LESSONS 2 AND 3

First off, we all know about the difference in electric currents in Europe and we were well prepared. However, when you have a travel hair dryer with dual current abilities, you need to be sure to TURN THE SCREW TO THE CORRECT CURRENT before using. Down one hair dryer after first use.















Next was actually the first lesson we learned. Don had read up on cell phone usage and we just bought a new sim card for Don's phone to use in country. It was our first day in Germany, we were very tired and Don hadn't had a lot of time to hone his German speaking skills yet. Plus, he was trying to discuss something technical with his German and the salesman's English and that wasn't necessarily the best combination. The guy talked to us about a card that they could activate right in the store, but we bought a lower cost card that we needed to activate with a phone call, which the guy said was the best deal. What a learning experience. The sim card cost 5 Euro. By the time we had finally got it activated - from the hotel - it was 74 Euro, since the hotel calls totaled 69. Then we used all the minutes we had on that flat tire. So Don called to load it with more minutes and we weren't allowed to do that because we didn't have a German bank account! So it was about $110 for 15 minutes of calls. We just used our regular calling plan for then on, as we only used the phone to call ahead for rooms. Still, it might have been less expensive in the long run to add the international option to our existing phone plan.

So the lesson: if you buy a new sim card, let them activate it for you- it might be a little more expensive to begin with, but you won't have the headache of dealing with it and the minutes will be cheaper.


(This is my phone with the cute fob from India.)