How Did I Do #lukeurope - Technology/Packing

I LOVED being able to post to my Instagram account essentially as much as I wanted to in Europe. Here's a snapshot of some of my posts from Berlin.

This is the third post in a series about how I managed to travel around Europe for two months. Here, I will focus on how to prepare for using technology abroad and packing everything you need in a way that you will not regret down the line. This is something I really pride myself on while traveling, and I would consider to be an area where I can be most helpful for anyone that wants to travel themselves. Let's begin.

TECHNOLOGY

One of the most enjoyable elements of my European travel experience this summer was being able to share what I was up to, whenever I wanted. I was able to receive tips and feedback on the go in almost every country I visited. I could text message or video chat just about whenever. I could make phone calls to anyone (though I rarely needed to). Now, everyone has read or heard of horror stories of crazy cell phone bills from data roaming charges while abroad. This post is to try and inform you how to not have that happen and also how best to pack for a European adventure.

1) Have a smartphone. Seriously, every single trip I take, I come away more and more convinced that my iPhone (currently an iPhone 5) is the MVP of it. If you don't have an iPhone/smartphone that can connect to WiFi, use GPS, take pictures, translate, look up places to go, etc... in my personal opinion, you are going to be missing out on quite a lot. You could combat this a bit by having an iPod/iPad/tablet/netbook - all of which can connect to the internet and help. However, having a smartphone is a huge reason why I feel I am able to get as much out of my travel as I do. I realize that smartphones are expensive and come with large contracts attached in the US. For me, it is a price that I am willing to pay. For you, it might be difficult to budget for one. I understand that, so I will give you a few other options as well.

A very important element to know is whether or not your phone can handle GSM cell phone bands (as opposed to CDMA, which is what Verizon and Sprint typically run on and do not work in Europe). An easy way to discern this is to see if your cell phone has a SIM card slot. I am fortunate in that my old iPhone (the 4, on Verizon) did not have access to GSM bands, but my newer iPhone 5 (purchased last year) has dual capacity for both GSM/CDMA, making it the perfect phone to travel with. The iPhone 4S on Verizon also has a SIM card slot.

To put it in other words: if you have a smartphone that is on an AT&T or T-Mobile contract: you probably have a SIM card and use GSM bands (thumbs up for Europe). If you use Verizon or Sprint, you probably have a CDMA phone and you are going to need to make sure it has GSM capacity, or your phone will turn into WiFi only communications (which is not the worst thing ever, as I will explain) once you get to Europe, operating only on GSM.

If you have a phone that clears this first hurdle (of being GSM compatible), the second hurdle is to find out whether or not it can be "unlocked"  by the cell carrier (note that this is NOT the same as "jailbreaking"), so that you can insert a different SIM card into it and it will still work. Again, I am very fortunate to have a Verizon iPhone 5, which the US government mandated come unlocked automatically (or something like that). Hooray for regulations that favor the consumer and companies that implement consumer favorable services! If you are not sure whether or not your phone is unlocked for international SIM cards, call your carrier and ask. If it is not, they should unlock it for you if you are in good standing with your current contract. Here's how this process works on an iPhone 4S with Verizon.

Should your phone fail to meet any of these criteria, skip to tip #3.

2) Research the best international roaming SIM option for you. This is so crucial for the modern traveler - I mean, if you are connected to the internet, you can do SO much. I have a few hugely helpful pointers here.

If you are visiting the United Kingdom for a few days or more: buy a giffgaff SIM card. This is an absolute stunner of a deal, combined with a "goodybag" purchase. I purchased the £12 goodybag (about $19 USD) and received (for a whole month): Unlimited mobile internet while in the UK (yes, that means that you can FaceTime/Skype with your friends back in the US while you are standing by Big Ben as much as you want, as I did with my classes back at Westview). Unlimited texts to anyone in the UK (and really, if you have unlimited mobile internet, you also have unlimited texts to the US as well, using either iMessage on iPhones, BBM on BlackBerrys, or a whole range of apps, like TextPlus or WhatsApp that allow users to text for free using the internet). Also, the £12 goodybag comes with 250 minutes to anyone in the UK. If you are traveling with a friend/partner and you both have giffgaff SIMs, you have an unlimited amount of minutes to talk with each other.

