One Day More

   Twenty-four hours from now Tom and I should be on our way to Madrid, from whence, if things bump along as more-or-less adequately  as they did last time, we'll manage to make our way from the airport to Atocha train station in downtown Madrid, then from Atocha to the Pamplona train station.  From the train station we'll take bus #9 (numero nueve) to the estation de autobuses in downtown Pamplona, where we'll buy tickets for the 

last bus of the day to St. Jean Pied-de-Port in France, our starting point for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
     I include so much information for a purpose: The first time Tom and I did the Camino two years ago, the one bit of information we couldn't seem to round up was precisely the best way to get from the Madrid airport to St. Jean Pied-de-Port.  And so after arriving we did quite a bit of muddling before we got it figured out.  Luckily for us we met a Puerto Rican pilgrim also on her way to St. Jean who was just as clueless as us so we were able to muddle around together.  But our Puerto Rican companion had the Spanish to be able to ask for and understand directions much better than I with my minimal Spanish could have done.
     So anyway, if any future pilgrim needs to know how to get from the States to St. Jean Pied-de-Port, there it is.
     Several times over the last few days I've been asked if I'm all ready to go.
     In answering it's occurred to me that this is really a two-part question.  There's a first part, referring to all the logistical preparations, like

packing your bag,

...cutting out only the pages of the guidebook that you really need for your trip for the sake of keeping your pack light,

...locating your old shells from your last Camino to tie onto your pack.

      The scallop shell being the symbol of the Camino (see post from 8/24/2015), we pilgrims all have them tied to our packpacks.

    Anyway, I'd say at this point the meager logistics involved in the trip are pretty well together.  So I'd answer "yes, we're ready" to that part of the question.
    But the other half of being ready is mental:  are you ready in your mind?  Have you wrapped you head around the fact that you're actually going back to walk the Camino again?  
    To this part of the question my answer is:   Uhhhhhhhh......
    But I guess that when one is having a bit of a struggle absorbing the fact that one is actually going to do something, the way to deal with it is to just go through each motion: pack your bags, get to the airport, get on the plane, get off the plane, make your way to your starting point, start walking, and then, ready or not,  you'll be doing what you set out to do.  
     In other words, just do it.
     And so, "it" is what I've been doing, and hopefully will continue to do until we're where we set out to be, doing what we set out to do.

   I can't say for now when my next available WIFI opportunity will be, but 'til then good wishes and good days to you all!