, my polyester…
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45 Days
It’s been a real minute since I last posted. So, hello. The only writing I’ve been doing since the start of the summer is the kind I get paid to do, which mostly involves explaining how to hire a moving truck (ironically, as you will soon read) and how much it costs to renovate your…
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A Note for the Hopeless
Around the end of June 2020, Ben and I heard a group of people singing “Happy Birthday” outside our window. We live at the top of a fifth-floor walkup on 80th Street in Manhattan, and our apartment looks out onto hundreds of stranger’s back patios and fire escapes. The first few nights we heard the…
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The Journey Back
I’ve written a lot about coming home from the Camino and how the process can be harder than the walk itself. After three of these crazy journeys, I’ve found that it takes almost exactly a year for me to suddenly realize how I’ve changed. The year leading up to it is wildly confusing, especially the…
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Rewinding 12 Days of Hiking in 3 Hours
I ripped off the bandaid rather early on my last morning in Santiago. I shoved all my things into my backpack one more time and said goodbye to my comfortable hotel haven, to the cathedral, and to the people at Pilgrim House. I exited the city the way I came in, past the restaurant where…
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One Day Without Motion
Waking up in Santiago feels pretty darn good. It takes a moment to realize, however, that you’re in a room by yourself and you have nowhere to walk. My body shifts into healing mode the moment I arrive. I typically feel sorer on the first day in Santiago than I do the whole trip. I…
Maybe There Will Be Cupcakes
travel, creativity, and surprisingly little about baked goods
Maybe There Will Be Cupcakes 