[Gocamino] Madrid Airport to Train Station - also phone

[Richard Ferguson]

As far as Madrid, I took a bus from the airport to the center of town 
and then a taxi from there.

For $30 on ebay, you can buy a used "quad band unlocked GSM phone" 
with a 110/220V charger.  This is a true global phone, works in 150 
countries, just buy a sim card when you get to Spain.  The sim card 
gives you a Spain phone number.  You don't really want to get 
international calls from your friends inviting you to lunch when you 
are in Spain, so a different phone number makes sense.  If the phone 
is just a security blanket that you plan to leave turned off, that 
you hope not to use, then your US phone may be the way to go.  But if 
you travel outside the country much, a global phone is a good way to 
go for local calls.  On my last Mexico trip, I mostly used the global 
phone to call the taxi driver who I was using regularly.

Note that your AT&T phone may not be quad band, so might have limited 
coverage in Europe, as Europe uses different frequencies than the 
USA.  (A tri-band phone will work internationally, but not as well as 
if it has all the frequencies).

Richard


>Hello to everyone on gocamino:  It is nearly one year since Wes and 
>I cancelled our Camino due to my back injury (three weeks before we 
>were to depart) and we said "Next year!" and now we are here, ready 
>to depart September 8.  Thank you to everyone for keeping our 
>energies high with all your contributions to the site.  I look 
>forward to it every day.
>
>I am having trouble figuring out how to get from the Madrid airport 
>(where we will arrive on Iberia from Boston) to the train station 
>for Pamploma.  First I couldn't figure out from the Renfe site 
>whether we'd be leaving from the old station (Chamartin) from which 
>most northern bound trains leave, or the new station (Atocha) which 
>seems to get most of the attention in the web sites.  If we are 
>leaving from Chamartin, it didn't seem like there was a metro route 
>there from the airport at this time.  Can anyone advise us if 
>Chamartin is the station we want and how to get to that station from 
>the airport?
>
>We are planning on going to Pamploma from the airport by train as 
>that seems considerably faster than by bus.  Then we will take a bus 
>to Roncesvalles and then get a taxi to SJPP (hopefully shared with 
>other pilgrims).  Can we arrive early in the morning in Madrid and 
>get to SJPP by evening that day and still find a place to stay or 
>must we make a reservation in advance?  Albergue l'Esprit de Chemin 
>seems to be booked for the night of 9 September and I'm wondering if 
>there are any other inexpensive options if we can't count on the 
>municipal albergue having room.  Any recommendations?
>
>Lastly, we have an AT&T cell phone and according to AT&T there is 
>decent reception all across northern Spain.  We would only use it to 
>call ahead for reservations in private albergues if we find that 
>public ones are too full to count on in September.  It looks like 
>that would be less expensive than renting a mobile phone in Spain. 
>Has anyone ever used their US phones (AT&T in particular) on the 
>Camino and do you have any recommendations?
>
>Thanks in advance -- Rita
>
>
>
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