A trail has finally broken me. I've met a trail that I just can't hack. It's El Camino Santiago.

I'm pretty tough mentally. I smile during mountaineering moments when most people cry. I've hiked nearly 15,000 miles (24,000 km) in the last decade, having a blast under nearly all conditions. I've never even though about quitting a trail. Until now.

Walking from Pamplona to Burgos is murderously dull, yet most say it is much more scenic than Burgos to Leon. That's when I considered quiting.

It also made me admire all the pilgrims who are not only able to walk the whole trail, but to also do it with a smile on their faces! I am clearly not tough enough!

But I won't quit. Fortunately, I have a solution that will keep me from giving up completely.

Where is El Camino Santiago?

The name El Camino Santiago is deceptive. Its most popular translated names (the Way of St. James or Le Chemin St. Jacques) are also misleading. These names imply that there is one trail, one way, one path to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, ANY way to Santiago de Compostela is a Camino Santiago. All roads may lead to Rome, but all caminos lead to Santiago de Compostela.

If you zoom into the map of Europe on the right, you may notice that one trail is a bit thicker than the rest. This is the famous Camino Frances, or French Trail. It is the most popular way to Santiago de Compostela. However, the key takeaway from the map is that there are many caminos.

In this article you'll find 58 photos from the rest of my Pyrenees crossing, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. I jumped between the GR 11 (Spain), HRP (high route), and the GR 10 (France), depending on the conditions, scenery, and my food supply. West of Andorra the Pyrenees climb to their high point before slowly descending into the Atlantic Ocean. If you want to stay chronological, make sure you see the first half of this trip.

It was late September and I got hammered with a snowstorm. I found a green weather station at a high mountain pass. As I climbed up the freezing rain turned to snow. I wasn't carrying my trusty and strong GoLite umbrella. Instead, I had a $4 umbrellla, which survived this storm. It did OK for two weeks and then started slowly falling apart. It was better than I expected!

Mont Blanc, at 4,810 meters (15,781 feet), is the tallest mountain in Western Europe and taller than any mountain in the contiguous USA. On September 1, 2009, I solo climbed Mont Blanc with trail runners (with crampons and an ice ax) in 48 hours.

Solo climbing Mont Blanc is dangerous; attempting it in sneakers adds to the risk. I don't recommend doing it, but I will explain why and how I did it.

About the photos: I lost my camera before my climb so I had use a disposable camera. It took lousy photos, so I tried making them more interesting by altering their colors.

Some facts to put the climb in perspective:

• Yosemite's Half Dome hike has 1,600 meters (4,800 feet) of elevation gain; the summit is 2,650 meters (8,842 feet).
• Starting from Chamonix, a Mont Blanc climber enjoys 3,800 meters (12,500 feet), or about 2.5 times more elevation gain than Half Dome.
• Mt. Rainier is at about the same latitude, but is 1,400 feet shorter than Mont Blanc (4,492 vs. 4,810 meters). Because there is only half the oxygen you get at sea level, this extra bit of climbing can be challenging.

I had Acute Mountain Symptoms (AMS) the whole way up. I felt like a zombie most of the time.

Mont Blanc is located in Chamonix, France. You can approach it up the Italian side, but I am half French, so I picked the French side. Most people take either a gondola or cog train to save them up to 2,000 meters of climbing. However, I avoided the lift and started climbing from Chamonix (technically, I started from Les Houches) at 6 p.m. My starting altitude was about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).

Agrandir le plan

By sunset the trail ended at a stop on the cog train tracks. Three friendly Italians had set up camp inside an abandoned building there. I crawled in through the window and joined them. I fell asleep around 9:30 p.m.

It's easy to criticize poor George W. Bush for confusing Slovakia and Slovenia. On the other hand, most people on the planet wouldn't know the difference between those two countries either.

One guy who does know the difference is Eric Wiltsher. This lively British gentleman has been broadcasting for Radio Tatras International in Slovakia for several years now. Eric has traveled all over the world and has endless stories to share.

On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia split in two: the Czech Republic on the west and Slovakia on the east. Although Slovakia may not be as economically rich as its western brother, it has mountains and nature that blow away what the Czech Republic offers.

Tune in this WanderLearn Podcast on Slovakia, where you will hear Eric's entertaining perspective. We will occasionally take a break and listen to traditional Slovak music. By the end of the podcast, I promise that you will know more about Slovakia than George Bush.

I will write all about Slovakia in my 2nd book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. For now, please enjoy the podcast and tell me what you think on my forum!

To download this WanderLearn Podcast, right click and select "Save Target..." or "Save Link As..." depending on your browser.

Listen Now!

• Crossed the rebuilt Serbian bridges in Novi Sad.
  
• Hitchhiked with a trucker to Timisoara, Romania.
  
• Explored Italy for a month.
  
• Checked San Marino off the list of countries I have to see.
  
• Climbed Mt. Etna, a volcano in Sicily.
  
• Laid on a beach on Gozo island in Malta.
  
• Ate freshly made cheese in the mountains of Slovenia.
  
• Survived a nearly fatal backpacking trip in the Dolomites of Italy.
  
• Built trails in Bavaria, Germany.
  
• Visited the Linz, Austria, the 2009 European Cultural Capital.
  

Kaliningrad is the most hidden part of Europe. It's hard to find Europeans who know where it is (or have even heard of it). And it's almost impossible to find people outside of Europe who have heard of it.

