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Camino Chronicles: Preparing for the Camino de Santiago

This is where I give you everything I have learned, lived, and walked, from preparing to the trail to coming home.

Hey you, it's me.

Welcome. If you are here, you are probably dreaming about the Camino de Santiago, or you have already booked it, and the questions are piling up. Or maybe you have never heard of the Camino, and you are curious. This is where I will share my journey from start to finish. Because I get it. When I started, I had a hundred questions and nowhere warm to take them.

So I am answering them. All of them, honestly, from what I have researched, planned, lived, and eventually walked myself. This is where the Camino Chronicles begin, with everything I wish I could have found when I started preparing for the Camino. I am starting with the most asked questions in my DMs and the emails I get from you.

The best part. The first three letters are already here, and the rest are landing this week. You don't have to wait for a big reveal. Bookmark this page, move through it at your own pace, and send it to anyone you love who is dreaming of their own Camino.

This isn't a guidebook. It's me, sitting beside you, telling you what I have learned, with the real links, the gear I am actually using, and what has helped me prepare for the trail.

The questions I am starting with

Some will get their own letter, and some will blend together.

1. Which Camino route should I walk, and how do they compare?
2. What should I pack, and how much should it weigh?
3. How much does the Camino cost?
4. How long does the Camino take? Coming this week
5. When is the best time of year to go? Coming this week
6. How do I train and prepare? Coming this week
7. Do I need to book ahead, or can I just show up? Coming this week
8. What do I do about blisters and taking care of my feet? Coming this week
9. What is the bathroom situation on the trail? Coming this week
10. Is it safe to walk alone, especially as a woman? Coming this week
11. Do I have to be religious to walk it? Coming this week
12. What happens after, when you come home? Coming this week
13. What is the most forgotten part of preparing for the Camino? Coming this week
14. What scriptures should I keep close for the hard moments on the trail? Coming this week

And before you go anywhere, let me tell you about the one I almost left off, because it's the one most people forget.

Number thirteen. Everyone prepares their feet. Almost no one prepares their heart.

Here is what I mean. People train their bodies, pack their bags, and fly to Spain. Then they start walking with their headphones in. A few miles later, they take them out. And for the first time in years, it is quiet, and they can hear their own voice. For a lot of us, that is overwhelming, because we have spent a long time outrunning it.

So before you ever leave home, prepare your heart and your mind, not just your body.

That is the work I have been doing in my 18-day series, Silent to Spoken: The Way. If you only read one thing here, let it be that one.

Everything here is yours right now, no sign-up required. But if you want to come with me for what's next, the actual Camino as I walk it, the letters I will send from the trail, Season Five of Just Jelly, and whatever comes after, watch for the little note that pops up when you go. That is where you can join the list. I won't spam you, promise. There is so much happening with Just Jelly Unfiltered right now, and I want to share it all with YOU.

And if your question isn't on the list, send it to me. I read every single one, and it just might become the next letter.

We're preparing for this together, one step, one prayer, one day at a time. Celebrate starting here.