Walt Disney World ICP: May Update - Travel Insurance, Sim Cards and Poundland (21 days to go)
I've finished uni for the year and will probably be doing some freelance/casual contract work for the next few weeks, but the majority of the time will be spent preparing...and catching up on some much needed sleep. There's a few updates to my trip:
US Airways:
My parents’ US airways flight was changed from Gatwick to Heathrow this week which is a bit random and annoying. More annoying is the fact they hadn't told us what terminal it would be at. A bit of investigation by test-booking the same flight reveals it should leave from Terminal 1.
Travel Insurance:
In my last blog post I told you about the medical insurance we had to buy from Disney's partner. That was compulsory. I also decided to buy travel insurance this week. Although it's not compulsory, I feel it would be naive to leave with it. Yes, it was expensive to find one that'd fit my dates and cancellation cover levels I needed (mine cost me £105!), but it is great to have it. It covers medical (even though I've already got that), but most importantly it covers cancellations and luggage. Hopefully I won't need it but as I'm going travelling after, it's definitely useful to have just in case.
Sim Cards / Using your mobile abroad:
There's been chat on the Facebook group over what the best option is to use phones abroad. The best round-up on what's available can be seen on Dan's blog here. Personally, as far as I'm concerned the best option for me as an iPhone 4S owner is the $50 a month plan from Simplemobile - You do get unlimited internet which is very important to me. It also provides Unlimited nationwide calling and texts and data, plus unlimited international calls and texts. All in all, it's a pretty good deal. Cheaper plans are available for other uses.
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| Simple Mobile Plans |
There are other providers too. See Dan's post, linked above, which has more info. If you're going back to basics you can pick up a cheap $10 phone from Walmart and a top up and use that - always an affordable option, but I couldn't live without data on my phone.
Poundland:
Poundland may actually be my new haven; the amount of affordable stuff there is incredible. I bought a few things that I found useful and therefore thought I'd post on here:
1- Vacuum packing bags - You can get 3 for £1, these are the self roll kind instead of the vacuum suck kind but I tested them and they work great. I bought two packs. These are £8 in Argos!
2 - International power adapter plugs - You get 2 for £1, 1 in European and 1 is for the US which is annoying, so I bought 3 packs. They cost £5 each at Wilkinson and Argos.
3 - Phone protector - I didn't really need this but bought it anyway. Essentially it's a splash proof bag with a neck-string round it. I thought it'd be useful for water rides and for when going to the beach to stop sand and water getting in. An iPhone 4S just about fits in, so an iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy phone would not fit in. Best of all, the touch screen works through the plastic and it has a headphone cord so you can plug your headphones in through a watertight hole.
Overall, I found the trip was good value and it definitely pays to visit your local pound shop for these items.
DORMS:
I mentioned this new reservation system in my last blog post, but now we're just 11 days away from being able to supply our preferences on who we’ll live with and where.
Just a random thing I found online but if anyone is planning on buying attractions tickets during May, as until the 31st May if you buy selected tickets through ATD you also get a free Legoland ticket for every ticket bought.
That's all for now!
Image: Greenwichmeantime.com
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