From my experience and observation, here are some quick tips:
1. If you are walking the
Camino Frances from St. Jean Pied de Port, seriously consider using Express Bourricot (
http://www.expressbourricot.com/ ). They are NOT cheap. But they ARE safe, secure, and reliable. If walking in a group, consider sharing a bag.
When I last used them, they charged €70 for a carry-on sized suitcase. However, you lock it, leave it at your last night's front desk, and it is taken care of for you. Hotel and hostal operators in St. Jean know about this service. You can also contact them online beforehand and make your arrangements. Caroline speaks good English.
Your luggage is driven once or twice monthly from St. Jean to Santiago (a two-day trip) by van. It is stored in a separate, locked luggage room at the Hostal / Albergue La Salle.
2. To keep things simple and reliable, try not to mail anything to Spain from outside of Spain. Yes, it is possible, but contrary to logic the EU postal system is NOT unified. Each EU country still maintains it's old-school postal system.
Thus, something you mail from France into Spain, or from Portugal into Spain, is still considered an international shipment. The only thing that no longer applies are VAT and excise taxes. All other provisions of an international mail system remain. This adds time, complications, and opportunities for your parcel or luggage to "go walkabout..."
Keep it simple. The Spanish mail system is great.
4. If mailing from one Spanish point to another,
DO use the Spanish Correos. It is reasonably priced, convenient, and safe.
The only complicating thing that is reported from various sources, is that there is not a standard for accepting luggage for shipment. Some offices will take a locked bag with destination tags. Some require the bag to have an external strap to prevent it from opening if the latching fails. Some require shrink wrapping. See Ivar
s post above. Others, still require that the luggage be in a box...go figure...
5.
You should mail stuff to Ivar to hold for you. He accepts most anything. Failing that, if you have a reservation for a hotel in Santiago (you really should), ask that hotel if they will accept and hold a parcel or suitcase you send ahead for your arrival. If they say yes, then you might send it there instead.
6.
DO NOT MAIL OR SHIP ANYTHING TO THE PILGRIM'S OFFICE! For obvious security reasons, they accept NOTHING mailed to an arriving pilgrim.
If you do this, your parcel or luggage will end up in the dead letter bin if you are lucky, or blown up by the local bomb squad as practice if you are not lucky. When I volunteer there, we regularly refuse Correos and parcel delivery service delivery attempts of rucksacks, luggage and parcels that over-clever peregrinos thought they could mail to themselves there. PLEASE DO NOT DO IT!
Once the Correos takes it away, we do not know where it goes or what happens to it. We only know it is no longer a possible threat to the Pilgrim's Office.
Think! Then think again...after you read the papers or watch the TV news. Buff said. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
No, I do not want to hear anecdotal stories of how you did this and got away with it. It is irrelevant, selfish, and highly dangerous. Please THINK ahead.
All said, I hope this helps someone.
