Wellington-Auckland-Bangkok-Frankfurt-Bilbao // Munich-Tokyo-Auckland-Wellington phew!
Sounds tiring.
What a way to see the world though. It is such a shame that I can't spend time in all of the cities I stop at but I am sure that I will make up for that during my travels across, within and around Europe.

I just read the introduction to the book by Joyce Rupp, Walk in a Relaxed Manner - Life lessons from the Camino and I feel so lucky and privileged to have this opportunity to walk the Camino albeit not as a pilgrimage as such across the whole distance. I think of all the people who would love or value an experience such as this and don't for a variety of reasons from lack of finances to lack of confidence. I sometimes forget that I am lucky to have been born with the potential to develop the ability to obtain the means to do this and to learn from the many life experiences that have made me who I am today, which in turn has enabled me to set in motion this journey.

I am really looking forward to reading this book as, from the brief introduction that I have read so far seems to be written from the heart and promises to give me, not only a first hand description of the sorts of things I have to look forward to but also an insight into the 'life changing experiences' I have may encounter. Joyce and her friend travelled the Camino from early September to early October which is exactly the time that I am going to be travelling. I will be interested to read about the challenges that they faced especially those of a physical nature. It will be interesting to see if my challenges are similar in any way to those faced by Joyce and if they do differ greatly because I am going to complete an 'abridged' version of Joyce's pilgrimage.

Anyway enough of the pontificating. My itinerary has been finalised and I leave Wellington NZ on the 9th September 2010 at 10am. From there I travel to Auckland where I board a Lufthansa flight to Bangkok. Form Bangkok I travel to Frankfurt arriving at 6.10am on the 10th September and on to Bilbao arriving at 1.20pm. I am not sure of how long I will be travelling as I have no idea of the time differences etc but one thing I am sure of. It will be a long time.
Luckily I have a few days to recover from jet lag and enjoy the delights of Bilbao before I join the Walker's World trip at 3.30 on the 12th September.