So where is it?

Kaliningrad is a part of Russia that is nestled in between Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic Sea. When you look at its location on a map, it begs the question: why didn't Kaliningrad free itself of Russia's influence (like its Baltic neighbors and Poland did)?

The answer is that Kaliningrad is populated by Russians, who have little desire to become independent like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (which all have distinctly different languages and cultures).

The easiest way to understand Kaliningrad is to think of it as Russia's Alaska. In other words, like Alaska, Kaliningrad is disconnected from its motherland. Russians in Kaliningrad feel just as Russian as Alaskans feel like Americans.

Unlike the three Baltic countries, Russians were able to dominate the ethnic demographics of Kaliningrad. The reason they could pull that off was that Kaliningrad was mostly populated by Germans. After World War II, few had sympathy for the Germans, even innocent civilians. Therefore, the Soviets did what they did best: deported tens of thousands of people. But instead of sending the Germans to the normal Soviet deportation location (Siberia), they packed them in train cars and shipped them to Germany. With an empty landscape, Russians quickly shipped thousands of Russians to move into the vacant German homes. Fast forward 60 years, Germans make up only 0.5% of the population. Ethnic cleaning at its finest!

In this WanderLearn podcast, I interview the wonderful Natasha Perreault. She was born and raised in Kaliningrad, but now she lives in Washington, DC and is married to an American. Natasha shares her knowledge of Kaliningrad and we break the podcast up with traditional Russian music.

I had a great experience visiting Kaliningrad in February of 2009. Some of my adventures included:

• Staying with a Russian man and his 8-year-old son,
• Touring the city with Natasha's 66-year-old uncle.
• Attempting to get a tan on the snow covered beaches of Zelenogradsk.
• Ice fishing off of the Curonian Spit with some old, hardy Russian men.
  

One of the greatest myths about Kaliningrad is that it's just a big military outpost. Although it does have the highest military infrastructure in Europe, it also has other huge industries. For example, 33% of Russia's TVs are made in Kaliningrad. Hummers and BMVs are made in Kaliningrad. In short, Kaliningrad is not just Russia's Alaska, but also Russia's Hong Kong.

I will write all about Kaliningrad in my 2nd book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. For now, please enjoy the podcast and tell me what you think on my forum!

To download this WanderLearn Podcast, right click and select "Save Target..." or "Save Link As..." depending on your browser.

Listen Now!

This WanderLearn Podcast is about the biggest country in Europe: Ukraine.

(If you get very technical about it, Russia and Denmark have more land if you include their terrorities outside of Europe.)

Ukraine is so big that the podcast is a double interview.

First, I interview Rick DeLong, an American who has worked and lived in Ukraine (and other Eastern European countries).

Second, I have a brief interview with Luba James, who was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, but now lives in San Francisco.

Combined, you'll get some insight into this vast country in Europe. It may not answer all your questions, but at least it will get you thinking about Ukraine.

To download this, right click and select "Save Target..." or "Save Link As..." depending on your browser.

Listen Now!

For my travel update May 1, 2009:

99% of the people this planet can't find Latvia on a map. It's one of those three mysterious, hidden Baltic states that few people talk about and fewer people visit.

However, Latvia's capital, Riga, is the most important city in the Baltic. Its strategic location has been coveted over the centuries that tens of thousands have died trying to control this precious city.

As glorious as Riga is, Latvia offers much more to the visitor. It has the lovely Gauja National Park with two interesting towns of Cesis and Sigulda. It also has some nice beaches along the Baltic Sea. And of course, there is much more for the curious to discover.

I interview Edite Lucava, a Latvian that I met 5 years ago in Belarus. We talked only 20 minutes five years ago, but we've kept in touch ever since. Unfortunately, we haven't met face to face in the last five years. I called her on Skype to record her thoughts about her country.

You'll also get to hear the #1 Latvian band, Brainstorm. I break up the podcast with some of their music.

To download this, right click and select "Save Target..." or "Save Link As..." depending on your browser.

Listen Now!

How much do you know about Belarus?

Did you know that it is the last communist dictatorship in Europe?

Did you know that most Belarusians don’t speak Belarusian in everyday life?

In this WanderLearn episode, I interview Yarik, a Belarusian who is living in Washington, DC. He shares his insights in this country in The Hidden Europe.

Right click to "Save As..." and put it on your MP3 player.

Listen Now!

Here is one person's review of the podcast.

Julia Trutko is an Estonian of Russian descent. She's living in San Francisco now.

She's quite intelligent and thoughtful. This is one of the best WanderLearn podcasts because she is so clear, precise, and insightful. She's a fascinating lady and you will enjoy the podcast, which includes music from Estonia.

Listen and learn what it's like to be the 25% in Estonia who are Russophones - people who prefer to speak Russian.

Listen Now!

After interviewing Dalia Vaiste, a Lithuanian, I did two phone interviews with foreigners who have roots in Lithuania.

The first interview

Stephanie Carnell was born in Lithuania, but left to the US at an early age. She visited her family in Lithuania every year for the last 10 years.

She has many things to say about Lithuania and how it has changed in the last decade.

Nowadays she loves wolves and Lithuania.

The second interview

Cedric Heriot is Frenchman married to a Lithuanian. After a rough start, he's gotten settled down in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Enjoy the podcast!

To download it, right click and select "Save Target As..." (in Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As..." (in Firefox).

Listen Now!