leap frog luggage transfer

[hillwalker]

I am beyond excited to be walking the Camino Frances for the first time, leaving from SJPdP in a week, and want to thank all of you for your thoughtful advice, encouragement, and kindness. I feel as prepared as one can be walking into the unknown!

If anyone could help me with a question that has not been addressed exactly, I would be grateful:

- in order to have flexibility, I will be carrying my pack. However, because I have coeliac and food allergies I need to carry food for breakfasts but I can only carry 4-5 days of food at a time. The rest will be in a duffle bag, which I would like to have transferred to where we will be staying 4-5 days ahead, which of course at this point I can't predict. At first I thought of using Correos and mailing packages to myself, but I think it more dependable and easier to use a luggage transfer service, in order to meet up with my bag every 3-4 days. Has anyone done this? Or have alternative suggestion?

Thanks in advance

 

[mspath]

You need not mail your duffle bag but can have it transported ahead using a transport service such as Jacotrans or Correos.

For more in English on transporting your luggage and/or backpack from within Spain at a reasonable cost see Luggage Transfer in this Spanish Post Office/Correos web.

You can book the transfer the night before via your smartphone/ text message.

Since you wish your luggage to be held for your later arrival in accomodations as you progresss it will be correct to inform those places separately that you will indeed arrive on a particular date.

Good luck and Buen camino!

 

[t2andreo]

Some albergues do not accept bag transfers and give a bed assignment preference to pilgrims who arrive under their own steam carrying their rucksacks.

Private albergues and hostals or hotels DO accept rucksacks or luggage from these services. If I am incorrect in this assessment, someone please modify or correct me.

I have a similar set of medical constraints that compel me to carry about 1.5 kilos extra stuff each week. Two weeks = @ 3 kilos. I usually stay in private albergues or hostals / hotels on my Caminos.

My method is to contact a reserved property about 10 days to two weeks out to ask for permission to mail a small parcel there. I usually tell them it is about the size of a shoe box. I have never been refused when I tell them it contains medical supplies and nutritional supplements.

NOTE: Use Bing or Google Translate to compose a message in Portuguese or Spanish and include the English original below so the property can sort out what you meant to say.

I hope this helps.

 

[jmcarp]

NOTE: Use Bing or Google Translate to compose a message in Portuguese or Spanish and include the English original below so the property can sort out what you meant to say.

A bit off topic, but this is a very good suggestion for anyone using one of the auto translator apps when corresponding with someone who doesn't speak or read one's native language. And it also is a good practice when responding back to a message as well. Google and Bing are pretty good, but not foolproof, and sometimes their results can lead to a head scratch or a good laugh for the reader at the other end. When I use them, I typically start with one, then paste the original message into the other and compare the resulting translations. To be really confident, I sometimes translate the results back into English--that can be an eye-opening experience

 

[t2andreo]

Thank you for the note of support. In addition to including the original English with the online translation results, I also indicate what translator I used.

For example, a message to a hotel in Spain might start off with

(ES - via Google Translate or Bing Translator)

Buenas Tardes Senores;

TEXT GOES HERE...

(IN)

THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH TEXT COPIED INTO THE TRANSLATOR GOES HERE.

...

This further explains why my translation may not be textbook perfect.

I hope this helps.

 

[hillwalker]

thank you @mspath @t2andreo and @jmcarp for your helpful suggestions!
Alternatively: do you think a given (private) albergue/pension/hotel (in which we're staying) might be willing to HOLD the bag for 3 days until we know where we'll be staying on the 4th night? That way we wouldn't have to decide anything 4 days in advance ...
It's a bit ironic, how much organization it takes in order to be flexible once we're walking!

 

[mspath]

Hopefully private accommodations would be able to hold your bag for a few days.
However some accommodations with few rooms might be uneasy not knowing exactly what day you would arrive.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Hoteles and hostales will be your best bet for a willing and safe storage of baggage. The private albergues that accept backpack transport, and not all of them do, take no responsibility for them. The packs sit outside the locked door until the albergue opens, then are put inside (usually) until the pilgrim arrives. It is not a very secure system, but there are few reports of packs or items being stolen. Still, it is a lucrative opportunity for some enterprising thief. Follow the bagage van, and pick up what it drops off (then off to the flea market).

 

[hillwalker]

ah @falcon269 definitely something else to think about! Still, I think anyone taking THIS bag would be disappointed: just a lot of freeze-dried chicken and beef in vacuum-packed portions

 

[Paddington Bear]

I am beyond excited to be walking the Camino Frances for the first time, leaving from SJPdP in a week, and want to thank all of you for your thoughtful advice, encouragement, and kindness. I feel as prepared as one can be walking into the unknown!

If anyone could help me with a question that has not been addressed exactly, I would be grateful:

- in order to have flexibility, I will be carrying my pack. However, because I have coeliac and food allergies I need to carry food for breakfasts but I can only carry 4-5 days of food at a time. The rest will be in a duffle bag, which I would like to have transferred to where we will be staying 4-5 days ahead, which of course at this point I can't predict. At first I thought of using Correos and mailing packages to myself, but I think it more dependable and easier to use a luggage transfer service, in order to meet up with my bag every 3-4 days. Has anyone done this? Or have alternative suggestion?

Thanks in advance

I have food intolerances and will be trying to go gluten free as much as possible on the Camino but it is not life threatening for me, so I understand your preparations. It's even more important for me not to have corn so I am trying to learn the words for that.
Have you seen this blog and site?
https://mollyonthemove.com/2014/09/16/gluten-free-in-galicia/

http://www.allaroundisglutenfree.com/en/viaggi/spagna-il-viaggio-senza-glutine/

 

[hillwalker]

great resources @Paddington Bear thank you!

 

[bernhugo]

Hi Paddington again. My wife has to have wheat and gluten free diet.
There is a leaflet entitled "Spanish gluten free restaurant card",which explains your problem in Spanish.
Go to Celiac Travel .com to find it.
Hope that this helps.