One of our “challenges” (it’s hardly a big one) is how we’ll access the internet whilst in our various destinations. At the moment, we’re planning on visiting at least a dozen different countries in the 2 months we’re away. I’m keen to use the internet to:
- update this blog
- share & backup photos
- plan the next part of our trip as we go
- book anything we need to
- research what’s on offer
- plan any meet-ups with people
Being that Deb & I will most likely want to do this at the same time, it’d be great to share an internet connection. There’s a couple of ways I’ve thought we could manage this:
- jailbreak one of our iPhones and buy a SIM with a data allowance and use the MyWi app. This app turns your iPhone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. That way, our 2 phones + iPad can all share the one connection
- take my Airport Express with me and use at hotels where they provide a wired ethernet connection. I found in our last trip to New Zealand and Hawaii that the hotels we stayed at offered an ethernet connection but not Wifi – which is useless to our iPhones + iPad. With the Airport Express, it takes the ethernet connection and then shares it via Wi-Fi which we can then use – very handy. I’ve already bought Apple’s multi-country power adaptor kit, so it makes sense to take advantage of it
- buy a micro-sim for the iPad and use that and that alone for internet use, as that’s by far the most useful for internet “stuff”
I dare say though, there’s a good chance we’ll make use of internet cafes, free wi-fi spots and other establishments that promote Wi-Fi availability with purchase (ala McDonalds here, but hopefully not actually @ McDonalds). The idea being after we’re tired, need a brea or a meal, we’ll try and do both where possible.
I came across this very handy website for finding out SIM with data information for various countries. Prices aren’t too bad – 14euros for 2GB for 30 days in Romania is pretty good!