Before and after...

It has been a crazy year… How many curves can a life take in just twelve months? A year can feel unbearably long when things aren’t working out, but it can also feel impossibly short when everything moves fast. We can fit so many turns, chances, and moments into one single year. Who would have thought, only a year ago, that I’d be saying this now: I moved to Austria, then just a few months later I found myself in one of the most beautiful countries in South America, and afterwards I walked more than 1,000 km across Spain and Portugal. Along the way I met countless wonderful people, learned so much about myself, and got one step closer again to my goal.

When I returned from Venezuela, I barely had time to process what happened before the thought of El Camino, the legendary pilgrimage, appeared. It wasn’t on my “bingo card,” yet somehow the idea stuck. For those unfamiliar, El Camino de Santiago (or St. James’s Way) stretches about 800 km across Spain, starting from the French border in St. Jean-Pied-de-Port and ending in Santiago de Compostela. Traditionally, people walk it for religious reasons, or when they’re stuck at a crossroads in life, looking for clarity. For me, it became both: a challenge to push myself further and a chance to clear the fog, while moving toward my ultimate dream, Asia.

When I returned to Austria for my second work season, things already felt different. I was a little more conscious, thinking more about photography, aware that something inside me had shifted. Still, I had no clear plan for the future. I only knew I needed money, to save for camera gear, to fund my travels. But then life turned again. Mid-season, unexpectedly, I lost my job. I felt miserable, like I had failed myself yet again. But life has a strange way of showing us doors when windows close. At my lowest, the idea of El Camino appeared like a sudden ray of light through a dark tower. The timing was perfect: I had just the right amount of free time between two seasons, enough to finish the walk and still return to find another job. And how magical would it be to celebrate the second anniversary of my “resurrection” on El Camino itself? Once the idea took root, it moved quickly: ticket purchased to Barcelona, then Pamplona, then to the official starting point at St. Jean-Pied-de-Port. That was it, decision made. Of course, doubts arrived just as fast: Am I capable of walking 800 km? How do I even prepare for such a trip? But by then it didn’t matter. The tickets were bought, the path was waiting. My future was already decided: I was going to Spain to walk El Camino.