Now, if you are in the United States, you cannot buy a giffgaff SIM card from their online store before you go. However, you could buy what you need (please be sure to buy the right size SIM card for your phone - there are three types now, the SIM, micro SIM, and nano SIM) on eBay, or, just send me a message on twitter/Facebook/email, and I can put you in touch with a friend of mine who will send you one for free (aside from the postage and the initial credit you have to have).

Giffgaff is a huge recommendation if you are spending a bit of time (or all of your time) in the UK. It works on the O2 network and if you run out of credit (remember, this is ALL pay as you go - I never once gave my credit card information to any mobile company in Europe), you can "top up" at virtually any store in the country, or online.

I had my giffgaff nano SIM ready to go, once I hit Iceland on the way over, since it also offers low calling rates to European countries (but awful mobile data, so do not try that). I swapped out my Verizon nano SIM on the flight, landed, and was immediately able to make a call to my hotel to come pick me up. Technology is awesome.

Yes, there are a lot of WiFi networks in Europe (this is near Parc Güell in Barcelona). Even without a mobile internet connection, you can use secured WiFi networks to determine where you are, using Google Maps on your phone/iPod.

If you are traveling all around Europe: buy a SIM card from the UK carrier O2, that will enable you to use their "O2 Travel" feature.

What the O2 SIM card allows you to do is travel really anywhere in Europe (check the FAQ at the bottom of this page for specific countries) and always have access to mobile internet for a low rate, without having to swap out your SIM card, since it automatically switches to their partner network in each area. This is doubly helpful because you have a consistent phone number that you can be reached at during your travels, as well.

Here is the deal: for £1.99 (about $3 USD), you have 15MB of mobile data to use each day, using data roaming. If you run out of your data allowance, you can always buy more installments (as long as you have credit in your pay and go account) by text messaging them for free. This was SO worth it to me - especially because for most of my trip, the allowance was 25MB a day. I think I once purchased three extra installments one day, but most of the time I was careful to keep it around 1-2 allotments. I apologize to all the future European travelers, because all my data consumption possibly made O2 lower the allowance from 25MB to 15MB! In any case, 15MB is a decent amount, if you are careful with it. I would say that is probably 4-5 picture uploads, along with semi-regular checking of maps/twitter/Facebook/internet for me. I made sure to turn off data roaming when I was not using it, so it did not deplete my allowance further. Do not even think about streaming or uploading videos (at least until you have WiFi), though. Check the FAQ here for more estimations.

A look at the alert that was sent to my phone when I was nearing a data allowance on O2 while traveling around Europe.

Again, I do not think you can buy an O2 card directly from them, while you are in the US. I purchased one in a shop in London, but I imagine the eBay route would work again (or I could ask a friend to help you out, if you are not going to be in the UK to buy one yourself). The international roaming bit took some creativity and planning ahead of time, as I could not use a credit card to "top up" my O2 SIM. What I did was buy about £60 worth of top up vouchers in the UK and put them on my account before I left for about 25 days around Europe.

If this all sounds too complicated for you, try investigating how much international data would be using your cell company here in the US. Verizon is promoting a package that is 100MB for $25 (which you can rebuy when you run out, apparently). AT&T has three options, the cheapest being 120MB for $30. Again, I would be VERY careful using your US based phone service while traveling abroad. The O2 plan I outlined above translates to being about 100MB for $20 or so (again, it was a better deal when I was using it, at 100MB for about $12). You will definitely use more than 100MB if you are on a trip for more than a few days, though, so the cost discrepancy starts ramping up.

3) Consider buying a phone in Europe. When I studied abroad in 2007, one of the best decisions I made (because my Verizon phone was useless without service) was buying a prepaid Virgin Mobile phone for £20. It was easy to use and top up. In general, cell phones in Europe are cheap and have easy to use "pay and go" plans. If you are going to be in a country for a few days, investigate both SIM-only and phone options.

