Wish I had happy news . . . I'm still struggling with that nasty cold, and we're slowly preparing for the 'big trip' of being away from home over a month. Mending plus packing! Biggest achievement so far: figuring out how to avoid roaming charges with the iPhone. Other work done so far this week:
BLOG = Weekly goal = post x3. By Weds: Posted to ROW80 x2 and have working draft for writing blog with another idea for travel blog -- "How Wearing Glasses Can Save You From Being Burned at the Stake" (forthcoming, but not posted yet).
READ BLOGS x5? By Weds: Actually read x3.
CRIT Novels_L. x2 for the month. Personal goal x4. By Weds: posted x2 and that means completed 3 so far for the month.
Best writing moments: 1) Being a part of The Internet Writing Workshop, Novels_L group. Got 2 critiques in today for chapter 5 of Tapestry, and somehow it just helps when another writer you trust gives you thoughtful insights and editing feedback that will lead to a stronger story. 2) Realizing that I like my main character MUCH better from first person pov. And 3), Well, all that and a box of Kleenix.
Click to visit A Round of Words in 80 Days HERE on our blog or over on Facebook to catch up on what other ROW80 writers are doing. Stay healthy! WHY NOT JOIN IN in setting goals and measuring progress weekly!
Avoiding roaming charges on the phone... that's always a chore (we live in the land of roaming at our house because of the mountains, so if we didn't have a plan that gave us free roaming in the first place, cell phones just wouldn't have been an option for the past 10 years). Do you have a GSM compatible phone? If so, you may just want to get a SIM you can switch into your device there. Orange and Movistar seem to be reasonably priced options.
ReplyDeleteIf you were headed to the UK, I'd say get a Pay-As-You-Go £20 card (actually £21 because the sim itself is a £1). I bought one for our trip in 2017 and had enough credit on it to hold my account active for this past fall's trip (and they have world-wide roaming for a fair price).
EE is another company you might want to check out. They share a contact with T-Mobile, I believe, so you may be able to get things setup through them.
Another option I'd be remiss in not suggesting is something like what we use on our backup phone for England. We get our cell service through a small company (Ting.com... though you may find other equally viable options). It's all Pay-As-You-Go, though we've found our bills for three phones in the house usually round about what I paid for one on AT&T...
Anyway... they have an option on your online account page where you can add $5 a month to have unrestricted data roaming outside the US. We did that and could use Skype and things like FB messenger or Google Hangouts to call people using our regular data plan. A lot cheaper than regular roaming, though not as cheap as using a SIM for the local networks....
Thank you for these very helpful tips, Eden. We're opting for a new SIM card (something called Orange) that we'll use just in Spain for about $13 -- then WhatsApp and FB and a few e-mails. Your comments helped take the mystery away!
DeleteSorry to hear you're still feeling under the weather. Hope you feel better very soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rob. My comments are late, but thank goodness for antibiotics -- I appreciate your good wishes!
DeleteYou did good with your goals even with a cold. Good luck this week!
ReplyDeleteHa! Lila, may your own writing go well. I'll catch up . . . soon.
DeleteHope you get better soon! Especially with a trip coming along.
ReplyDeleteNice work on your job despite feeling bad.
When I hear from you, I always think of poetry. Thank you for your good wishes and for stopping by.
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