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Carry your backpack please.

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I think the beauty of the Camino is that it’s an individual journey, and I feel no one should be worried about what others are doing or not doing. Personally, I’m staying in hotels (and nice ones at that) on my Camino. I’m sure many are clutching their pearls at the thought lol. I’ll also be using a transport service, because I want more outfits, more shoes, and something nice to wear at mass. That’s me. I’ll spend zero time worrying about what anyone is thinking of the way that I choose to venture on my personal journey. I also a wholeheartedly support those that choose to do it differently.
 
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Here we go again. Your Camino is not my Camino. Your burden is not mine. What about the mother who carries little more than grief after the death of her son? She carries a weight far heavier than anything you can fit into your pack. The Camino is for all, rich or poor, able or disabled, packing or not. It’s not a contest. It’s a journey, as highly individual as everyone who walks.
 
Silvermomma said:
We are not talking about the disabled or ill, but about the normalization of bag transfer. The first thing people want to know when they decide to bucket list the camino is "how do I organize sending my suitcase along." It shouldn't be the default.
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The "normalization of bag transfer". Yes, that's at the heart of why I was feeling a certain view on it. Thank you. It was very jarring to see so many backpacks, suitcases (hard shell, at that), duffel bags, etc at the entrance of albergues upon arrival and when leaving in the morning. There's something in the keeping my footprint small while on the Camino (just me and my pack) that drew me to the Camino. That felt right and more grounded for me, especially given the origins of the Camino. So, I had to think mindfully about what I *needed* to bring because my pack was going to be part of me for 30+ days. Seeing mountains of unaccompanied bags and suitcases just felt like an excessive taking of space. Big footprints lol. Then, when you compound that by all the people sending bags ahead, i don't know. It was jarring. I - personally - would not have been drawn to the Camino where bag transfer is so normalized.
 
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yes, I was thinking the same thing. The excess of "stuff", extra cars on the road....etc.
 
On my first Camino (which wasn't that long ago in 2016) I didn't really know anything about bag transfer, despite being a member of this forum and reading here obsessively for about six months. Maybe I skipped those posts while I focused on gear and transportation to the Camino. I also (thankfully) knew nothing about the FB groups or YouTube videos.

The first few days I was with a Camino family of about 8 people. I remember when we were at Alto de Perdón there were a couple of guys with a van from one of the albergues in Puente la Reina trying to drum up business. We all decided that we would stay there. They offered to take our backpacks for us, and we all refused. After only four days of walking, that backpack was already a part of me, and I couldn't imagine sending it off in a van.
 
My husband and I are in our later sixties, and we hike our Camino with our packs on our backs. We carry as little as possible. It is a lesson in simplicity and it reminds us of how little we really need. It surprised us how many people send their packs ahead. No judgment there. We feel it’s part of our Camino to carry only what we really need.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
happypilgrim said:
I - personally - would not have been drawn to the Camino where bag transfer is so normalized.
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And for me, it was the opposite. 30+ years ago I did some multi day hikes carrying my own gear, but none at all since then. I was out-of-shape and training for the Camino was motivation to change that. But if I didn’t know in advance that I could/would send a duffel ahead, I might not have walked at all.

This last Camino I did I had to rely only on my small pack three days in a row, due to the holiday and lack of transport services. I survived, of course, but was happy when my duffel and I were reunited and I had a fresh change of clothes, an additional pair of shoes to give my feet a change, etc. Then again, I had also already arranged where I would sleep those interim nights - if I had wanted to walk further or less, I’m sure I would have been glad to have my necessities with me.

I am thinking for my next Camino I may try to arrange something similar, if I can find places that will hold my bag for 2-3 days, allowing me the flexibility of adjusting the length of my days, but also giving me way-points to swap out clothing, make adjustments to what I carry, etc.
 
Reactions: Jim

I mean, I get what you're saying, but now you're quantifying grief, and like you said, it's not a contest. My first camino in 2016 and my most recent camino in 2023 I was grieving heavily, and I carried my pack. Because grief and carrying my backpack didn't have anything do with each other. Does that mean someone who's grieving should carry their pack? Not for me to say, but again, I've already stated my opinion on the matter a few comments back.
 
I think that we’ve gotten to the point of very diminishing returns. Posts that accused others of being less than “authentic” for transporting their bags have been deleted. But now we’re in the realm of challenging those who have explained their own personal preferences about carrying their own bags as being judgmental, critical, engaged in a diatribe, etc.

I‘m going to close the thread, because I think the opinions have been well defined. And because the posts are getting snarky and accusatory, and the tone has switched from “throwing out my opinion” to “needing to aggressively defend my opinion.”
 
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