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travel tips

Local SIM cards for South Africa and Senegal and a resource for Europe and Prepaid Data Around the World

 

Why I Stay Connected When Travelling Internationally and How an Unlocked iPhone Helps Me Feel Safe Travelling Solo:

Staying connected while travelling solo internationally is essential for me. I do so to stay in touch with my husband and 2 boys via FaceTime and so they know my whereabouts in case anything should happen. I also like to stay “connected” as an extra measure of safety.

Reasons to Stay Connected

  • To use Google’s street view to scout the neighbourhood of the hostel/hotel I’m going to be staying at ahead of time. I can see what amenities are nearby and what the neighbourhood is like.
  • To open google maps and follow the “blue dot” to see if your taxi is taking you in the right direction. It helps to guard against taxi ripoffs. Prior to visiting Prague, I had read in various travel forums about the potential to be overcharged especially from the train station. I usually take a taxi when I arrive, especially at night. I used my iPhone to look up the typical cost using the World Taximeter website. By having data available, I was able to keep more of my Koruna as I could debate the cost of said trip. My driver went out of the way from the train station to the hotel so I knew he was overcharging me thanks to Google maps and world taximeter. He didn’t contest told and charged me less than what he initially asked for.
  • To use a Translate app such as iTranslate or Google translate. It helps me to say what I need to.

 

Most smartphone users know the high costs of data and roaming while travelling. So what do you do to keep costs to an affordable amount? If you have an unlocked phone you can purchase a local SIM card and prepaid data.

Purchasing an SIM card & prepaid data in South Africa: 

Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport: There are several wireless provider shops near the international arrivals area. I went with Vodacom. It was easy to get set up and it was about $30-35 CAD for 1gb data, 20 minutes of calls to South Africa and texting.

Cape Town airport: There are several wireless provider shops after arrival in the Cape Town airport as well.

If you should need to top up, you can do so at any Vodacom shop or at stores like Pick n pay where you purchase of voucher for a certain amount and follow the prompts on your phone to credit your SIM card/phone number with the codes from the voucher. It’s simple and it’s in English.

Purchasing an SIM card & prepaid data in Senegal, West Africa: 

In Dakar and many towns outside of Dakar there are Orange stores as well as resellers everywhere. You can barely go a few blocks without seeing an Orange sign. You can even find their prepaid cards while stuck in traffic from the vendors
that come to your window.

To purchase data service in Senegal, follow these steps.

  1. Purchase a microSIM card. If none are available, purchase a regular sized one and have it cut or cut it yourself. 
  2. Purchase either 10,000 (1-week internet) or 25,000 CFA (1 month internet) at any reseller. You will get a scratch card with the pertinent information. 
  3. Important: Visit www.passorange.sn to activate the prepaid card and choose which service you’d like.
  1. Open up your browser and you should see that you’re connected.

 

Orange prepaid cards
Orange prepaid cards in Dakar, Senegal

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Activating your Orange prepaid data card
Activating your Orange prepaid data card

 

OrangeSenegalPrepaid3

 

If your phone is locked:

A locked phone means that you cannot change your SIM card from that of your usual wireless provider. You have to either “roam” (costly), rent (if available), buy something local or wait for a wifi connection. You can read that post here.

A Regional SIM card and staying connected in Europe:

In March 2012, I travelled solo to 8 cities in 6 countries in Europe and chose IPhoneTrip for convenience as they provide data plans for the world, a region or one country. I chose coverage for Europe so I could travel seamlessly from one country to the next rather than getting a local SIM card because I was only in some places 24-48 hours. I didn’t want to have interrupted service and I also didn’t want to spend my time having to find an SIM card on arrival. The service providers automatically switched as I entered a new country and I barely noticed.

iPhoneTrip sends you an SIM card as well as a backup SIM card in case there is something wrong with the first one. Rental is for a minimum of 7 days. At the time of rental, it was $11.99 USD per day for unlimited data. I only needed data as I use apps such as Vonage and Skype to make phone calls and iMessage and What’s App or Facebook messenger. My phone also worked as a wifi hotspot (tethering) so I could share my data with up to 5 devices if I wanted to. Fellow passengers on the tour bus to Budapest from Vienna became my best friends 😉

 

Prepaid SIM cards and Data Plans Around The World:

Here’s a great site that Susan of Vibrant Travels tweeted to me. It lists Prepaid SIM cards with data by country. http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

I checked Senegal and it’s not up to date, but I added a comment with some information. I also checked South Africa and it seemed pretty  up to date. So please do further research before you travel before relying solely on the information presented.

