Meeple Lady goes to Europe: Camino de Santiago + UKGE
If you had asked me a year ago what I would be doing in May 2026, never in a million years would I have said walking the Camino de Santiago by myself. I’m not really an outdoorsy person – I’d say more outside-y than outdoorsy – and my vacations never involved a long hike, and they were never solo either. But I was looking for an adventure.
The Camino de Santiago is a network of ancient pilgrimage routes across Europe leading to Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region of Spain. In mid-May, I flew to Spain to Ferrol to start the Camino Ingles, one of the Camino de Santiago routes that is about 68 miles once completed. It was a daily grind, going from 8 to 15 miles a day, in the span of nearly a week.
Here’s how I broke up the different stages. I did a solo trip because I wanted to go at my own pace (and because I knew that I probably wouldn’t be going as fast as seasoned hikers):
- Neda
- Pontedeume
- Betanzos
- Hospital de Bruma (Carral)
- Sigueiro
- Santiago de Compostela
I stayed exactly one night at each stage, with the exception of Hospital de Bruma, as I took a taxi to get to a gorgeous hotel off the beaten path to Costa da Egoa in Carral for a two-night break in the middle of my walk. Definitely worth the cab ride!
I started hiking around the Phoenix area in January to prepare, and I’m so glad I did that training. The distances and hills were sometimes not a walk in the park! I walked through towns, rural areas, beaches, neighborhoods and even next to a highway some days.
I met so many people along the way, so even though I was traveling solo, I never felt alone. The Spanish countryside felt so safe.
Along the Camino, there were lots of places to stop for a bite to eat. My walk was essentially powered by tortillas and cafe con leches.
When you stop at a local business, you can ask for a stamp. Those walking the Camino will fill up their pilgrim p0assport with stamps, which then at the end, you can get a certificate for completing your camino.
The route was also easy to follow via the Camino Ninja app, but also there are markers in plain sight everywhere. Right when you think you took a wrong turn, a new marker will pop up.
And then arriving at Santiago de Compostela and seeing that cathedral was just incredible. I did it! The whole journey gave me a sense of calm that I don’t think I’ve experienced. It ended up being quite possibly one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve done – and I am ready to do it again on another route next year. I want to see what other Camino routes look like!
Post-Camino travels
I explored Santiago de Compostela for a few days. The town had the vibe of a Middle Ages college town. There were so many shops, cafes and souvenir shops. And there were so many churches! The architecture is just stunning!
Then, I took a three-hour train to Madrid for a few days. The airport in Santiago de Compostela was closed for a month when I was there, so I decided to go to Madrid to fly back to London after a few days there. I went to the Prado Museum. Seeing all those works of art by Velázquez, Goya and El Bosco was such an unreal experience.
I also saw a folklorico show, walked around the beautiful city and did some shopping. I definitely have to come back another time!
London + Birmingham
Then on the tail end of my trip, I flew to London to spend a few days there before flying back to Phoenix. I have been to London a few times already so I didn’t feel the need to squeeze in a busy itinerary. I made reservations and had a phenomenal dinner at Michelin star restaurant Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library.
I also loved my meal at Dishoom. I would seriously fly back to London just to eat dinner again, and I hear that they’re opening one up in NYC. Yessss! NYC is much closer than London from Phoenix.
I met up with Harold Buchanan, who was coincidentally in town for a family trip, and we had coffee at &Arabica, this excellent coffee place from Japan that had a cafe in Covent Garden. I’ll be seeing him in St. Paul, Minnesota, in July for SDHistCon North!
While in London, I saw Cynthia Erivo in a one woman show: Dracula. It was a little unhinged but in the best way possible. She played ALL the roles in Dracula, and it was such a choreographed dance between her, the cameras and the on-stage costume changes, as well as pre-recorded filters of herself dressed as other characters so that she can carry on a conversation with herself.
On the Friday of UKGE, I took a train up to Birmingham to attend the convention for one day at the National Exhibition Centre, which had a train station so it was really easy to get there. This place is ginormous, and about 88,000 people attended!
Attending UKGE meant I got to meet my Senet editor Dan Jolin for the first time! I’ve been writing for Senet magazine since 2019 and it was such a treat to meet him and a few other Senet colleagues. If you don’t subscribe to the magazine, you should! We do great work!
I also got to meet James Wallis, and attended a Spiel des Jahres presentation with him and the organization’s president, Harald Schrapers. It was interesting to hear about the trajectory and history of the organization, and how the group of journalists and game critics picks the winners each year. It was good to hear Harald at least acknowledging the lack of diversity of that group and that they are working on that.
The rest of the time I spent wandering the halls and checking out all the booths. There was so much convention space!
I queued up like a good Brit and waited to buy some games from Saatchi & Saatchi. I also picked up a couple of Oink games and one from Alley Cat.
I’d love to attend UKGE for longer next time, but by then, I was on week two of my trip and I was ready to go home. Luckily, it’s a straight flight from London back to Phoenix. And like I said above, my next convention will be SDHistCon’s first convention in the Midwest in St. Paul. It’ll be two days of wargaming inside the Union Depot. Can’t wait!
