à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Travel
Road Trip as American Camino: Finding “Finisterre”
Finisterre means “the end of the earth”. This town in Galicia, perched on a rocky outcropping, overlooks a seemingly eternal ocean. To explorers, it must have seemed like the end of terra firma, and it marked the terminus of my pilgrimage along El Camino de Santiago in Spain. At the Finisterre lighthouse, pilgrims burn a personal item from … Continue reading
Road Trip as American Camino: A chance to “shunpike’
The word “shunpike” just crossed my radar. From “shun” and “turnpike”, it originally referred to avoiding toll roads, but can now mean preferring lightly traveled country roads instead of highways, whether fee-based or not. El Camino de Santiago and a road trip offer a choice of “way”, both in terms of the different types of surfaces, and also … Continue reading
The Perils of Travel (and Food) Snobbery
Comparison is the thief of joy. – Theodore Roosevelt As a fairly well-traveled person with an educated palate, I once took pride in having sampled authentic cuisine in dozens of places around the world. Too much pride, at times. Having tasted what I thought was “the best” or “the truest”, I couldn’t comprehend how many Americans enjoyed meals that … Continue reading
Road Trip as American Camino: The Upside of Uncertainty
The question I posed at the end of Road Trip as American Camino (Part I), was: Could I find the essence of Europe’s Camino on the iconic American road trip, or was that simply a foolish proposition? To enter into uncertainty creates the possibility of surprise. Whether that’s perceived as an upside or a downside depends on … Continue reading
Road Trip: My American Camino (Part I)
Before setting off on my last minute road trip, the voices of fear gave me a lot of flak for not having planned it in advance, or “enough” in advance. Still, days into my trip, demons continued to berate me (“What the hell are you doing?!” they asked), anxiety held me in its death grip, and I was … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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