One Month Away!
Good morning from England, Austen Adventurers!
We are officially one month away from our tour and things are really starting to take shape. It is possible there will be slight changes to our itinerary due to availability. I will keep you posted on that as some decisions must be last-minute. I promise that you will still be on a full adventure, but with just little tweaks here and there.
Today’s email is about phones. It’s a very confusing thing to figure out how to use your phone overseas. I am one of the lucky folks who signed up for an unlimited data plan to discover, quite happily, that the unlimited extends to Europe. That means I’m locked into my company (Sprint became T-Mobile and my plan was grandfathered in), but it is helpful while traveling.
1. Check with your provider – They can tell you what your options are for phone usage in Europe. They will also probably have an international plan that you can think about using. Be careful with those – they’re often very expensive and don’t tell you when the data has run out. During my first summer in the UK, I accumulated hundreds of dollars in charges without knowing until the bill showed up.
2. Obtaining a UK phone – This option is helpful only if you plan to do a lot of phone calls within the UK or if you are after lots of data. The phone will not be much good to you after the week is over, so this is the more expensive option.
3. Obtaining a UK sim card – This option is available to you if your phone is “unlocked.” This used to be a lot easier in the old days of cell phones. Smart phones are harder to make changes to. If your phone is unlocked and you can access the sim card, it’s fairly easy to install a UK sim card and that would change your existing phone into a UK phone.
4. Stick with WiFi – This is the least expensive option. In this, you turn off the cellular data on your phone so that you’re not accidentally charged. You use WiFi signals that are readily available in the UK (such as in our hotel) to upload your photos, text your family, or use FaceTime on FaceBook. Some plans allow you to make phone calls through WiFi, which is especially helpful. This is the option that I recommend to you. It also lets you disconnect from the constant demand for your time that being “connected” all day requires.
As always, please keep sending me your questions or concerns to joan@nerdstour.com and I’ll include your questions in future emails. Is there anything you are worried about, curious about, excited about? Put the question in our Facebook group and we can all respond.
