To ask you to help me sort this holiday nightmare!!

[CantKeepCalm2]

I’m sick with worry over this and unable to sleep as a result.

My husband, kids and I are going on holiday to Spain in just over a week. We are going to Alicante but to keep costs down, I booked flights to Madrid as I saw the train looked cheap from there to Alicante. I think the airport is half an hour from the train station in Madrid but thought with the train being cheap, we would hopefully be able to figure out a shuttle bus or something that might take us.

Fast forward to now and the train prices have sky rocketed. I was really silly not to book at the time, but I didn’t expect the markup to be quite so extreme.

I came up with a plan b. Hire a car in madrid to drive us to Alicante on arrival day, and same again on departure day. I’ve booked this all but have now realised we are going to have issues as neither DH or I have a working credit card. Long story short but we moved from the UK to another European country and when I lost my credit card, i tried to cancel it on my husband’s app and accidentally cancelled his card. I tried to resolve this with the bank but they couldn’t deal with me as I wasn’t the main card holder. On top of that, I have a pin block on my credit card as a result of getting the pin wrong 3 times. Again, this has been a nightmare to sort as the bank wouldn’t deal with me and my husband has been rarely home due to his work (military).

Anyway, after booking the hire car a couple of days ago, my husband was able to call the bank. Unfortunately it’ll take 10 working days for his new card and the pin should arrive 3 days later, so this doesn’t help with our hire car. They advised me I could go to an ATM and sort my pin. I tried that today but to no avail, the ATM here didn’t have a “pin services” option. And I’ve been thinking, surely I can’t change my pin anyway since I don’t know the pin to begin with.

We can cancel the hire car and receive a full refund up to 48 hours before the trip. If we do that, it’s going to cost us loads getting the train, plus I haven’t figured out a way to get from Madrid airport to Madrid train station. I can’t change the flights because direct flights will cost us an extra £1000 at least and I can’t afford that. What do I do? I’ve really messed this up badly and know I sound like the most disorganised person. I’ve just massively dropped the ball on this one. 😢

Where are you flying from in the UK?

OK actually that one might have a deposit of €150, but definitely shop around and always go direct. I’ve hired cars in Spain a lot and always found a firm who don’t ask for a deposit.

Not sure what's going on with the coach. There's a few every day but it only seems to let you book the overnight one. I don't know if that means all the others are full or some sort of quirk with the booking system. Perhaps worth contacting Alsa to ask?

Madrid to Alicante coach timetable

But I think it's quite a popular thing for Madrid residents to go to the coast in August, so unfortunately for you, your arrival might coincide with the big weekend exodus putting high demand on all transport modes.

Might be back to the hire car option, but looking for one that accepts a debit card even if it means paying the rip off daily zero excess insurance - look at big names like Avis or Enterprise rather than local brands, they often have less onerous T&Cs, but are likely to be more expensive.

Ok, so best bet is to try and get around the car hire issue. This is a trick I've used.
Start now researching other car hire companies. Find a Madrid travel group on FB and ask the people on the group to recommend a hire company that doesn't require a credit card to book. Companies like this ABSOLUTELY exist as I use one in Majorca.
They don't require a credit card to book, nor do they block out chunks on your card.
DO NOT cancel your existing booking until you've rebooked elsewhere.
Other option is to look for an airport transfer but they're coming in V expensive as it's so far.
Why can't you transfer your flights to murcia? Can you try and call the airline and explain the situation? You may have to pay the difference but it may still be cheaper than car hire x

You should be able to get your PIN changed if you load the app.
Also apply for a couple of other CCs - one should come through.
I don't think we've ever had a £3000 hold on the cc.

Check all the car hire companies for least excess hold - even if you have to pay a bit more, it could be worth it.

Worst case scenario can you cancel the Alicante accommodation and find something near Madrid ?

can you call the car hire company, I recently hired a car for a work trip with budget which is owned by Avis. all the forms etc. said credit card was needed etc. I managed to not realise i'd forgotten the credit card until I arrived. Complete panic but the person at the desk happily took my debit card and told me the money would be taken from my account and put back in once he car was returned. They did this no problem, it took about 5 days after my trip for the money to be back in my bank.
This obviously relies on you having enough money in the bank that you can manage without the charge for the holiday + a few days on return home.

Also I would be very surprised if the hold is 3k, most people don't have credit cards with such a high limit at all.
I hire a lot of cars worldwide for work and its usually 250-500 depending on the country and the car.