There is definitely something to be said for wandering about and getting “lost” and disconnecting, but sometimes it is not okay to do so. For those of us that need or want to stay connected, I hope these tips will help you.

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa, South Africa, Travel, travel tips, Travel With Purpose

Socially Responsible in South Africa

I am grateful for the opportunity to go to South Africa and want to give back to the communities that I will be visiting. Short of volunteering trips which generally require several weeks to a year and can potentially be more about exploitation rather than helping (read here about the potential problems with some volunteering trips), how can people that want to help more directly, do so?

In my research, I came across three organizations. I learned about a program called Pack for a Purpose through The Backpack. The idea is to use space in your suitcase or your extra baggage allowance to pack much-needed items. To figure out what is needed, you look up a destination, choose lodging that participates and view the items that are needed. The information is regularly updated. What a great idea, right?!

For my trip to Africa (Senegal & South Africa), I am allowed two suitcases of up to 50 pounds each. I only need one small suitcase, so I have filled another one for donation. With the Pack for a Purpose organization, you bring the items to the lodging, and they will make sure it gets to the projects they support.

The hostel I’m staying at in Cape Town is The Backpack. I chose them because of their initiatives that support people and communities. They are more than a great hostel in an excellent location; their responsible tourism efforts are what drew me to them. It is important for me to support small businesses that affect people more directly, where I can. Check them out if you plan to visit Cape Town.

donations
donated items for Pack for a Purpose and Uthando South Africa

The other organization I learned of is Uthando South Africa. I couldn’t go to Cape Town and ignore the communities outside of the tourist areas. I’ve known about Apartheid over the years. Admittedly, I struggled with the idea of visiting a township as I didn’t want it to be voyeuristic or intrusive. I came across many tours, but they didn’t feel right to me. Uthando is different as you visit community projects that are making a difference to their communities. 

From the Uthando website: “Uthando offers tailor made, unique and authentic philanthropic cultural tours, visiting the projects that receive funding and other forms of assistance from Uthando and its benefactors. People attending on the field trip have an insight into the remarkable stories that make life in South Africa so interesting, dynamic and very importantly, inspiring. The tours are interactive, meeting the people at the projects, learning about their work and way of life, firsthand. By booking a tour with Uthando, clients are also automatically assisting the projects on a financial level.”

In addition to helping financially by going on a tour, I will also bring items that are needed in the donated suitcase. Finding a way to help not only locally, but globally is important to me, especially since having children.

I want to teach my boys about the world and the people of the world. I want to raise them to be socially responsible men. I want them to learn about giving and helping where they can, but not just by telling them, by showing them, and involving them. I strive to find ways to teach them about this in a meaningful way. Thanks to the Backpack, Pack for a Purpose and Uthando South Africa, I will be able to do so in a more tangible way.

Read More about Cape Town & South Africa :

Update February 2020:

Since this post almost 8 years ago, I’ve been to Cape Town 8 times and South Africa 10 times. My most recent trip was in October/November 2019. I still feel this way about these great organizations. 

How to Protect Your Memories

Your son is getting married and you want to gift him with an album full of his childhood photos so that he has it for his own family. Problem is, your computer crashed and the hard drive you had some of the photos on became corrupt. So what do you do?

Grandpa & I
Summer Memories

A few years ago I wrote a blog post for my professional portrait business. It is still relevant today so I’ll post the information that pertains to the iPhone. Originally posted on the Andrea Rees Photography Blog May 11, 2009.

August 2019 — updated with current relevant information

———-

While working on a blog post, a tv commercial came on that caught my attention. It’s a funny commercial that starts with a boy posing in a crib while his parents are taking a picture of him on their digital camera. The boy is about 11 years old and they are recreating his childhood in photos because his father dropped his laptop and lost the originals.  While it was a comical look at the situation that I’m sure has happened to you or at least, one person you know, the commercial’s intent was to promote their online storage services.

