{"id":124450,"date":"2020-06-26T06:49:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T10:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mp-2702.milesopedia.dev\/news\/portrait-emmanuelle\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T05:30:10","slug":"portrait-emmanuelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mp-2702.milesopedia.dev\/en\/testimonials\/portrait-emmanuelle\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile of a milesopedia member: Emmanuelle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few words of introduction about Emmanuelle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

There are people on this planet whose life courses are out of the ordinary. We’re lucky enough to know one, and she’s a member of our milesopedia<\/a> group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her name is Emmanuelle. Cheerful, hyperactive, energetic, in her late thirties… but we’d think she’s barely 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Self-employed, private trainer and group classes instructor. Specialities: yoga, bootcamp, aquafitness and cardio boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, she seems to have fallen into the magic potion when she was little: she’s like a 1000-watt energy bulb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her two passions: sports and travel. And forget spectator sport and trips on the south shore… although, there are some very nice hikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She likes walking, running, climbing, skating, biking, paddleboarding, scuba diving, hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Did I mention walking? She also loved her adventures in hang gliding, trapeze, parachuting, Australian rappel and rafting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, she’s enthusiastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In her mid-twenties, she learned from her father, a contractor, how to renovate buildings and then sell them. Flips, as they say. Over here, jackhammer. She buys the materials with a free credit card that gives her AIR MILES<\/a> and since Rona allows her to earn miles, she spends them at Jean Coutu for her travel products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A first contact with the world of rewards that she appreciates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two duplexes later, she sells everything and decides to celebrate entering her thirties by leaving alone for seven months to Asia. I told you, she’s a girl on the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She buys her plane ticket and has no idea that it could have been free or almost free. She likes to travel on a small budget.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Guide in India and Nepal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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She arrives in Kuta, Bali. A city she loved so much that she will named her future dog in its honour. Then Thailand and India, which she will visit six times, because she simply loves this country and eventually works as a guide for India and Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Emmanuelle insists that she is, in spite of her great energy, a “slow traveller<\/a>” who walks the streets and takes the time to get in touch with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sleeps in youth hostels, in people’s homes, in tents, or she does couchsurfing<\/em>. She has already slept several nights in the passenger seat of her rented car in Mallorca, Spain.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A minimalist<\/strong>. To move around, she relies on hitchhiking, walking, biking, taking the bus, or renting a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a person with a strong sense of human ties and a citizen of the world, our member makes friends easily and still keeps in touch with many of the people she meets on her travels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Compostela<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, while reading “Les fl\u00e8ches jaunes” by Am\u00e9lie Dubois and lounging on a beach in Mexico, the idea of walking the road to Compostela took hold. It’s the first time she’s heard about this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months later, she’s there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The difference between a dream and reality is basically just a date! (I think I read that somewhere.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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36-litre Osprey Kite bag on her back, Salomon running shoes and merino wool socks on her feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She prides herself on being the only one who hasn’t had a blister among all the walkers. Her secret? The NOK anti-friction cream that she started coating her feet with every day one month before the start of the journey, and during.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For our general culture, the Catholic pilgrimage “Camino de Santiago”, known in English as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrims’ ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain), where tradition has it that the remains of the saints are buried there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, this is no longer why the majority of contemporary walkers do it, but it is still a time of introspection for many, even a spiritual approach.
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After a trip to France and Belgium with friends, Emmanuelle tackles the “Camino Franc\u00e8s” at the French-Spanish border: from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela, 792 km. Then another 100 km along the Atlantic coast between Fisterra and Muxia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She makes a French friend along the way, Mateo, and not wanting to stop their journey, they take a bus to Porto and then tackle the “Portuguese Camino” to Vigo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For a total of 1,200 kms in 42 days, with the last stage completed at night to arrive before the tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emmanuelle keeps a precious memory of all these hours in solo or duo followed by festive meals in the inns where she met people from all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, let’s add that a few days were spent on a bike because of a near tear of the anterior tibial muscle and recommendations from the doctor and the physiotherapist to stop the expedition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emmanuelle, however, preferred to continue the mountainous section on a rented bike rather than give up, before resuming her hike.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Did I tell you that Emmanuelle likes to walk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, it’s not until 2018, after:<\/p>\n\n\n\n