Or have you seen you can get a bus rather than the train https://www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/checkout?pppid=PurchasePortletWARRAlsaportlet&ppplifecycle=1&pppstate=normal&pppmode=view&PurchasePortlettWARAlsaportlettjavax.portlet.action=searchJourneysAction&pauth=TQGlEq1C&code=&serviceType=&accessible=0&&JourneySearchPortletWARRAlsaportletINSTANCEEJourneySearch216525666originStationNameId=Madrid%20(All%20stops)&originStationId=90155&destinationStationId=93000&departureDate=07%2F30%2F2022&departureDate=07%2F30%2F2022&returnDate=08%2F12%2F2022&&returnDate=08%2F12%2F2022&locationMode=&passengerType-1=1&passengerType-4=0&passengerType-5=0&passengerType-2=0&passengerType-3=0&numPassengers=1&regionalZone=&travelType=RETURN&LIFERAYSHAREDDisTrainTrip=false&LIFERAYSHAREDDisRoundTrip=false&LIFERAYSHAREDD_isShipTrip=false&promoCode=&jsonAlsaPassPassenger=&jsonVoucherPassenger=

Look into the following:

Internal flights
Coach
Private transfer/taxi - I've found one that costs 310 Euros, that's one way. How much is the hire car?

It seems you've got about a 5 hour trip by road, between 2 and half hours and 4 and a half hours by train depending on which one you get and 1 hour 10 mins by plane.

We usually have to give a hold of 1000 to 1500 euro, but we have a spare card with a 3k limit that we keep for this very purpose. Plus we only ever hire very small cars so I can see the hold on a car big enough for 5 people and luggage being more.

Plenty of people have high card limits or I believe that Amex is often unlimited. My highest card limit is £12k and I'm a pauper by MN standards.

OP if you're looking at public transport, perhaps consider staying overnight in a budget hotel/air bnb in Madrid and going on fixed train tickets on Monday, so you've a contingency for the delay? Coming back should be easier, just book a train leaving Alicante in the morning.

I appreciate that this is not the crux of the issue but in my experience, and I have been there too many times, Madrid Airport can be a bit of a maze. From gate to baggage reclaim has a few lifts, maybe a train to navigate and it's not all that clearly signed. And it felt like miles.

It has been a while but something to keep in mind for connections etc especially if you have people with little legs (kids)

One time Goldcar rejected my credit card because the initials were back to front compared to my driving licence. I was allowed to hire the car by taking out their enhanced insurance option. Was about £250 for 2 weeks 5 years ago.

This site is specifically for hiring cars with debit cards www.spain-car-rental.com/debit-card-car-rental-spain.php

Firstly you need to stop panicking. You haven’t ruined the holiday. It’s fine.
Secondly get the virgin app and see if you can sort your card out from there. If you can’t, try and add it to Apple Pay and then you can use it without the pin on your phone (android has similar, someone else could probably give you details).
Finally, sit down and set a number in your head that if you can’t get there you won’t go. Make peace with that numbers. If you can’t, go higher and priorities this over other things.

I travel loads and stuff happens. It’s life. The key is to paint it to the kids as an adventure! There are so many fun ways to travel, bus car train and you get to see some of the country side.

WhatsApp ate you travelling? The trains are free on Sundays, definitely between valencia and Alicante, so I assume that might extend to Madrid.

Also, get on some local Facebook groups, people often post looking for carshares from people going their way.

No advice but DH is military and the times I've had to pretend to be him
online is ridiculous.

My only advice for you (and other posters) is DO NOT HIRE A CAR WITH GOLDCAR no matter what. They are absolute criminals - google them.

Just to say for the coach www.alsa.com if you put in all stops in Madrid there is one that goes 5.30pm and costs around 120 euros for 4 people.

Unfortunately there aren't many return ones on 12th August but you would probably have figured out the credit card issue by then, or it looks as if you get the early train its only £31 per person.

Why can't you still use your credit card?

You don't need a pin for them to take money out if you book online?

Am I the only one who can see the poster who gave the excellent and specific bus information on page one and got ignored?

Car hire is a massive hassle and whenever I’ve done it, it involves aaaages of queueing at the airport. I’d 100% choose the coach option.

i agree with a PP, GoldCar have a very bad rep, Google their reviews.

The OP cancelled her husbands credit card so that wouldn't work. I am confused about the issue with hers as she said she lost it, tried to cancel it, but there is a PIN block on it as she put the incorrect PIN in three times.

Yes I know her husband card is blocked but hers isn't? Is it? She just can't use the pin?

OP have a look here for solutions to the car hire www.airportcarhire.com/car-hire-with-a-debit-card.html#/searchcars