Time to Set the Heart (and Mind and Body)

Happy they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.

(from Psalm 84,
Optional Responsorial Psalm for today’s
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph)

With just over three months to go until I leave for the Camino, my preparations are again revving up. Over the holidays (which I here loosely define as “between Thanksgiving and New Year), hiking has largely fallen by the wayside. Equipment purchasing has slowed. Other things have crowded my thoughts.

With today’s psalm, however, I’m reminded that, with God as my strength, the time has again come to set my heart upon the pilgrimage.

While my “Training Lent” program doesn’t go into high gear until the first week of February, we’ll be getting back to the weekly hiking right after the New Year.

My plan of slowly purchasing equipment has paid off, with only a few items remaining in my Amazon wishlist, most of them small incidentals. And maps. I’ll want the maps, I think.

In typical Thom overboard fashion, my packing list is actually a spreadsheet that includes weights in grams for all the various items. I’m still overweight, but I’m paring it down, even as I’m adding the last little bits of equipment.

The two heaviest items, my hiking shoes and my pack, are not likely to change, so I’m really nibbling around the edges.

Spanish language work is next up. I speak no word of Spanish that doesn’t involve food or greeting somebody. My foreign language skills in general are pretty poor.

I’ll be trying out Coffee Break Spanish for starters. We’ll see how that goes. Suggestions welcome!

Then there are the endless details, everything from getting my pilgrim’s passport stamped at my parish and the cathedral to trip insurance to, you know, actually purchasing the plane tickets. And depending on how I fly in, additional bus or train tickets as well. I’ve been waiting until after the Christmas holiday to get tickets.

I check the flights every day, and I’m astonished that the same flight will vary in cost by more than $500 from day to day. It’s crazy. I’ve got a target price (depending on whether I fly in to Pamplona or Biarritz), and I’m pouncing the instant I see it.

Just to be on the safe side, I’m also engaging my firm’s travel coordinator, to see if she can get me a deal.

Ultreya!