Having Internet access abroad has been great. We brought some devices with us, and doing so has allowed us to stay in touch with family and friends, post our blogs regularly, do Internet banking, and conduct research and online booking of accommodations and transport. It has even provided for entertainment, including Netflix, which is great when watching a movie in Japanese or Lao just won't do. We've had a couple mishaps though. One of the kids dropped Catheleen's phone, which trashed the screen. The screen was replaced for a good price in Luang Prabang at a pseudo-Apple store. John also left his iPad behind on an airport bus in Tokyo. Thankfully for John Catheleen tracked it down and had it shipped to Luang Prabang.
Wireless Internet access has been pervasive on our travels abroad so far through Japan, Thailand and Laos. Free WIFI was available at every hotel we've stayed at, and has been available at most cafes, restaurants, airport terminals, train stations, etc. We've stayed at a couple of private residences that we booked online, and we've found the WIFI at these places offered the best service, because the WIFI was dedicated to us.
As for communicating with each other, we have purchased SIMs and pay-as-you-go plans with talk, text and data for our phones in Thailand and Laos without any problems. We did need to provide a passport in Thailand to register our SIMs though, which the lady at the 7-eleven did for us when we made the purchase. The costs have been minimal so far. Japan was a problem though since they have an incompatible system for their phones, so we couldn't purchase SIMs there. We relied on WIFI, which was available almost everywhere, even including subway stations. We also could have rented a WIFI hotspot which was the size of a hockey puck and fits in your pocket, but we didn't bother.
So far we haven't had any problems charging our devices, since the receptacles here handle the North American plug and the devices can handle the voltage differences.
So here's to our electronics - we'd be lost without them. Right John?
Wireless Internet access has been pervasive on our travels abroad so far through Japan, Thailand and Laos. Free WIFI was available at every hotel we've stayed at, and has been available at most cafes, restaurants, airport terminals, train stations, etc. We've stayed at a couple of private residences that we booked online, and we've found the WIFI at these places offered the best service, because the WIFI was dedicated to us.
As for communicating with each other, we have purchased SIMs and pay-as-you-go plans with talk, text and data for our phones in Thailand and Laos without any problems. We did need to provide a passport in Thailand to register our SIMs though, which the lady at the 7-eleven did for us when we made the purchase. The costs have been minimal so far. Japan was a problem though since they have an incompatible system for their phones, so we couldn't purchase SIMs there. We relied on WIFI, which was available almost everywhere, even including subway stations. We also could have rented a WIFI hotspot which was the size of a hockey puck and fits in your pocket, but we didn't bother.
So far we haven't had any problems charging our devices, since the receptacles here handle the North American plug and the devices can handle the voltage differences.
So here's to our electronics - we'd be lost without them. Right John?
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