All the Anticipation and Planning

Cove road Stonington CT

16 lbs of baggage is all I have to worry about for the next month and that notion thrills me. When I slung my backpack on my back it felt like a good friend and the memories of my other walks came flooding back. It all started in February of 2009 during a weekend in Manhattan with my mother, sister and daughters. My mother said that dad wanted to do some walk in Spain in the autumn. That walk turned out to be The Camino de Santiago and I joined my parents for the last 10 days of their month long pilgrimage. It was enough of a taste to want more and so I returned to the Camino in 2010 and started the Camino in the beautiful village of st Jean and walked for a month across northern Spain. I have a gap of 3 days to fill with my girls when they are in the mood. it was a wonderful experience and I decided to do a walk every even year. This year it's The Lycian Way with Sawsan. We meet in Istanbul in about 12 hours and then the adventure begins.

I walked out from home today  after a frantic day at work taking care of the to do lists. A big hug with our 17 year old minature Australian shepherd, Addie, she doesn't have much of an idea what's going on these days. Was picked up by a friend in a nice black sports car with a stop for dinner at my favorite restraunt in Prividence, Julian's.

Julian's providence RI.

One more gimlet and some pickled veggies, why not? Unwinding now, they were kind enough to charge up my iPhone. And really good American burger with feta and roasted tomatoes was just the perfect thing.

A smooth drive to Logan and I watched my backpack weighing in at 6.6kg disappearing on the conveyor belt. I hope it makes it intact to Istanbul, everything in there has been picked with care and has function as well as a connection to many of the lovely people in my life.

Logan airport Boston MA

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes, I am so excited and all ready enjoying every minute, reflecting with a glass of pretty good vihno verde from Portugal at Logan.

Boarding in 30 mins, hopefully I'll be able to get some sleeps.