If you’re an avid reader of the blog, you’ll know that one of my favorite hobbies is to travel. I love travelling; both near and far and domestically and internationally. Mrs. Money and I really got back to travelling this year and she’s done 3 international trips and I’ve done 2. I chronicled our over the top amazing Italy trip where we spent nearly 1 million miles/points to ball out in Italy. I also had the chance recently to go to Spain, this time with 3 buddies. These are the 3 buddies that I’ve did my Iceland trip with and we finally were able to reunite the “Explorer’s Club” and do another trip! As a not-so-secret aspiring travel blogger, I wanted to share my trip details!

What is the Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage route dating back hundreds if not a thousand years. It is a pilgrimage with many routes, some starting in Portugal, some in Spain and some in France, but they all end up in northwest Spain, at the city of Santiago de Compostella. This is home of the large cathedral, the supposed burial place of St James.

For many pilgrims, it’s not an actual pilgrimage in the ancient sense, but instead a chance to get away, to reconnect with nature, friends, themselves and for some to a higher power. What’s great about it is that you can hike basically as little or as long as you want. Some routes can take several weeks if not months, or just a few days. The cathedral in Santiago de Compostella will issue pilgrims a super cool certificate if you do at least 100km, about 60 miles, which takes about 5 days worth of hiking. I would say most commonly it’s done by foot (at least what I saw) but some did the trek via bike, and allegedly you can also do it on horseback.

Along the route there are little towns where you can stop and stay the night, with accommodations ranging from the simple hostel all the way up to nicer hotels or AirBnB apartments. Seashell markers letting you know the path mark the entire path. There are plenty of cafes for coffee, food, cold drinks and the towns have restaurants for you to enjoy Spanish tapas and wine!

How did I book it?

Knowing YoungMoneyFinance, I was not apt to pay for a flight with cash if I didn’t have to. Our Italy trip we took using Emirates miles, which we had transferred from Amex and Chase credit cards and so I still had a decent stash of Delta miles. Right around the time we were booking, Delta unveiled a new credit card benefit for their Gold/Platinum/Reserve cards – 15% off a Skymiles booking. Flights were looking in the 150,000 range to Spain, and saving 22,500ish miles seemed like a worthwhile upgrade for me to get the Delta Gold credit card. I upgraded to it and paid the $99 fee and then booked my flight for around 130,000 miles.

While we were there we booked a few Marriott hotels (my friends are Marriott loyalists like I am) and then a few apartmernts through booking.com – which seems to me to be like the AirBnb of Europe. Unfortunately I was out of points/miles and had to pay cash for those!

What the trip was like

By the end of the trip, all 4 of us said that we all would do another Camino in the future as we had that much fun. There’s just something about the Camino – the comradery of doing a pilgrimage – whether you’re religious or not. It was cool to meet people on the trail, here their stories, and know that you might see them again – you’re on the same trail, or perhaps you might not. It was so great knowing that all you had to do that day was walk 10-15 miles. Walking, at least in my world isn’t something I do all that regularly, and it was so cool to look at a map and be like ‘yeah that was where we were this morning and here we are today’.

I personally love the time and space to reconnect. I reconnected with nature – we were simply walking – through cities, small towns, the woods, the coast, vineyards, and smaller mountains (elevation wasn’t bad). It was great to get away from technology and back into nature. I also got to reconnect with my 3 buddies – we talked about basically everything. I had the chance to reconnect with myself – check in, express gratitude, explore my hopes and goals, and reflect on my progress. Finally I had a chance to reconnect with a higher power and had a chance to reconnect with God.

Our actual day to day involved hiking / walking – from town to town. The path is pretty well defined with a natural stopping point in a city / town along the way. We did the Portuguese coastal route, and unfortunately I can’t check Portugal off my list because we started our trek right north of the border in Spain. Our shortest day was 9 miles, and our longest 15 miles. We unfortunately brought a heat wave with us and the cool 60-80 degree weather turned into 80-100 degrees. But there were plenty of cafes and shops along the way and we stayed hydrated.

We would typically get into town around 2-4pm, just in time for the siesta. Spaniards from what we could tell take siestas quite seriously and we too learned to enjoy a little quiet and rest time from the heat. We would then venture out into town, explore a bit, enjoy a nice Spanish dinner with tapas and wine, and then hit the hay for another day of fun!

What I learned from it

I’ve already mentioned the reconnecting benefit that I got from it, and I had a such a great time doing so. It’s always so nice to take a step away from the day to day grind but also to be able to not only relax but also recharge. I came away with a new attitude and outlook on life and it was really the trip that I needed. One other thing I had learned was something I learned from a fellow traveller when he said “trust the path”. I really enjoyed thinking on that as a metaphor for life; there’s so much unknown and out of our control but it’s important to trust that there is a rhyme and reason for life, it’s not just random and that in the end things work out as they should. I also really appreciated the phrase “buen camino” – the common phrase that you would say to others along the trail. Directly translated it means, “good road” or “good walk” – also a great metaphor for life. I took it to mean “enjoy the ride, enjoy the experience, enjoy the day” or some variation thereof.

It certainly won’t be my last Camino and I’m excited about my next one!