19 Comments

Go you! What an amazing journey. Physically and mentally you've sure shown yourself you CAN do hard things. I love this. And the connections you made along the way too-how cool!

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What a beautiful and inspiring experience. Congratulations! I recently did the 16 mile tip-to-tip trip here in NYC, walking from the top to Manhattan to the bottom, which seems like nothing compared to 174 miles LOL but it was a challenge and so fun to see more of the city all in one day. Who knows where I'll walk to next.. Excited to follow your journey.

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That is incredible! I walked 13 miles most days (I think?) so you did a big one! Manhattan is such an exciting place, I can only imagine how stimulating of an experience that was. So glad you’re here 🫶🏽

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Congrats! On my sabbatical bucket list 🪣

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This is such a cool experience. I love how you wrote about it. Thank you for sharing!

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Appreciate you so much for being here, Alex! 🫶🏽

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Wow, I love this! Congratulations on completing the Camino! I love that you did the route starting from Porto, and amazed by many of the synchronicities in our journeys - I also stepped away from my corporate job in 2022 and went solo travelling, including to Portugal, Andalucia and Peru. All that I experienced on my travels taught me so much about myself and who I really was after years of being someone I thought I needed to be, and my travels were also what helped me get back into writing again. Porto was my first stop on my solo travel trip and I recently moved abroad from London (where I spent over a decade) to make my new home in Porto and plan to frequently travel back to Andalucia too, where I left a huge part of my heart. Looking forward to reading more about your ongoing journey!

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Thanks, Suyin! Your experience is beautiful -- I absolutely feel that as well. Porto was such an incredible place; it must have been amazing to make a home there for some time. I was on a bit of a hiatus for January, but glad to have you here as I get going again!

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Amazing to read about your experience, the Camino is so special! I did it for the first time in 2018 and then have done it 3 more times since (different Caminos each time). If you come to Andalucia, I absolutely recommend Sevilla! Happy to share tips & recs.

ETA: Just read your next post that you already came and went ;) Happy travels!

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This is an impressive feat. I’m training for my first ever 5k and hope to eventually run a marathon for similar reasons that you chose the Camino de Santiago. When I’m running in the mornings, it’s cool to think about how I’m part of a community of runners on the same journey.

This line is one to keep in my pocket.

“Whenever I questioned my own resilience, I borrowed someone else's.”

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This is amazing! I have thought about ways I can continue doing tough things at home; I hate running so so much but that might be one of them. A marathon would truly be such an amazing accomplishment, and from the runners that I do know, their running community seems so beautiful. Hope I’ll get to read more about your journey there!

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So cool! I love what you said about the mindfulness of making decisions based on how you were actually feeling on any given day. It seems so obvious and yet I realized it was a totally foreign concept for me as well

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What a journey! Extremely inspiring and undeniable proof we can absolutely, positively do hard things. Ironically this truth was the title of my last post so thank you for such a powerful reminder. I’m a part-time nomad myself and just had the best binge reading your travel stories and journey abroad! Wherever you are in the world now, I hope you’re well and somewhere thriving!

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Hey Kiera, I'm so glad you're able to relate to it! Yeah, it's something I'll remember for a while, and I've been doing a few more 'hard things' to get the same thrill :)

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Loved this. Congratulations on finishing!

Also think that Compastela on the first line is a typo and should be Compostela instead? Don't have a way to DM you but thought I should let you know.

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Hey Yakko, thanks so much! And thanks for catching that. Feel free to reach out to me anytime at verylost@substack.com as well!

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I grew up in Portugal but you've already experienced more than me with a single trip!

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Portugal has been one of my favorite countries, we’ll have to swap recommendations 🫶🏽 I can’t wait to go back!

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May 19
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Wow I’ve never heard this poem but love it! (Also what a treat to read poetry in Spanish, I only started learning the language when I was in South America)

And the entire time I did it I was thinking, “wow I can’t do that!!” I don’t think I mentioned it in this post but I did in my latest one — always just moved 10 steps at a time. 🥲 I bet you could, too!

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