{"id":86582,"date":"2016-01-20T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/here-comes-the-bus\/"},"modified":"2016-03-21T14:16:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T21:16:11","slug":"here-comes-the-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/here-comes-the-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Comes the Bus!"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>ell, the Alsa<\/a> web site is much better than it was three years ago<\/a>. For one thing, it’s pretty clear that they have a new English translator, and that he or she knows English. There are still occasionally blocks of Spanish text, but that’s manageable. Trying to interpret Spanglish was not.
\n\"Bus<\/a><\/p>\n

As I said, much improved.<\/p>\n

And we are now the proud owners of a pair of bus tickets from Madrid Airport to Pamplona. Huzzah!<\/p>\n

As on my previous trip, the route is not quite <\/em>non-stop. We need to change buses in Soria. Last time, my bus was running late, and I was sure we’d miss the connection. In the event, since this is a regular route, the Pamplona bus waited for us in Soria, and we arrived at our ultimate destination more or less on time.<\/p>\n

The nice thing about Alsa is that you reserve seats, like on an airplane. On both buses, we have the two seats immediately above the front door, one window, one aisle.<\/p>\n

Last time, this was a lovely ride – smooth and comfortable, on a thoroughly modern bus. Pretty much everything our later bus trip from Santiago to Madrid was not. Here’s hoping we have a similarly nice ride this time!<\/p>\n

(Originally posted to Pilgrims on the Way<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, the Alsa web site is much better than it was three years ago. For one thing, it’s pretty clear that they have a new English translator, and that he or she knows English. There are still occasionally blocks of Spanish text, but that’s manageable. Trying to interpret Spanglish was not. As I said, much improved. And we are now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camino"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-mwu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41454,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/achievement-unlocked-purchase-ticket-in-spanglish\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":0},"title":"Achievement Unlocked: Purchase Ticket in Spanglish","author":"Thom","date":"29 January 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Sixty days from today, I fly to Spain. Sixty days in advance is the earliest you can purchase a train ticket in Spain using Renfe\u2018s web site. Since I need to get from Madrid to Pamplona (and thence to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port), I figured I would buy a train ticket today. Here\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bus route Madrid to Pamplona","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Bus-route-small.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86816,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/getting-to-the-camino-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":1},"title":"Getting to the Camino","author":"Thom","date":"15 February 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We hope to begin our 2016 Camino in the quaint French mountain village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, a name that more or less means \u201cSaint John at the Foot of the Pass\u201d. Getting to Saint-Jean is always a bit of an adventure, particularly if you are, like us, flying into Madrid rather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"renfe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/renfe.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/renfe.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/renfe.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/renfe.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":83970,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/one-year-ago-a-bus-a-bridge-and-lavender-fields\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":2},"title":"One Year Ago: a Bus, a Bridge, and Lavender Fields","author":"Thom","date":"20 April 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"(from my journal) Astorga 20 April Breakfasted in the Benedictine hotel with Francine. We walked to the bus station \u2013 maybe 1.5 km \u2013 and caught the 9:30 bus to Hospital de \u00d3rbigo. Walked across town to Puente de \u00d3rbigo and walked across (and back across) the astonishing medieval bridge\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Benedict, Pray for Us!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9036259521_e22c7a6bb0_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9036259521_e22c7a6bb0_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9036259521_e22c7a6bb0_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9036259521_e22c7a6bb0_b.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90009,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/galicia-in-the-autumn\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":3},"title":"Galicia in the Autumn","author":"Thom","date":"17 August 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After walking the Camino Franc\u00e9s in 2013 from Roncesvalles and in 2016 from St Jean, Francine and I were busy planning our next Spanish adventure for 2020. The plan was that I would walk the Franc\u00e9s from St Jean (or possibly Lourdes), while she took a flat in Burgos to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/guidebooks2018.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/guidebooks2018.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/guidebooks2018.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/guidebooks2018.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/guidebooks2018.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51798,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/snow-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":4},"title":"Snow!","author":"Thom","date":"15 March 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The photo here was taken by a pilgrim yesterday at Roncesvalles. The passes are choked with snow, and at this point people have to walk on the highway to get from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles. And it\u2019s taking them two days. I won\u2019t have that kind of time, and I\u2019m leaving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1082","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/1082-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":85141,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/2016-route-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":86582,"position":5},"title":"2016 Route Update","author":"Thom","date":"23 April 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After much back and forth, we decided to cut out as many of the extras as we can and just focus on the Camino. The current version of the plan (such as it is) looks like this: Fly out of Seattle on Easter Sunday and into Madrid. From there, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pilgrim's Progress","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pilgrim27s_progress_lg1-297x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86582"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86762,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582\/revisions\/86762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}