As a photographer, backup is very important and I make every effort to backup and archive the images I create.  My husband is in IT so I’m very lucky as he helps me come up with the best solution.

So the question is… how do you protect photos of your loved ones or of your travels?

External Hard Drives

While this is a great option if you’re travelling with a laptop, hard drives do crash. Let me repeat that. They do crash. I’ve had two external hard drives fail on me. Luckily, I had the images backed up in multiple ways so I didn’t lose anything. One hard drive crashed within 1 week of purchase. The other hard drive was about 1-2 years old.

When I travel I don’t rely on cloud storage solutions and use one of these backup scenarios:

I travel with several 128 GB SD cards as well and don’t delete images off my iPhone or SD cards until they have been transferred and backed up. It really depends on the type of travel I am doing and if I need to travel light. I don’t rely on cloud storage on my travels simply for cost as well as the internet can be unreliable.

USB drive or iFlashDrive

These little things are great for mobility, but they are meant for temporary storage so please don’t rely on them alone, they can crash too. As I said above, I travel with 2 storage solutions.

  • An iFlash Drive. If you travel with an iPhone and an iPad or laptop this is the tech accessory for you. I often transfer my iPhone photos to my iPad mini to edit and for storage, especially if I’m travelling without a laptop, reliable internet or data.

This device will allow me to transfer photos to my iPad mini, but back again to my iPhone after editing. It works with videos and documents too. It really has been a great time saver and allows me to travel lighter when I need to. The one pictured below is no longer available in my photography stores or on Amazon, so I did some research and found something similar with good reviews.

iFlash Drive
iFlash Drive, 30-pin, I now have a lightning iFlashDrive

Online storage and/or Backup

I believe this is the best solution for most people. I use a Flickr Pro account for my original and edited images and videos, it gives me unlimited storage for about $45 USD/year. The free Flickr option gives you 1000gb of storage. I use Dropbox or Box.net for files and documents.

I also use Crashplan to automatically backup the files on my home server.

Mirrored drive and RAID servers

This is what we have in place at home. I don’t want to get technical on you especially since I don’t fully know the details, but simply it’s a way to replicate your data. For example, say you have your photos and data stored on one drive, mirrored drives and raid allow you to have an exact copy of that on another drive should the first drive fail. You will need someone with the knowledge to set this up for you. It might be overkill for most people, but if you take A LOT of photos or if you are a small business it might be something you should consider.

Hope this helps or at the very least gives you something to think about.

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone

Recharging your iPhone on the go

You’re enjoying the sights and smells of a beautiful country in a faraway land all the while watching your iPhone drain rapidly. You’ve already googled how to maximize your battery power. You’ve done all the tricks like turned off wifi and lowered the brightness of your iPhone screen, yet it’s not draining any slower. You CANNOT run out of battery. The warning comes up that tells you that you have 10% battery remaining. You keep photographing. You’re about to take THE shot, you know the one. Your screen goes black. That’s it, it’s gone, your iPhone is dead. You’re nowhere near an outlet so what do you do?

WhenI was traveling through Europe in March 2012 I relied on my Just Mobile Gum Max power pack (pictured below) the majority of the time. It allowed me to charge my iPhone about 5 times before having to recharge it again in an outlet. It comes with a carrying case and can easily be carried in a travel bag, purse or backpack.  It is especially great for train or bus travel. It charges fairly rapidly as well.

Well, you’re prepared of course so all that didn’t really happen. Well, not if you’ve read my blog or know me as you would have extra battery power in your arsenal already.

One of the reasons I created this blog, was to give you suggestions on how to be prepared as an iPhone user BEFORE you travel and before you run out of battery power – again!

