Paper doesn’t blush, but frequently reality is entirely different … This experience Gerd and I have to make again and again when we are planning a spiritual journey. We peruse guide books for weeks, plan great routes and then, when we are on site, the first challenges arise: sites and places that were described as being well worth visiting in the books turn out be not very attractive, hotels and restaurants fall short of our expectations, or we unexpectedly stumble on a great object of interest in the middle of our planned route which we do not want to ignore and would like to fit in in our itinerary someway.

Thus, hardly a day goes by in the course of our preparation trip where we do not have to replan. Nevertheless, we look forward to new impressions and experiences every morning and collapse into the hotel bed bone-weary but content in the evening.