While I’m doing everything I can to avoid some real exercise, my walk has already started in my mind. I think about it every day, I try to get as much information as possible and I also try to guess what will happen.
Here’s my three best guesses about what will go down in Shikoku.
I will piss off one or more Buddhist monks
This one is pretty easy. Although Japanese people are known for their courtesy and stubborn refusal to show disagreement, I know I will piss off at least one religious man in a temple.
I won’t do it on purpose, as I plan on respecting the Shinto and Buddhist traditions, but I’m sure some kind of misunderstanding will eventually happen.
Hopefully, things won’t escalate and we will be able to solve everything by apologizing and bowing as low as possible. Apparently that’s the thing to do. We’ll see.
I will regret leaving something in Berlin
As much as I’m taking a lot of time to write in detail what I will put in my bag, my instinct tells me that something will be either forgotten, or not thought of.
I already have a candidate in mind: a mosquito net. Heavier rain gear is also something that puzzles me whenever I go on Amazon. This week, I considered to bring a lot of stuff, choosing materials, how much weight to dedicate to each “area” of the bag and so on.
It is impossible to plan everything 100%, as some unforeseen circumstances are bound to happen. The important thing is being able to adapt to those events, and keep on walking. God, it feels like I’m talking about my job here. Gee, go away, work.
In any case, get ready to hear some curses on this subject.
I will meet amazing people on the way
Truth to be told, this is more of a hope than a real prediction. On the Camino, three years ago, this was a big question mark in my head: what about the other pilgrims?
Sometimes, you are so focused on yourself that you don’t consider what kind of people you will meet while travelling. The relationship with other pilgrims on the Camino was a love/hate one. Mainly hate, according to my statistics.
There were also very inspiring and amazing people, though, and those are the ones whose friendship I treasure most. I hope it will be the same in Shikoku.
I plan on describing these people everything else that will happen, here on Rovering Life. Another prediction, a rather easy one, is that I will curse myself for this idea of writing every day, instead of getting some rest or explore the island. Hopefully, it will be worth the hustle.
Do you, reader, have any prediction for my pilgrimage? Let me know in the comments, and you’ll be up for winning the “Shikoku Nostradamus Award” when I will be back.