I have wanted to do the Camino for years.
Originally, it was the well-known Camino Frances that I wanted to walk, the one that is often the subject of books and movies, particularly the movie The Way. I can't even remember when the first glimmer of an idea occurred, but it was around the time that I moved to the UK, possibly earlier. I don't even remember what sparked it, but I do know that when I looked it up, all those years ago, I saw that there were many more pilgrimages than I had realised, and several of them walked through France, my favourite country in the world. I parked the idea for a long time. It seemed too hard. There was too much I didn't know, and I wasn't ever really fit enough for a many-day walk.
If I'd been smart about it, I would have gone when I'd lived in the UK, as it would have been much easier than from Australia. I was also considerably younger then.... but maybe the timing was actually perfect. With the idea becoming more of a plan in 2023, I had started putting in the work at the gym for a couple of years, walking every weekend and throughout the week through most of 2025, had overcome several injuries and things that had started to niggle as I pushed my body to walk further and further. And more than anything, I needed it in 2025 more than ever.
So after many, many months of training, researching and buying the stuff that I needed, I booked a (very expensive, only bought 6 weeks prior) flight to Paris for September 2025.
The last time I'd flown long haul was in 2020 when covid happened and I had to fly home and stay in hotel quarantine for 2 weeks. Thankfully those days were long gone, but I was still pretty nervous about it. Would I even be able to do something like this? I guess I'd find out. I got on the plane and flew 24 hours to Paris.
Of course when I got to Paris there was something going on with the transport system at the airport so my plan of catching the metro into the city was dashed and I had to work out another plan, namely a coach into the city. It was easy, thankfully, and it dropped me off at the Opera Garnier. I had planned to catch a metro from there too but looking at the time, I realised I would be much too early to my hotel – the plane had landed at 7:10am and check-in wasn't until 2pm, though I had asked if I could check in earlier. Still, that was a lot of time to kill. My first port of call, however, was to get a cup of tea, which I got from Starbucks (I know, they suck, but they are guaranteed to sell tea all around the world. France isn't really good with proper black tea in cafes so it was an easy solution).
Tea drunk, I decided to walk the 4km to my hotel, since it was early, a cool day and I'd been sitting down for 24 hours. I set off at a leisurely pace, seeing places I knew but hadn't visited for many years. I love how comfortable I feel in Paris though, I basically know where I am most of the time, and if not, there are plenty of landmarks to guide me.
Paris was setting up for some kind of sporting gala in the streets of the city, and randomly there was an AFL stand set up. They also had chess boards and small soccer pitches, running tracks, gloves, nets and other things to play with set up.
I got to my hotel, they let me in early, I showered (bliss after long haul!) then I washed all the clothes I'd worn on the plane – I only had two sets of clothes so didn't have much choice. I got changed and ready to go out and explore for a bit.
First stop was to pick up a sandwich, then I wandered down to the Jardin de Plantes. I'd chosen to stay in an area that I was pretty familiar with and that was near the station I needed for my onward journey tomorrow. I ate my lunch in the garden and wandered around but it was starting to rain a little. Boo.
I ended up just wandering – Paris is a great city for that. I was in St Germain, wandered along the Seine, then walked over to Montparnasse.
I'd wanted an early dinner at Bouillon Chartier but the line even at 4:30pm was insane! So instead I just got a steak frites at Hippopotamus – it was cheap and pretty good actually for a chain steakhouse. I went back to my hotel, got a cuppa then went to sleep at around 8pm.