If you are an average user you probably charge your phone at least once a day. When I travel I am out all day and will drain my iPhone at least once if not more. I am a heavy iPhone user as I like to take a lot of photos, Facebook, tweet and Instagram my way around. I currently have 2 types of portable battery power for my iPhone, and I never leave home without one. They are both great and are used for different reasons. 

anker portable battery charger

The larger Anker battery pack has enough power to charge my phone 4-5 times. It also charges my iPad and other electronic items. I always bring it on my travels as there still may be many airplanes that don’t have power outlets or accommodations that don’t have plugs next to the bed. I like to have my iPhone near me as it is my alarm.

The smaller Anker battery pack is useful if I’m just going out for the day close to home. I also bring it on my travels for day use.

Travel, travel tips

My top 10 Travel Apps for the iPhone

When I travel internationally there are a number of apps I use for anything from finding a restaurant or my way around to video calling my family. I prefer to do so without the high roaming charges associated. See my post on data plans and travel here.

Please keep in mind that a good data plan is best in order to use some of these apps, especially for calls, video calls or maps. Having said that, you could still make good use of this list with wifi only. I am speaking as a Canadian user though I’m certain most of these would apply to our friends north of the border and International users as well.

Top 10 Travel Apps for iPhone

 

Updated for relevancy in 2015. 

1. FaceTime, included with your Apple product — I love video calling my family and close friends back home and sharing some of my experiences while travelling. FaceTime is my number one choice for video calling both for clarity in video and sound. Of course to use FaceTime the other person needs an Apple product such as the iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac computer. You also need a good data plan so if your data plan is not 1gb or more or I would wait until you find wifi. If your internet connection is not as great, you can still use FaceTime without video.

2. Skype, a free app – A fantastic alternative to FaceTime for video calling and calling. It is also available for android phones. I have the Unlimited US and Canada plan for $2.99 per month which allows me to call landlines and mobiles anywhere in those countries from anywhere. If the other party has skype on their mobile device or computer then skype is always free. Again be mindful of your data plan when travelling.

3. WhatsApp, a free instant messaging app that allows you to share photos and your location as well. While I do use iMessage a lot within my family, not everyone I communicates with has an iOS device. This is a fantastic app regardless of the operating system your phone uses. — iOS, blackberry, android and windows.

4. Vonage, free to download works with credit. When I first mentioned this app, it was free to call any phone number in Canada or the USA. Now you need to purchase credits. Vonage works well and the clarity of the call is wonderful. Vonage to Vonage calls are always free anywhere in the world.

5. Google Maps, a free app. I use this app often, even at home. The map will find where you are (blue dot) and get you where you want to go. As you move, the iPhone updates your location automatically. If you have a favourite location, drop a pin to mark it and bookmark it to find it again. You can also search along the way. You can type in something like “cafe or coffee” to find places associated with the keyword and it works with addresses and business names. When you find what you’re looking for, tap the pin and touch the blue arrow to bring up more information, such as phone numbers and web or location addresses. If you see a circle icon with a person inside then that location has street view. I love to use street view to see where my hotel is and to get an idea of what is around it. Tip: Bookmark your hotel/hostel as soon as you know the information so that wherever you are in a new city/town, you can always find your way there. It’s a great idea to keep the map open when you’re in a cab as to keep tabs on your cabbie as there are many cities that are notorious for ripping off tourists. Hello Prague, I’m talking to you. Saved some money by doing this there. If you’re driving, it has the GPS function with turn by turn information. Also be mindful of your data plan before using it.

6. Yelp, a free app – a great app to find recommendations for restaurants, entertainment, services, shopping and more. You can sign up to give reviews and check in as some places have check in offers. It also has the “nearby” feature which locates restaurants or everything close to you.

7. TripAdvisor, a free app – it is my go-to resource for accomodation reviews and activities as there are plenty of reviews to be found.

8. XE Currency, a free app – a great app for converting Canadian dollars to whatever currency you’ll be using. Came in really handy when I recently travelled to 6 countries but needed 4 different currencies.

9. iTranslate, a free app – a fantastic app that you can type into that translates in 50 different languages. Works well if you’re typing in a word or phrase. For an additional fee you can have the option of talking into the phone with voice recognition. I haven’t used that part of the app so cannot say whether the voice recognition is good or bad.

