Category: Camino de Santiago 5/2023 Page 1 of 9

In 2001, Howard asked me if I would be interested in moving to Spain because he had a job opportunity. It had been almost 5 years since we had returned from our last adventure in Australia and I was ready to see what the Universe had in store for our next chapter. We jumped at the opportunity and Howard accepted the position with Bespak to work at the University of Santiago de Compostela. And so began an amazing year of living in Spain! We had a lot of high highs and low lows while we were there but we met so many amazing people that helped us through all of them that I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I wasn’t able to get a work visa while we were there so I spent a lot of time taking Spanish classes, learning the culture and learning how to live in a foreign country (which is so much harder than just backpacking!)

Although there are many stories I could tell from our year abroad, this blog is going to be about my return to Santiago de Compostela via the “Camino de Santiago”…a 500 mile pilgrimage from St Jean Pied de Port, France to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. Legend states that St James, one of the apostles is buried in the cathedral and people from all over the world make the pilgrimage to his tomb. I spent many afternoons sitting in the square of the cathedral, watching the “pilgrims” (hikers) complete their walk and celebrate with others who had made the same journey. It was always something that intrigued me but I never got around to doing it. We ended up leaving Spain before I had a chance to research and do this hike but as years have passed and I have learned more about it, I knew it was something that I needed to do. As I just turned 50, I figured there is no time like the present.

I will be leaving on April 27th to go to Barcelona and then attending Bruce Springsteen’s concert on April 30th. I will then head to St Jean Peid de Port to start the hike. Howard and Cat will be waiting for me at the finish and I know I will be so excited to see them!

The purpose of this blog is to give my friends and family a little bit of peace by updating them on my adventure so they know I’m still alive and also to give me the ability to keep my memories in one place . Thank you for following along on this amazing journey of mine!

I started this travel blog 5 years ago to appease my mom so she could keep up with all of our adventures when we were traveling. Caitlyn and I were headed on a 6 week road trip and since she was 9 at the time, I figured “Traveling with my tween” was a great domain name that would last at least 4 more years. I never anticipated that I would still be blogging past her tween years but alas here we are.

Coming up with a new domain name was much harder then I expected. I wanted something that was travel related but I also wanted to pay homage to our painted rocks. We came up with several different options but ultimately landed on RoamingRocks. The definition of the word roam is:

verb

1. move about or travel aimlessly or unsystematically, especially over a wide area. “Tigers once roamed over most of Asia”

We rarely have an itinerary. When we travel, we often stumble onto many beautiful landmarks and experiences by asking locals what they recommend or by wandering through the streets. Since we leave our rocks in random places as well, it just felt fitting.

That said, we wanted to announce that Travelingwithmytween has been rebranded to Roaming Rocks. We hope you enjoy our adventures while we roam and write about it.

I am officially ready to go! I have packed and repacked. I have weighed and substituted and reweighed items more times than I would like to count but I am finally happy with what I have packed at the moment. That said, I am sure things will get discarded along the way.

For those that are curious, below is everything I have packed:

• Sleeping bag
• pillow case
• poncho
• towel
• 4 underware
• 2 bra
• 5 socks
• 2 short sleeved shirts
• 2 long sleeved shirts
• 2 sweaters
• 2 leggings
• 1 shorts
• 1 pants
• vest
• flip flops
• baseball hat
• gloves
• knee brace
• mini daypack
• shawl
• headlamp
• 3 charging cables
• adapter
• battery pack
• laundry soap
• dog bags
• 3 paint pens for rocks
• headphones
• medical kit (1 pound)
• hiking stick tips
• body glide
• deodorant
• mascara
• chapstick
• brush
• eyeliner
• mini perfume
• clear nail polish
• shampoo
• conditioner
• lotion
• sunscreen
• face moisturizer
• tooth brush
• tooth paste
• hair bands
• Headphone bandana to drown out snoring
• 40 rocks (1 for each day)

FINAL WEIGHT: 17.4 pounds

I have had tons of people express concern over the weight of my rocks. Rest assured that I weighed out each rock and selected the 40 lightest rocks I had. (Picture below shows lightest to heaviest.)

Rocks received a base cote, quotes were written and then were sealed.

Ultimately they were only 1 pound 15 ounces and that weight is worth the joy that I will be able to bring to people who find them each day.

I fly tomorrow (Thursday at 8:00am)! Thank you to my amazing husband and phenomenal kid for giving me the freedom to have this opportunity. Wish me luck!!

I can’t believe the day is finally here!! I’ve been counting down days since 784 days out and although it felt like an eternity, we finally got to the end.

The morning was bittersweet with goodbyes to H and Cat but I’m excited to see them in 6 weeks to have our family vacation together!
I got through security in less than 10 minutes and was able to relax, people watch, enjoy saying farewell to everyone on text and Facebook and just breathe as prepping to leave has been very crazy. I have to say I felt a lot of love and positive vibes this morning. Thank you to everyone who reached out!

