Welcome
HM Travels

Roughly heart-shaped, Tasmania lies just south of Australia’s eastern coast — a rugged, green island known for wild weather, deep forests, and some of the country’s most rewarding hikes. I had heard about the Overland Track for years and finally decided to walk it in the middle of the Tasmanian summer. Knowing that permits for the Overland Track are tightly limited, I checked the Tasmania Parks website and discovered that there was exactly one permit left for December — for a

I recently discovered that South Korea has its own sister pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago, the Jeju Olle Trail, a network of coastal and inland paths that circle Jeju Island. Jeju, often called the “Hawaii of South Korea,” is a volcanic island roughly 73 km across and 31 km from north to south, known for its dramatic cliffs, lush forests, and a culture shaped by wind, stone, and sea. The trail itself was created in 2007 by Suh Myung‑Suk, a Korean journalist inspired by h

I first learned about the Kumano Kodo—the spiritual sister of Spain’s famed Camino de Santiago—and felt a desire to walk its ancient paths when I walked the Camino Frances. Recently I decided to hike it and arrived in Osaka. From Kansai, leaving the bustle of Osaka behind, I boarded a charming little train bound for Shirahama, its retro design and scenic coastal views already hinting at the journey’s quiet magic. The Kumano Kodo offers two main pilgrimage routes: the forested

In April 2025, three longtime friends—me included—set out to walk the 280 km Camino Portuguese from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. This was a follow-up to my solo Camino Frances trek in 2024, a journey of 850 km across northern Spain. This time, with over thirty years of friendship between us, camaraderie was at the heart of our adventure. The trip began with the usual chaos that budget airlines can inspire. RyanAir demanded a series of app-based steps just

Dharamsala is a beautiful city on the foothills of the himalayas in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the place that has hosted the Dalai Lama for the past several decades. There are several beautiful hikes that start from Dharamsala and I decided to do a short day hike with a guide. The route to the start of the hike is a dense forest and the road is uneven. The tall old-growth trees are mesmerizing and remind me of California forests. After about an hour of driving on re

The second highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kenya, rising over 5 kilometers. In terms of beauty, it is the first, according to Kenyans. It has three peaks, Batian (5,199 meters (17,057 feet)), Nelion (5,188 m (17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 m (16,355 ft)). Batian and Nelion are technical climbs needing crampons, ice-axe, harnesses, cables, hooks etc. The Lenana peak can be climbed with a hike.   I planned on a 4-day trip which would allow me to climb up the Sirimon ga

Shravan month, the 5th month of the Hindu calendar, corresponds to the monsoon season in India, and falls around August to September. Hindus consider this month as holy and people fast and worship during this month. Many people consider Mondays of Shravan to be especially auspicious. A holy site in Nashik, Maharashtra is Trambakeshwar, and it is part of the 12 Jyortilingas , devotional representations of the Hindu god Shiva. Brahmagiri is a hill near Nashik and is near Tram

Today was the final day of the long walk, and I woke up by 5AM. Aaron and I had decided to walk together, and we headed out at 6AM sharp. It was dark outside and the path was very steep at various points. Over the 31km walk today, a climb of 1900 feet was expected. We were walking pretty fast and there was no one on the path. Before dawn, we missed a marker and walked about half a kilometer before realizing and course-correcting. The dawn started with beautiful colored sky. T

Knowing that I was at least 10 km behind Aaron, I got up before 5 AM and was walking on the path by 5:15AM. The Argentinian fast walker had also been up and I left while he was still getting ready. The path was dark, my headlamp battery was fading, and soon I was almost in a ditch by the roadside. As I righted myself, I saw the Argentinian walk steadily behind me with his headlamp shining brightly. Aaron was up and had texted me that he would start a little bit later in the d

Sarria is the starting point of hiking the trail for majority of the people as it is 115km away and that is nearly the minimum distance one has to walk in order to get a certificate showing they walked on it. With my long walk of 51km yesterday, I started the day a bit later than usual. I was surprised to see Aaron, the young fast walker from England to be at the same Albergue as me, and we both saw each other as we were starting out. We were out on the path at 7:30AM and saw

