Posted in Travel sparks

Camino MacGyver

I started putting my Camino bits and pieces near my backpack today and I got ridiculously excited at the thought of the adventure ahead of us. Then I remembered that I’d bought this Utility Card at a recent Kathmandu sale and as I took it out of its packet, I got even more excited at the thought of who I could become with this item. Within its magical plastic confines (in a beautiful shade of blue, if you don’t mind) is all that I need to become…CAMINO MACGYVER. And I can not imagine a more helpful or ingenious Camino pilgrim than MacGyver, can you?

All that Camino MacGyver needs...
All that Camino MacGyver needs…

What’s that, fellow pilgrim, need a pen to sign off that tapas bill? Allow me! Hola, traveller – need some scissors to cut the tag off your new backpack? Here you go, champ! What’s that, there’s a man on the hillside who needs his appendix removed? Let’s do this, kids! And then I can file my nails and draw a really straight line while we wait for the paramedics to come and fix him up.

Seriously, this Utility Card has pretty much everything – I know, because I just pulled out all of the little things to make sure (you never know with discounted stock): screwdriver, toothpick, tweezers, scissors, nail file, ruler, knife, pen, pin.

Don't be fooled - the nail file and screwdriver are on the same little tool. AMAZING.
Don’t be fooled – the nail file and screwdriver are on the same little tool. AMAZING.

So, without wishing to jinx our impending travels, I am now more confident than ever that Steph and I will be able to deal with whatever comes our way on the Camino. MacGyver-style.

(And in case you too were wondering, the pen really does work.)
(And in case you too were wondering, the pen really does work.)
Posted in Sparks in the wild, Travel sparks

Whistle While You Walk

This isn’t really a book club, I just wanted to show you this excerpt from the book I’m currently reading on how to pack for the Camino de Santiago. I hadn’t expected there to be so much to learn about the topic, but it’s quite a long book. Like a lot of the reading I’ve done about the Camino, it’s super-informative, but parts of it are slightly disturbing.

Sounds like a plan.
Sounds like a plan.

Just look at that dude on the cover, trotting along the Way, with a little bird helping lift the burden of his (already tiny) backpack. Happy days on the Camino, yes? Well, not every day, if page 106 of this book is to be believed. I’m off to buy a whistle. Or a high-tech sound device.

Yikes.
Yikes.