4) If all else fails, just put your US phone on "Airplane Mode" and only connect to WiFi when available. This is what I did for my travels in 2011, especially in Vietnam. There are enough WiFi hotspots around (Starbucks and McDonald's almost always have free WiFi, and there are TONS of them in Europe) to make this a viable option (especially if you do not care about looking up stuff or posting updates/pictures while walking around). If you want to be really creative (I thought about doing this, but decided against it), you can rent a "MiFi" device that will give you wireless internet wherever you are (as long as there is cell phone service).
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Now that you have an idea of what using your phone in Europe might look like, here are a few of my favorite travel related apps that I used on my iPhone 5:

• Google Maps. An absolute lifesaver and delight. Even without data roaming turned on, Google Maps can still pinpoint your location using a GPS if you have a smartphone. A nice trick I learned is to "pre-load" street maps for the city you are going to be in, by navigating and exploring a bit using WiFi before you start walking around. That way, even if you lose mobile internet (or do not have it in the first place), you still know where you are. Combined with asking hotels for street maps, this was a fantastic strategy for navigating around.
• Twitter/Facebook/Instagram. Duh. I particularly enjoyed Instagram, as I could upload one picture there and share it to both Twitter and Facebook at the same time (without using more of my data allowance, which would have gone 3x as fast if I posted pictures on each separately). I also liked being able to use Instagram to tag my location, so I could see what other people had been posting from there.
• Pic Jointer (for playing with borders and frame colors) and Pic Stitch (editing options and more photos in one collage). If you followed along with my photos of the trip, you noticed I did a lot of collages of pictures. I enjoyed this because it was a fun way to both tell a story and also condense multiple pictures of a city/place into one post (again, saving on data allowance).
• Google Translate. What an incredible app. I did not have to use it too much, but being able to look up any translation on the go is pretty astounding. 

A look at my iBooks library, full of maps of European Metro stations.

• iBooks. As I wrote before (in the transportation blog post), I found it very helpful to download Metro pdf maps to iBooks for reference whenever I needed them (with or without WiFi/mobile internet). 
• I also love (for London's Underground) the free Tube Map app.
• As I noted above, I love textPlus, for free text messaging (for both parties - the person in the US does not have to have the app, because it is just like a regular text message coming in and going out) to and from the US, anywhere in the world. It is always nice when other people have iMessage capability with Apple devices as well, which is also free, anywhere in the world. Make sure to go to your settings and "Messages" and turn "Send as SMS" to OFF, though (in addition to not sending text messages unless the send button is blue and not green on your iPhone).
• A few quick and great recommendations (in my "Travel" folder): TripAdvisor (great for sightseeing and food), Google Local (ditto), Viator (if only for seeing what paid tours are doing in your area), and XE.com currency converter (so you know you are not getting ripped off wherever you are).
• Finally, I highly recommend programming the phone numbers all the places you are going to stay into your phone ahead of time. For me, I just put them under the city name, then establishment. So like, "Madrid - Hostal Barrera" in my address book.

Other (non phone) technology tips:

Buy one of these external batteries (or something similar). Trust me. It is a lifesaver. You will never run out of battery during the day, as long as you make sure to charge it overnight. The particular battery I linked to is what I use, and can charge my iPhone 5 three times fully before it runs out. It also has two USB plugs, in case you have something else (or a friend/partner wants to charge up as well).

Make sure to have electronic adapters. Note, this does NOT mean buying a gigantic electric current converter. You do not need one of those, in all likelihood. Your electronics are probably built to handle multiple electric currents (but do not try bringing your own blow dryer, as my friends in London found out to their dismay in 2007, as their converters burst into flames on the wall). These are the adapters I used on my trip:

The white adapters on the left are for the United Kingdom/Ireland. The black adapters on the right are for pretty much everywhere else in Europe (well, everywhere that I went), including Turkey.

To buy three cheap adapters (for any region in the world), check out this Amazon.com listing (or browse yourself).