I was asked to switch seats on the first leg and was moved to the exit row! Leg room….yes please! The flight was uneventful and we got to Philly on time. My name was announced on the loud speaker before boarding to Barcelona and was informed that they needed to change my seat and moved me to the front of the plane. Not first class but it cut my disembarking time substantially! I’ll take it! I spoke to the most interesting lady while boarding for Barcelona. She was flying to Barcelona to meet a horse broker to purchase horses to bring back to the states. Who knew that each horse that travels gets their own attendant to take care of them on the flight. We discussed star signs, personality traits and kids and the time flew by!
I got to Barcelona and caught a cab to the hotel. Of course I practiced my Spanish on the driver! We drove by the biggest cemetery (Cementiri de Montjuic), that I have ever seen! I wish I had taken a picture because it was stunning and just kept going. I tried to tell the driver my dads favorite cemetery joke but it definitely got lost in translation. I then tried to explain the joke but it didn’t go over as I was hoping! The joke:

Dad: Nicole, do you know how many dead people are in that cemetery?
Me: (Mentally trying to figure out space vs plot space) I don’t know Dad, how many?

Dad: All of them! (And he starts laughing because he thinks he is so funny!)

That joke still makes me smile whenever I hear it.

There was tons of traffic and the driver got really frustrated. He dropped me off 1.5 miles away from the hotel and pointed to it in the distance. I thought to take a picture after walking for 15 minutes!

Normally I would have been so mad but I can’t really complain about walking with my pack right now can I? It was a great walk along the boardwalk with tons of great people watching. It felt a bit like Venice Beach (guys working out in short shorts and so many people roller blading, biking, running.) I checked into the hotel and made friends with the front desk manager. Lovely guy who really took care of me. Marriott people take care of each other and I feel really lucky about how things have gone so far.
So in summary, I made it to Barcelona safely, have met some fun people, the universe has taken care of me, I have given away 4 rocks, I have had my first cafe con leche and glass of wine and lunch, and am feeling super content! I am going to nap a bit and then hit the town to go exploring!

I woke up from a glorious nap and decided to go exploring in Barcelona. Knowing that I had tickets to see Bruce Springsteen on Sunday, I thought it made sense to go to the venue and check how they were handling the General Admission seats since it was crazy the last time I saw him in Barcelona in 2002 and it was his opening show of the European Tour!
The Concierge let me know about a really cool cable car that goes near the venue so I thought I would give it a go.
The line was long but I didn’t have anywhere I needed to be, so I embraced the moment and started talking to people around me. There were tons of people going to the concert and the energy was so high.

The Universe put Frauke, Christian and Uwe in front of me and the night took a totally different direction than I was expecting! Lucky for me, they had a spare ticket for the show and invited me along.
Surprisingly they trusted my navigational skills to get us to the venue and we walked about 30 minutes to get there. While walking I learned that Uwe was Christian’s dad and Frauke was a friend from their village. We had a lot of laughs on the way and Uwe was very motivated to get inside and get his beer.

Our seats were great! I realized I had never seen Bruce from a seat before as I have always gotten General Admission tickets. It was such a fun, stress free experience and completely different than what I was used to. I am not joking when I say that Barcelona is my favorite place to see Bruce. The energy and adoration for the man and his lyrics are like nothing I have ever seen. It was very moving to be able to see people’s reactions to his songs. It feels like everyone has a story and memory that his music reminds them of. It was a great experience with great people and a night I won’t soon forget!

Knowing that I would be seeing him again on Sunday, I left 3 songs early so that I could catch a cab and get back to the hotel. Being a single woman, I didn’t want to risk having to walk 5 miles at night time in a foreign city. I got one of the last taxis available and was relieved to be in my hotel 15 minutes later. Oh and for the record, the taxi driver brought me all the way to the hotel and didn’t make me walk 1.5 miles. He did charge me $30 for a $10 fare but that is the joy of being at the mercy of taxi drivers. Such a good night!

After such an amazing day yesterday, today might feel a bit boring to some but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I started the day with an awesome Spanish breakfast! Their fresh squeezed orange juice and cafe con leche is to die for!

I walked to my new hotel today which was about a 3.5 mile walk along the marina to be closer to my friend who is also going to be going to the Springsteen concert tomorrow. The sun was shining, there was blue skies and it was gorgeous out. There were so many locals enjoying the outdoors and beach. I passed a CrossFit bootcamp, a yoga class, a man teaching his son how to fight, a dance instructor teaching a woman how to dance, roller skaters performing tons of tricks and a guy (I wish I took a picture …it just didn’t feel appropriate) who had a tennis ball tied to a string, connected to a headband and trying to hit the ball with different parts of his body, all while balancing on two 5inch pieces of pipe. I could have stayed there for hours watching.

I checked into my new hotel and then went out exploring. I needed to buy walking sticks but found plenty of other interesting things along the way!

and my personal favorite…

I found a Decathlon (Similar to Dicks Sporting Goods) and got walking sticks and a few other things. They had the best check out system I have ever seen. Simply put everything in the box and the system identifies everything that you have put in. Why hasn’t this made it to the US yet?

I found an outdoor cafe and enjoyed a glass of wine. Albariño is my wine of choice these days. I also had a great FaceTime call with Caitlyn and caught up on the last 2 days!

Next I met up with Brais and his friend. Brais and I met in line to buy Bruce Springsteen tickets 20 years ago for the Barcelona concert when we used to live here. We have kept in touch all of these years and now get to do it again! Super excited to see him! He looks exactly the same! We met up at the Olympic Stadium to figure out some logistics for the show and then agreed to meet up in the morning. The views of the city from the park were beautiful but it started raining so I headed home after a few pictures for an early night in.

The only bad thing of the day is that I walked 12 miles, half of which was in regular boots instead of my trail runners and I got my first big blister underneath my big toe. Let’s hope it doesn’t last long and the location isn’t too painful as I didn’t feel it forming during the day.