[Gocamino] Madrid Airport to Train Station

[Hathor821 at aol.com]

Rita, we took a bus from one of the terminals at Marid airport  to a train 
station, there for 1 Euro we bought a subway ticket and we got off at  Plaza del 
Sol because that was the place where we wanted to sleep until the ll  PM 
flight to South Africa and I am sure at Plaza del Sol station you can take  the 
metro (subway) to Atocha or Chamartin.
 
With my ATT simple mobile from USA I have had reception  everywhere in the 
world where I have taken it except in my bathroom at  home....
 
Buen camino
 
Patricia de Miami
ps. for reservations of hostals, etc., I would suggest your  reading what 
another writer has written about e-bay and a cheap phone, I think  he said it 
costs $30 or $40, if you do it this way, you can buy a sim card and  call within 
Spain at a fraction than it would cost you calling within Spain from  your USA 
phone.  When I bought my Spanish phone I paid Euros 49...worth it  since it 
is my goal to do Camino every year.
 
 
In a message dated 8/5/2008 1:24:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
wesrita at comcast.net writes:

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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