Last electronics tip: yes, wireless internet is very easy to find in Europe, but I would not recommend bringing a heavy laptop to carry around. Try a netbook or iPad, or just rely on your phone. Which transitions to...

PACKING

This is all I took with me for about a month on the road in Europe (plus what I was wearing), and I still think it was too much.

I think it is VERY common for people to over-pack when traveling to Europe. Here are some tips to get the most out of your experience:

• Roll your clothes, do not fold them flat. You can fit way more in a bag that way.
• If you are going in the summer, pack light. I do not just mean light as in not a lot of clothes/gear. I also mean: light clothes. Dri-fit t-shirts. Shorts that you could play tennis in. For some stupid reason, I decided that I needed sweatpants on my trip, as I was narrowing down from my big bag that I left with my relatives in London. If I could redo anything on the entire trip, it would probably be not bringing sweatpants, which took up a relatively big amount of space and I used maybe once. You do not need tons of outfits. Really. Keep it light, have a few layers available, and you will be good.
• Have two bags (both small enough to carry on flights, instead of paying baggage fees). One for most of your gear (like my backpack in the picture), and one for carrying around cameras, maps, chargers, converters, etc. Important: ALWAYS wear your smaller bag like a seat belt: over your shoulder and across your chest. This makes you much less of a target for thieves or pickpockets, who could simply grab your bag and run if it was just hanging off of one shoulder. In areas where you feel like it is important to be very cautious (like Las Ramblas in Barcelona - except I never saw anything bad happen there), have your bag in front of you. All other times, I felt fine walking around with it on my back.
• I ended up placing my wallet at the bottom of my camera bag (which zips up). There was some risk to that, I suppose, but I felt that it was safer there than in any of my pockets.
• Take a garbage bag to put your dirty laundry in. By the way, doing laundry in a foreign country where you do not speak the language is awesome. Highly recommended traveling experience. Just smile and ask for help a lot. :-)
• Socks and underwear are really key. Pack as many of those as is practical. T-shirts and shorts are almost always re-usable before washing, let's be honest.
• Have pens and paper. This will come in handy, if only just to write when you have some downtime. I forced myself to write between stops on my trip around the continent, and I am really glad that I did.
• Bring a padlock/combination lock. Always helpful for leaving a bigger bag at a hotel if you have to check out early and want to come back later in the day, along being a near necessity at hostels.
• Keep a color photocopy of your passport details page (with your picture on it), totally separate from your passport. This could come in handy in the unlikely event your passport is stolen.
• Along those lines, keep your tickets and important documents (like reservations) in a ziploc freezer bag, either at the bottom or in a hidden pocket in your big bag. I keep mine in the pocket that is for a laptop (I think), that is the one closest to my back on my backpack. Needless to say, do not have your important documents with you unless you really need them.
• Even though I do not think I have ever used them, I keep a few earplugs and bandaids in my backpack, just in case. The same thing goes for having tissues/napkins at hand. I found that most places, I was fine, but in some areas, I had really bad allergies flare up.
• Remember a towel (I forgot and was rescued by a spare from my relatives before I left for the continent).
• If you can, try to leave a little wiggle room in your bag, just in case you want to buy souvenirs along the way. I almost never do that (I prefer taking pictures as my souvenirs).

I like taking photos on my adventures. This is the Reichstag building in Berlin.

• Lastly, remember to bring a debit card for taking cash out of ATMs if needed (I mostly tried to just pay with my credit card that had no foreign transaction fees). Debit card withdrawal fees often stack up quite high (Chase charges $5 per transaction abroad), so try and limit your use of these.

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I know this is a LOT of information. I truly believe these are some of the most helpful tips that I can possibly give, though. With a good grasp of how to use technology while traveling, and having your pack nice and light, the world really does open up.

Did I miss anything? Are there any parts that merit more information or a better explanation? Are you wondering about something I did not write about? Please let me know in the comments or via twitter or Facebook. Thank you for reading!

PREVIOUSLY on How Did I Do #lukeurope?

Part I - Planning/Transportation

Part II - Accommodations

NEXT UP: Sightseeing on a Budget