OK, Jer, your confidence in traveling tourist nudged me toward grabbing up my trusty VISA card and buying the tickets: TIKNET is easy as pie if
you don't want a special train(night train, for example, for the big bucks)

SO: go to RENFE and click on the TIKNET icon.

First, you must register, and yes, they want BOTH of your last names, so I did the traditional maiden/married thing. They also want your D.N.I. number, and of course, I don't have one, so I just put zeroes(D.N.I. is the national ID number, not unlike SS#. Thought I might use my SS# or my passport # or my driver's license number, but they were all too long. The form was perfectly happy with zeroes! Crazy!)

Once you enter your Departure and Destination desires(and yes, it comes in English, too) you are given a choice of trains.

For my departure from Madrid, I chose the 15:50(3:50PM)out of Chamart�n, which arrives in San Sebastian at 9:36PM. Now I must be sure I have a place to sleep that night! So I will contact the pension where I'm reserved for my "working" time and see if they have room. If not, well, there are lots more pensiones and hotels, etc.

OK. Since I don't know for sure when my duties end the 20th, I booked my return to Madrid the 21st on the 9:34 AM train, which arrives at ATOCHA(!) at 4:18PM (this a loooooooong journey; hope I can find a good book to read for it or pleasant traveling companions)It does stop at Chamart�n first, but I think Atocha is a better place to arrive and get to other places from, due to the metro works in progress. I have a spot already booked at Hostal Mirentxu for the 21 and 22nd, so that's cool.

I have to pick up the tickets in person to prove that I am the owner of the VISA card to which they were charged.

However, "
After you have identified yourself our personnel with give you your tickets. You will be asked to sign a receipt You will be able to cancel tickets bought on the Internet up to an hour and a half before the train leaves its departure station. " (that's pretty amazing, esp. since they don't mention a charge)

The total cost for going cheaply: a mere 49,12 Euros. The outward trip is full price(30,66Euros) but the return reflects a 20% discount and is only 18,46Euros.

The confirmation page, which I printed out, has the number of the carriage and the seat on it, as well as "non-smoking". In view of the fact that I did not pick preferente for the "cheesy sandwich and drink"---I hope the "cafeteria service" has halfway decent snacks.

Now, remember, Jer, if this transportation or ANY portion of this endeavor is AWFUL(example, I get robbed, mugged, etc), YOU HAVE TO BUY ME A BEER TO CRY IN. Alternatively, I owe you and Ena a dinner if I feel I have done a job good enough for them to hire me again(i.e. a reason to celebrate)

Sue, You Go Girl! Thanks for sharing this info, now I will know how to do it. Did you happen to notice if the Renfe ticket was a bit higher now that Spain is on the Euro, by chance?

Can't say as I have anything with which to compare the price---the last time I took a train from Madrid to "up north", it was 1989 to Pontevedra, a night train with litera. My daughter and I had the bottom bunks and there were four young Spanish women on the top four.
One interesting note is that if you book through RailEurope, you don't get the discount for roundtrip, whereas if you do it through RENFE's TIKNET, you do. They still include the price in pesetas, in this instance, 49,12 Euros or 8.173 pts.

Hi Sue, i can't begin to thank you for your detailed account of the big purchase

quote:

"I hope the "cafeteria service" has halfway decent snacks."

When I went to Barcelona on the train (Talgo) the bar car was right beyond mine and they had loads-o-goodies but naturally the snacks are a bit more expensive on board.

Booklady, from what I could tell by my recent trip to Barcelona, RENFE "translated" their prices faithfully from the Peseta to the Euro without raising them more than they normally do almost yearly.

Saludos,
jer...

Bring your own food on the train, you'll be glad you did. Avoid the bocadillos at all costs.

Thanks for the heads-up on the bocadillos. My daughter and I ate way too many of them in 1989 to economize, and while I dearly love the crusty Spanish bread, some of those babies were causing our gums to bleed! I will pack myself a nice little lunch.