Monday, September 13, 2021

Girona, Day 1

Train Route: 0 miles

Car Route: 525 miles

Our cobbled-together bike boxes did not meet the necessary dimensions for travel on the high-speed train to Madrid, and the train controller in Santander said we could not board with them.

The railway prefers that bikes be in bags, not boxes, and the dimensions they give match those of a typical bike bag, which is 120x90x40 centimeters, or a maximum of 250 linear centimeters. We can't use bike bags because they are several hundred dollars each and we would have to carry them with us, which is just not possible. The bike boxes we put together in Santander were 126x96x27 centimeters, or 248 linear centimeters. We thought that met the requirements, since we were under the maximum linear measurement. "Not good," according to the controller. "Must be not bigger than 120, not bigger than 90." Period. End of discussion.

Lesson Learned 1: Follow the baggage instructions exactly. 

Lesson Learned 2: Travel on high-speed trains with bikes is just too complicated. Despite all our planning and research, we misinterpreted the dimension requirements and that shot down our whole day's trip.

On to Plan B. We went next door to Enterprise, rented a van, and drove to Girona. No stress, no research, no complicated logistics. Done.