Camino Group Trip!!!!!! OMG!
My 2023 goals
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Yeah baby! Camino here we come, but this time…with you!
This newsletter is coming out two days early because we opened registration for our Camino group trip and I don’t want you to miss out if you are not following us on other social media. We only have a small amount of spots available.
We have been wanting to host a group trip on the Camino for years, but we could not figure out just how to do this, where to start/end, and what to do if someone needed a zero-day (non walking day). We finally figured it out! We will hike the last 100km with 14-16 of you from September 25-October 1st. It is five days in a row of walking with an intro and exit day for a total of 7 days together. And to start this trip off right we are beginning on my birthday, this is a dream come true for me/us and why not go full in with the celebration. All the details, accommodations, and prices can be found here.
If you have no idea what the Camino is and why it is so important to us you can check out our daily vlogs from the 44 days we hiked 580 miles with the kids in Spain.
This group trip has been requested for years and it will fill fast so don’t hesitate if you have been dreaming of hiking the Camino Frances.
It feels huge to share them
Every January 1st we sit down as a family to discuss our goals. We get out the post-its and cookies and hit it hard. This is always a fun afternoon as there are often some outlandish goals that we all fully embrace, some more health/spiritual and of course the professional/school/biz additions.
Health:
Hike: I miss walking in nature. Being on a boat limits this tremendously so I am not quite sure how I am going to accomplish hiking as regularly as I would like. My first step in this direction is to organize several long(ish) hikes to balance out the baby ones I can fit in. First up, a four-day hike to Machu Picchu in March with a fabulous group of WorldTowning Voyagers. We have one spot left if anyone is interested. And as of yesterday, we just launched our first-ever group Camino Frances hike for 7 days of magic. If you are interested in joining us you can sign up here. Space is limited so don’t miss out.
Swim better: Some of you might remember the vlog where I talked about having a near-drowning incident almost a year ago. Well, this has left me a bit nervous in the water so I want to work on bringing back my swimming ability this year.
Meditate Every day, for 15 minutes. I already do this, but not every day.
Pescatarian to vegetarian to vegan: I am a pescatarian/vegetarain. I want to move toward being 100% vegetarian and by the end of the year work on cutting out dairy.
No alcohol: I do not consume much alcohol, to begin with, but I am going to go a year without any alcohol. Not because it is an issue with me, but because I want to focus more on my health.
Business:
Camino group trip (January): Launch and host our first-ever WorldTowning Voyages group trip on the Camino Frances (as mentioned above). We launched it yesterday!
Launch our Podcast (February): This has been on our radar for over 4 years now. Yikes. It will launch next month, period. It is my only priority for our business right now. To follow us you can go here or stay right here on substack. This is the biggest project I/we will undertake this year IMHO.
Newsletter: When I relaunched our newsletter on this platform a couple of months ago it was because I was missing the connection to our community on a deeper level. Remember my blogging days over at Goodie Goodie Gumdrop? You can check out the archives here. And wow, the response to the newsletter has been so much bigger than I had anticipated. I want to grow the community in 2023! I welcome your suggestions on topics you want me to share my thoughts on.
Launch another group trip (February): We are toying with several locations: another Camino if the first one sells out, a Christmas market tour at the beginning of December, the South of France in September, or one other mystery location. What would your vote be for?
India group trip (July): This has been our most requested trip for years now. I am happy to share that we will be opening registration in July for a trip to India in late December/early January 2024! If you want to be put on the priority waitlist you can do so here.
No working on the weekends: I put this as a goal every year and I fail miserably every year, particularly in 2022. Wowza! However, I am going to try harder to be successful at it this year, even if that means crazy M-F hours. I am sending you this newsletter on Saturday which means, um, not starting out strong on the “no working weekends” goal.
Grow our YouTube Channel: The channel has been suffering a bit the last two months and this makes me very, very sad. Very sad. We love the community, but other life stuff has taken priority. It is no joke preparing to cross an ocean after one year of sailing (from beginner) and now preparing to cross another one. We want to share more of how we live this life.
Write a book (ongoing): My goal is to start writing every morning for 3-4 hours beginning February 1st. Of course, on our sail days and our group trips I will not be able to write, but just scheduling in several hours a day at this point feels huge since I have been muddling around with it in my head for years. I envision this taking two years to write if I am realistic with the happenings in our life and business. At this point, I have 3 books I want to write, but just starting with #1 is this year's goal.
Personal:
More time with Largo: Time, isn’t it what we all want more of? I have become hyper-aware of it in the last several months since we launched Avalon. We only have 3.5 years left with Largo and I sometimes wonder if we will even have that much. Will he want to do a year someplace with his sister since he already does remote school? Or maybe he will leave us every summer? We just can’t predict how his personal and life goals will unfold so I want to make the most of the time we have left.
Backpack SouthEast Asia: Some of you might remember that our plan was to spend a year in Asia, we made it to Japan (our first stop), and then we got locked down for 5 months. Well, that itch is still there. It is the one travel goal I so wish we could have manifested with both kids under our roof. Avalon may do some version of backpacking Asia this summer and Largo might join her. Will and I will be in India in June (possibly with Largo) and a meet-up of all of us might occur for several weeks, a month, or if we are lucky two months. We definitely plan to explore SEA on the boat, but I suspect we may be empty nesters by then. Bummer.
Sail to the South Pacific: It is on the calendar for mid-April. I know we have crossed the Atlantic and there will not be much prep necessary from a boating perspective to cross another ocean, but this still feels HUGE, HUGE, and HUGER! And the HUGEST of all HUGES!
Read (or audible) 1 book a week: I failed miserably for week one, ugh. But, I will keep going. I try to do this while I am doing other things on the boat, maybe cooking or groceries, etc. If I am not cooking that day or we are way off grid then my reading time happens at night (hence last week), BUT when I go to bed I am so tired that I fall asleep reading. Hmmm, I must find a solution. Suggestions. Last week (and now this week) I am reading “The Power of Moments” by Chip and Dan Heath.
Learn French in French Polynesia: It is on the list, every year and it gets back burnered. If we do end up sailing in French Polynesia for a year I am going to put more effort into making it happen and doing language excursions with locals. I would love to just go live with someone for a month or two, but I think that may be complicated. Ha!
Buy a fixer house in France and remodel with Largo: Dying to do this, year after year after year after year. It is just not in our budget right now, but I keep it on the list for inspiration. In our 30s and early 40s, we spent a lot of time buying, remodeling, investing, and sometimes selling our real estate. It was a load of fun, some days I really miss it, but not enough to give up the travel lifestyle which I love more. I want to expose Largo (and Avalon if she wants to join in) to this passive income strategy.
Healing: I will elaborate more on this, but for now I want to keep it to myself.
What are your goals for 2023? Do they feel huge, manageable, or something else? Do you set goals, and resolutions or pick a word for the year? Something else you do? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thank you all for joining me this week. I am going to hit send right now so if you are contemplating the Camino with us you don’t miss your spot. Have a fabulous weekend.
xoxo,
Jessica
Where are we now?
The San Blas islands off the coast of Panama.
To learn more about us, our mission, and our business you can visit us at WorldTowning. To view our most recent group trip offerings head on over to WorldTowningvoyages.com. If you are interested in booking a coaching session to realize your travel dream, schedule it here. If you want to follow the travels of our WorldTowning family, you can find us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
Can’t wait to read your book!