?'s! Send luggage on,Paris airport transfer,Barritz to St. J

[mamma&papa]

Hi there Camino friends,

My husband and I have only one month until departure - we are trying to finalize last minute details. As such, we are wondering about a few things:

1. how best to ship our extra luggage from Barritz to a resort in Malaga where we will be heading following our Camino (on June 12th)? It might even be possible to send our luggage directly to Malaga to the resort from the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris before we leave the airport for the Orly airport to fly to Biarritz. However, our time is really short when we land in Paris and must get from De Gaulle to Orly airport for connecting flight and at this point we are still uncertain as to how we will get ourselves from one airport to the other airport for connecting flight to Barritz!
2. how to secure travel from airport to airport in Paris?
3. accomodation in Barritz?
4. transportation from Barritz to St. Jean?
5. transportation from Santiago de Compostela to Malaga? Is car travel a good idea? Or would bus be better?
Our Itinerary:

May 3rd,
Nanaimo to Vancouver 6:10 a.m.
.....................
Monday, May 3, 2010
Air Canada # 34

Vancouver Intl (YVR) to Toronto Pearson International (YYZ)
Departure (YVR): May 3, 9:00 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (YYZ): May 3, 4:20 PM EDT (afternoon)

------------------------------
Monday, May 3, 2010
Air Canada # 880

Toronto Pearson International (YYZ) to Paris Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)
Departure (YYZ): May 3, 8:20 PM EDT (evening)
Arrival (CDG): May 4, 9:40 AM CEST (morning)
This is an overnight flight.
-------------------------------

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Air France # 7498

Paris Orly (ORY) to Biarritz Parme (BIQ)
Departure (ORY): May 4, 12:55 PM CEST (afternoon)
Arrival (BIQ): May 4, 2:10 PM CEST (afternoon)


We are registered in Malaga on June 13th which allows just over 5 weeks for our pilgrimage.
All suggestions appreciated!

C & M

 

[cecelia]

Hi C&M'
Wow - what a long trip from Nanaimo to Paris! (I live in Vancouver so fly directly from here). I don't know the answer to some of your questions but you can mail things from place to place in France.
1. Just go to the Post Office in Biarittz. I wouldn't try to do it from Paris. It's huge and you will have enough to do to get to Orly. Biarittz is relatively easy to get around so mail it from there but be sure to notify your hotel that it will be arriving ahead of you. (Maybe your travel agent can do that for you?
2. There will likely be pretty clear signs in the airports but there are always information booths. Google this and get maps of the airports so will feel more familiar with them ahead of time - but here's one response "Airport Bus: The airports Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Orly are both served by busses operated by Air France and the RATP. Transfer time is approximately 45 minutes depending on traffic conditions. Air France also offers a bus transfer service between Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. "
3. Since you get to Biarittz early in the day you have some options:
a/ stay in Biarittz - it's a great place - especially the historic part where the hotels are cheaper. Biarittz has accommodation from several hundred Euros per night to fairly reasonable so it depends what you want. I prefer the historic section of town where it is more interesting and less expensive. There is a very nice youth hostel a couple of blocks from the train station. I stayed there once and was treated exceptionally well because I'm in my 60s. Google two star hotels - they're just fine. If you're in the historic section of town you'll be reasonably close to the train station.
b/ get to Bayonne(10 or 15 minutes away from Biarittz) and stay there. You can get a bus directly to SJPP from Bayonne. It's nice enough but not as pictuesque as historic Biarrittz
c/ Get a bus directly to SJPP
I recommend giving yourself an extra day to get yourself adjusted to the time change. I always stay two nights in Biarittz, take the train to SJPP and walk as far as either Huntto or Orisson albergues the first day of my camino.
4. There are several ways. Taxi, bus or train to Bayonne. Generally there is a train from Biarritz to SJPP with a change in Bayonne which is about 10 minutes from Biarittz. This year the rail section from Bayonne to SJPP is closed until some time in June. Get yourself to the Bayonne bus station by train , bus or taxi. Take a bus from Bayonne to SJPP - it's a short trip.
5.I'd Google this to see if you can get a cheap flight but you can undoubtedly get a train or bus. both of which are excellent. Start by Googling Iberia.com. Depending on when you want to travel the time is either an hour and a half to 3 or more hours. The fares vary from about 84 euros each to over 200 depending on which day you travel. I've successfully purchased tickets with Iberia online but the travel agents in Santiago are very good. Also Ivan who runs this site is very willing to help you with this when you get there. Don''t panic panic to get it all arranged from here. it's easier to do when you're there.
Feel free to email me directly (caminocecelia@gmail.com) and we can talk things over easier if you're not yet comfortable.
Buen camino
Cecelia

 

[mamma&papa]

Thank you so very much Cecelia! Thank you also for your email address. This is all so very exciting and even a little disconcerting at the same time! As you can imagine, with it being our first time to France, Spain and the Camino there are so many unknowns at this point. We are hoping that we do not have to purchase what we will require for our little vacation following the Camino. On the other hand, if we should find out ahead of time that mailing suitcases on to Malaga proves too costly, it may be less expensive to pick up a few items when we arrive in Malaga (or Santiago). It might be less stressful that way also as we then do not have to be concerned about our luggage going astray.

Blessings to you on this Good Friday, a day that I personally find is filled with very mixed emotions. :cry:

Carolyn

 

[cecelia]

Hi Carolyn,
In 2007 my son invited me to go to Marbella in southern Spain- after I had walked to Santiago. I had nothing with me but my camino clothes and they were barely presentable by that time!

I was able to shop in Santiago and do just fine. I bought sandals, a swimsuit and a couple of blouses and pants in Santiago. Apparently the English are passionate about shopping in southern Spain because there is so much available. Large department stores - Carrefour and El Corte Ingles - have everything and if you want to pay more money there are lots of places where you can do that too!!

It's my guess you'd be better off just shopping for Malaga after you get to Santiago as long as you don't have to be super classy when you get there. It will be much simpler and easier.And then, when someone says "i like your T-shirt - you can say - "Oh do you - thanks - I bought it in Spain". <grin>
Enjoy both parts of your trip!!
Cecelia

 

[mamma&papa]

Once again Cecelia, thank you so much!

My husband and I have been sitting here just this evening and looking at scheduling as much preliminary walking as we can squeeze into our calendars before our departure ... I am a runner and have just completed a half-marathon, my husband has done several walks now to the office and back with his pack on. I on the other hand have yet to purchase my boots and to put my pack on! So this week will definitely be the beginning of reality for me! Wasn't that wind storm something else last night and today! My daughter and her husband waited from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. for a ferry and finally at the end of the day they cancelled any further service for the remainder of the day. They will try heading to the Island again in the morning.

Yes, I really do think that purchasing a few things in Spain will work out just fine and we have now settled on that decision. Our next decision that we are looking at making is whether or not to book our car rental at this point for June in Santiago. We suspect that we will pick up the car at the airport and then drive on through Portugal to Malaga. My only concern is if for some reason we cannot finish our Camino and our timeline ends up changing, hopefully we can figure out if our trip insurance through BCAA covers such things!

Carolyn