Known as a bird of passage, the tiny swallow travels great distances before returning home. We see its enduring migration as a reminder that the most meaningful lessons from our travels often reveal themselves after we return.

In these pages, you'll find our founder's collection of stories from past and present adventures around the globe: reflections on challenging days, unexpected moments of clarity, inspiring guest experiences, and lessons learned from both nature and people met along the way. Travel has always been about witnessing beauty and embracing change. These are the stories that have changed us.

Our travel blog: stories, reflections, and lessons from abroad.

Bird Of Passage

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This past spring, during our Camino Portugués retreat, our group took a day trip to Sintra and Pena Palace with a local guide. At one point, she shared a story that quietly settled in the back of my mind. I couldn’t tell you whether it was over coffee or on the drive to Sintra, but […]

The Story Behind Our Swallow

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I never thought I’d take a taxi on the Camino. When I walked my first Camino, I believed that if you walked the Camino, you walked every mile, climbed every hill, and earned every blister. In my mind, that was simply what pilgrims did. Anything less somehow didn’t count. Life, of course, had other plans. […]

The Taxi I Never Thought I’d Take

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Looking back, I was tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. At forty-one, I had spent more than two decades doing what life required of me. I became a mother at nineteen and had my son two years later. I married young, divorced by twenty-seven, and my focus became simple: work, […]

The Camino Didn’t Change My Life. It Changed Me.

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