I arrive in Barcelona, where my great friends Gian and Dani welcome me. I stay with them for a few days to adjust to the time change and prepare for the Camino. All I know is that the Camino exists and that there are several different routes. I don’t know which one I’ll take or how far I’ll go. What I do know is that I want to reach Santiago de Compostela. Many people do it in stages over several years. I want to do the whole thing in one go.

I start noticing how unprepared I am when Gian begins asking me questions about my plan, and I can’t answer any of them. I don’t know if I’ll walk or bike. If I bike, I have no idea how many kilometers or steps I’ll cover each day.

On Sunday, one day before starting, I ask ChatGPT to create a combined bike and walking plan to complete the Camino in 15 days, and it gives me an itinerary that I would later discover is totally inhumane: an average of 70 km per day and 150 km on the last day. I have never done anything like this, so it seems reasonable to me.

I look for a bike, but I don’t know where I’ll rent one. I don’t know where I’ll start. I don’t have a sleeping bag. In short, I know nothing. All I know is that I want to go to Decathlon, the sports store, to buy socks and that I’ll start the Camino on Monday. I start to worry when Gian tells me he’d like to do it too but feels he isn’t physically prepared. If anyone here is prepared, it’s him, I think.

I haven’t been on a bike all year, nor have I walked more than a hundred steps at a time. I try to rent a bike, but all the companies turn me down because I’m looking at the last minute. Finally, after scrolling all the way down on Google, I find a family-run company willing to rent me a bike. At least that’s sorted.

I buy a ticket to San Sebastián, the starting point Gian suggested, and realize, before leaving, that the ticket I bought only allows for a small backpack. So, I leave behind my 50-liter backpack with lumbar support and take my small laptop backpack instead. I see it as an advantage—reducing weight is always a good idea. I don’t have proper shoes, and it’s too late to buy any, as it’s well known that you can’t hike in brand-new shoes; they need to mold to your feet first.