EllenZimmer
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances (May 2014)
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I wondered if anyone had taken advantage of sending supplies to post offices along the camino. One of the pilgrims on this forum supplied a nice list of post office addresses and instructions. My idea is that i must check my hiking poles and therefore have a checked bag... I plan to take an old suitcase that i will dispose of before i begin the camino in SJPdP. I was thinking of preparing 2 or 3 pre wrapped addressed boxes that i will transport in the old suitcase with my poles. Once i land in madrid or later when i arrive in Pamplona i will send these parcels. My thought is to fill them with replacement toiletries and some food items. My questions are these:
1. Can i send liquids and food through the post office?
2. Where is a place i can send them from? Is there a place in the madrid airport? Or in pamplona near the Aloha Hostel?
3. Do post offices keep standard hours Monday thru Fri 9 to 5 or so?
Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Ellen
Ahh, Silverton, you are neither bossy nor prescriptive! You are SO helpful!!! This is information I've needed, but haven't looked for yet! Thank you for outlining it so well!!Dear Ellen,
You've got the basic information, and cautions above. I also sent small boxes ahead on my first two caminos--trail foods, vitamin, reading matter and copies of maps. You can indeed post from Barajas/Madrid (There are Correos/POs in Terminals 1 and 4--see them on the online map of the airport, although the one in Terminal 4 is labelled 'mailbox'). As Bokermen said, you can look on the www.correos.es website 'localizador de oficinas' to get addresses and opening hours of the central POs along your route. You can get handy boxes in various sizes at the Correos, if necessary, and you might prepare address labels beforehand to yourself (SURNAME, FORENAME, PEREGRINA, LISTA DE CORREOS [general delivery], City and Codigo Postal). Keep a copy of the post office addresses so you don't go to the wrong branch office. Give yourself sufficient time (mailing from Madrid as soon as you arrive, rather than waiting til Pamplona, for instance), but do ask how long they will be kept for collection (I can't remember if it is perhaps one month??). Take your national passport for ID when you go to collect, and remember that offices don't usually open til 9am. I missed one parcel in Burgos, I think it was, which hadn't arrived when I did--and I missed out on the middle-chapters of my Maeve Binchy paperback! Otherwise, it was rather fun to greet my own 'Care packages' en route. Post offices in Logrono, Burgos, Leon, Astorga and Sarria are centrally located, and refugio or hostal staff will give you directions. Post office staff are usually very helpful pilgrim customers! Reading this again, I sound horribly bossy and 'prescriptive'. Not intended--I think you've got a good idea, and go for it, if you want.
BTW, Restaurante Sarasate (Calle San Nicolás) is a good (not cheap) vegetarian restaurant in Pamplona. I'm sure you've a list of others from this forum or google--that's the only one that I can give my personal recommendation.
Buen Camino!
I was going to prepare the boxes, taped up, labeled and ready to go when i arrive in madrid. A previous posted suggested that i purchase the boxes at the post office... Is this the preferred practice in Spain? My boxes would be just brown cardboard with no advertisements on the outside, just the label. Will this be allowed? Will they need to see what is inside the box? Are there various methods of mailing? In the USA we have several... Most notably first and third which dictate price and speed of package arrival.
I would really like to just have them boxed and labeled and ready to mail if that will be allowed. Then there is no fuss and i can quickly do this before catching the bus.
Thanks,
Ellen
Laurie, Wow, that is a great idea! I was trying to shoot for a town I hoped to arrive on Wed (therefore 2 days early or late I was still OK)... but this is a better idea. Are hostels pretty good about moving a reservation forward or backward if needed? In other words, are there penalties or is it like in the USA - 24 hours notice for cancellation or rescheduling? I only made reservation up to Orisson so far... was going to just take them as they come (we are 4 traveling together). I guess I could even make a reservation for one and the most penalty I would get is the cost of one person... Only sending 2 boxes. One about 15 days out and the other about 30 days out.
Thanks,
Ellen
The airport post office in T-1 closes at 1430 weekdays.
Posts and Telegraphs
Web:
http://www.correos.es
Phone information:
902 197 197
T1 Phone:
913 054 097
Fax T1:
913 054 097
Hours:
weekdays, from 8.30 to 14.30, Saturday from 9.30 to 13.00
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