I was amazed at myself to get on the road by 4:45AM. It was a dark, starry night. As I walked in the cloudless sky, I pulled out my Sky Tonight app and could see many constellations, including the Ursa major as well as Leo. It was quite a hilly climb right from the start today. At least 3600 feet climb was expected in the 44 km I had planned for the day. Walking 5km, I reached the highest altitude in the area, and the low lighting made the picture above look quite interesting

Today’s goal was a 37 km walk with about 5000 feet climb so it was surely not a trivial one. The temperatures were getting higher and mornings were in the high 40°F. No rain was predicted for the next several days. I got a 6 AM start while it was pretty dark, but quite peaceful and the headlamp was enough to illuminate the path. Passing by the ‘Santuario de nuestra señora de las Angustias’, I took a picture and proceeded. The dawn was again quite amazing with the slow illumin

Many of my photographer friends have shown me pictures of the Milky Way and I am always amazed at their fantastic photography. I personally have never been able to take such beautiful pictures. Mostly because I just use my iPhone all the time which does not have that level of capability. I started walking and found the full display of stars in the absence of light pollution. I was happy to take one picture where at least some stars are visible. Today, the path was very hilly,

I started walking at 7:45, after spending over 11 hours in bed and really getting a great night's rest. A half hour in the walk, the sun was rising, and the sky turned into beautiful colors. It was a great sight to see the sun peak out from the horizon. Another pilgrim came from behind me and started talking to me, I recognized him as my bunkmate from a couple of days ago in Léon. It was beginning to be quite steep, and I kept walking up the relentless hill. At the crest was

Today it was 32°F, which is 0°C, freezing, and I started walking at about 6:45 AM. Right off the bat, I stubbed my toe three times in a row and lost my way a couple of times. Luckily, the Buen Camino app was my rescuer and eventually I was on the right path. Last night, the municipal Albergue which had one room with 12 bunkbeds, had a lot of activity. The pilgrims were a little noisy, snoring, waking up multiple times in the night, making it a little hard to get continuous sl

I started by 7:15 AM from the Albergue and had a plan to walk 37 km, not too much and not too little. The destination was Léon and that is one of the biggest towns on this Camino. Today, the next town from start was at a 13 kilometer distance and that signified an over two hours of walk to finally get the caffeine fix. As I stopped to admire and take a picture of the crucifix, I saw two people walking in front of me and another walking in front of them. It was raining and mis

I woke up at 5:30 AM and it was quite strange to wake up in a place with 10 bunkbeds and no one occupying any of them. I got ready slowly and by 6:30AM, I was on the road. Nowadays sunrise is a bit late, almost at close to 8AM so I was met with darkness. Today there was a 45% chance of rain up until noon, and sure enough, my rain jacket came in handy because it indeed was raining intermittently. Using the headlamp, I kept walking. Since I had skipped dinner last night, I was

By 9AM, after having breakfast with my friend, I saw my friend off to the fork in the road that led to the Frómista rail station so he could go back to Germany. I then kept walking on the Camino towards Carrion De Los Condes. I was surprised to see the couple of folks again whom I had seen two days ago in Hontanas. Generally, I was not meeting people a second time on the Camino once I saw them, because they were following the 33-stage program, and I was hoping to finish a bit

Today was a special walk day because my friend from undergrad, whom I had not seen for over 20 years, had flown in from Germany expressly to walk with me for a day. We started at 7AM from Hontanas. He had originally planned to accompany me for three days and therefore had a backpack which was much heavier than it needed to be for just a day. Our start coincided with dawn and we could see the beautiful countryside almost from the time we started to walk. We walked at an easy p

Last night, I went to a restaurant in Burgos named Cobo Tradićion, that had a Michelin rating. Since the municipal Albergue closed at 10:30 PM, I told the restaurant to hurry up serving the multicourse dinner so I could make it back to my bed without being locked out. Sleeping late led to waking up later than usual and I was out on the street by 7:30 AM. What a delight it was to see at least 50 pilgrims out and about and also to notice the restaurant right across the street.