How it all started....not the world, our Camino Trip

G'day;

I realized going over the blogs that we negated how this whole trip originated. After a year end of funerals we decided that life was too short and we needed to "live for today". We also got it in our minds to challenge ourselves physically....what better than to do a marathon. We reduced it to a half marathon since we felt we needed to be reasonable. Now the marathon came from watching on and off again the "biggest loser". No real explanation about why we watch that show, other than we love to eat, relate to weight issues, and feel rather small compared to the individuals on the show. After watching an episode where they do a marathon, I thought, we can do that if they can! And so it began. Viviana now limits my tv. watching since apparently I cannot watch a thing without getting some crazy idea and inevitably dragging her along. She is so agreeable. From there I thought would it not be cool to do it in another place to have something to look forward to and have no witnesses(that knew us!) to our craziness. I began research on 1/2 marathons around the world. Wow! Who knew there were so darn many people out there who like to torture themselves. We needed it to be at a reasonable time of year, somewhere we both wanted to go and perhaps not too expensive. I found one in Italy (although, it is expensive there) on the mediterranean. If all fails we stop for a cappuccino, and call it a day. Then we thought what if we get injured and cannot enjoy the rest of the trip....thus marathon trashed.

I proceeded to go to my handy dandy "travel ideas" folder. I had read about the "Camino de Santiago" a few years ago and put it in my "to do one day list", along with roughly 50 other things, and counting. We began the research on the Camino. Once we saw it was a holy year. We took it as a sign. I posed the question, "where would you like to go if you were to die tomorrow?". She answered, Italy. How exactly could we afford Italy? The research for the Camino, revealed camping and hostals as a viable cheap option. The other issue was time....how long and when? We both knew that there were some big changes coming in the future, career changes, school...? The time was now. Viviana had never really taken an extended trip before, and we were not sure when we would get the opportunity to do it for sometime. Viola, a trip was formed. We fine tuned it, dates, weather, crowds, and flight cost. The other major sign, a low interest line of credit!!! What more could we ask for....before we knew it, the flight was booked and the research went into full throttle. It has been a blur ever since. Camino first, Italy (a wee reward) afterwards.

I realize now if we really sat and thought about this we would have talked ourselves down. But we maintained the motivation....tomorrow might never come and we felt that out weighed the pending debt. Now, ask me how we feel when we get home and the bills start to pile up....for now we are in subtle bliss of hope and faith, that what is meant to be will be. Cue, Doris Day song...for those too young, google it!

What is the moral of the story....never let me watch tv. or before you know it I have you going to hell knows where, doing hell knows what!

Ciao, ciao,
Kimberley