Look where I am!
Ahhh, isn’t life grand when the biggest item on your agenda for the day is lounging in the sun by your hotel pool – and a view of the sea in beautiful Mykonos. Greece’s financial problems haven’t stopped the sun from shining or the waters being any less bluer. Away from the politics in Athens and other big cities, you’ll still find the Greek islands are a fantastic destination for your summer holiday – you’re also likely to find costs cut down to attract more visitors. Enjoy the sun and help out the Greek economy… and make more savings by booking your car hire in advance with CarJet – we’ve got fantastic prices on Greece car hire as well as throughout Europe.
People love to keep their friends and family posted about their travels. If you’re receiving them or seeing them on your Facebook page, you might feel inspired about where to go on your next trip. You might also end up with a nasty case of the green-eyed monster… still, nevermind – you know you’re going to do it the next time you’re away to!
With people becoming increasingly reliant on their smartphones to do anything and everything they can on the web, people are taking them on holiday and using them lots there too! From updating friends and family through Facebook or Twitter to finding out about local restaurants and getting map directions as well as checking your flight status, the smartphone has become a travel essential for many. This is despite the cost that can be racked up by using your phone abroad! Things are, however, looking up roaming charges set to become cheaper from July this year within the EU following new rules put in place by the European Commision to put price caps on data roaming charges as well as new caps on phone calls and texts sent with costs set to fall again in 2013 and 2014.
Here’s a quick rundown on how charges will look from 1 July
Data roaming
Phone companies will only be able to charge 70 cents (or 56 pence) per megabyte of data plus VAT. And this is expected to fall to 20 cents per megabyte in 2014.
Phone calls
Phone calls currently cost 35 cents a minute and 11 cents a minute to receive calls – this will fall to a maximum of 29 cents and 8 cents, plus VAT, respectively. The cost of sending a text will fall from 11 cents to 9 cents.
If you’re travelling outside of the EU (I guess this is really targeted towards you iPhone users heading to Vegas!), your phone company will send you a warning when you’re close to spending €50 using your phone.
Get clever about your phone usage abroad
Texting in the sun
Keen to cut down those mobile phone costs? Check out Ofcom’s tips on using your phone abroad…
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Maybe obvious but needs to be said – check your roaming charges before you go!
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As with above, check the cost of using data before you go too – and if you know you’ll want to be using your phone a lot, find out what roaming bundles your phone company have.
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Use local WiFi hotspots instead of your phone’s internet – free WiFi can be found in lots of cafés and bars now – even in park squares!
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Switch off the data roaming on your smartphone – you could always switch it back on when you need to use it specifically for something.