Train travel

[Amachant]

Settled in for the night in Pamplona and all is well…
We landed in Barcelona this am. It took almost 1.5 hours to get through passport control.

In preparation for train travel to Pamplona, I bought two different tickets, one set 2 hours after my expected flight arrival and another 3.5 hours after the scheduled arrival. The tickets included an additional fee for free cancellation and/or schedule change.

As luck should have it, I cancelled the first set of train tickets, while in line to passport control, with no addition fees. We safely completed our transfer to Pamplona, with the use of our second train reservation.

In addition, train security in Barcelona did not flag our bag containing our small knives.

We are now in Pamplona for a few days, then on to SJPP to begin our Camino in earnest.

 

[Grousedoctor]

How brilliant was that! Great thinking on your part. Regularly, I have seen questions posted on this forum regarding short connection time and making the next plane or train. As often as I have zoomed through immigration and customs, I have just as often spent hours waiting in line to get cleared. It’s so difficult to predict. Too many factors! I love what you did giving yourself an option and consequently reducing your travel stress.

Enjoy Pamplona! One of my favorite places for morning coffee in Café Iruña, one of Hemingways old haunts. It’s great early in the morning when I’ve had it nearly all to myself. And for tapas, and there are so many good places, try Bar Gaucho. Buen Camino.

 

[henrythedog]

Good plan wrt trains - I’ve often done the same myself.

Worth noting that whilst you can do this direct with RENFE, you can do the same via Trainline which now has ‘native’ interface with RENFE, so you get all the updates and options just as if you had booked direct.

The ALSA app also allows this flexibility with busses.

You could occupy yourself in Pamplona trying to find the bar which doesn’t claim a Hemingway association.