10. TripIt, free app. Admittedly, I was late to jump on the bandwagon. Many of my travel friends have mentioned this app, but for some reason I didn’t look into it. Now that I have, I can’t travel without it. It organizes your travel plans so beautifully, so seamlessly. Flights, accommodations, car rentals. It’s all there for you and it can be accessed offline.

 

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone

Data Plans + International travel + the iPhone

airplane raindrops
Lufthansa flight from London Heathrow to Munich

If you are like me, you want mobile data when you travel internationally and don’t want to have to pay the incredible roaming prices your wireless provider charges. Personally I like to and need to stay in touch with family at home as well as tweet, facebook and instagram my way around the world. Since March 2011 I have tried 3 companies that specialize in providing data for international travel. In my case, travel was to the United States, the UK and Europe as I am in Toronto, Canada. I am going to discuss my experiences with each of the companies and the service they provide. Since pricing is fluid, I won’t discuss that, but will say that it is much cheaper than what your home wireless providers charge.

I generally go for the data only option as there are a number of apps that I use for video calling, phone calling and texting so I personally don’t need the phone or texting options. I won’t discuss the travel apps I use in this post but will do so in coming days. Stay tuned.

The first company I used for travel to London, UK was Tep Wireless, previously known as Fonmigo. In March 2011, I travelled to London and was there for 2 days. I had a locked iPhone 4 at the time so I could not use another sim card. I had 2 choices, I could either rent a smartphone or rent a pocket wifi device. I went with the pocket wifi since I wanted to be able to use my own iPhone that was already loaded with my preferred apps.

With Tep wireless you could either pick up the device or have it delivered to your home or destination. I went with the pick up option as there is a pick up location at Heathrow. Upon pick up I found that the battery for the unit was completely drained and there wasn’t a ‘storefront’ so I couldn’t get another device or battery. Once that was resolved, the unit worked very well all over London. I was also able to get data in Bath, Stonehenge and Windsor. With a portable wifi unit you can connect up to 5 devices so my friend that travelled with me also had data. Once you are finished with the device you put it in the mail with the pre paid envelope they provide in London. I did voice my concerns about the drained unit after I returned home and they were quick to respond and remedy the situation. Great customer service on their part.

In March 2012, I travelled to 8 cities (Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Munich, Innsbruck, Paris and London) in 6 countries in Europe. This time I went with iPhoneTrip. I now own an unlocked
iPhone 4s so I could use any sim card. IPhoneTrip provides sim card rental for all over the world. If you don’t have an unlocked device you could rent a portable wifi unit or iPhone from them. With iPhoneTrip they mail you a sim card as well as a back up sim card. Rental is for a minimum of 7 days. Since I was going all over Europe I went with the Europe option to have a seamless connection. Upon arrival in the UK I found that they had some technical problems which meant a significant delay in service. Fortunately once that was resolved the connection was fantastic and was indeed seamless from country to country. I did call iPhoneTrip while in London and their customer service was great as well.

sim cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In May 2012, I travelled to New York City and used iPhoneTrip for that visit as well. This time service was without a hitch and the data connection was great.

In July 2012, I travelled to Washington state and Oregon. I was only going to be in the United States for 3 days so I didn’t want to use iPhoneTrip as their minimum service is 7 days. I went with a Canadian based company called Roam Mobility. They provide a few different options but since I have an unlocked phone I went with the sim card option. With Roam Mobility you can purchase a sim card for $19.95 CAD in a number of locations around Canada. I was in British Columbia at the time so picked up a sim card at a store in Abbotsford where I was staying with friends.  Their service is a ‘pay-as-you-go’ type service with 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 day options for talk, text and data, talk and text or data only. I went with the talk, text and data option for 3 days. The talk and text was unlimited and you get a US phone number. I had no issues signing up and activating online. I did have a minor problem connecting to data but was able to call customer service to get it resolved easily. Unfortunately if you have an iPhone you are currently limited to 2G or Edge service while in the United States as their data partner is T Mobile. As a result it was slower than the 3G service I’m used to but was still okay and workable for light surfing, email,  facebook and twitter. I tweeted to them while in Washington and learned that T Mobile will be making changes and should have 3G and 4G by the end of the year. Again, great customer service with Roam Mobility both on the phone and on twitter.

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone