international travel | Page 2

Johnny Jet is eager to hear about Leo's trip. Leo says that being on the SeaBorn cruiseline was great. Johnny said he didn't think he'd like cruising, but he loves it. Leo says that cruising the mediterranean is like the Whitman sampler of travel, where you stop from city to city and hit the highlights. Leo also said that flying on the Airbus A380 was an exercise of frustration because it flies into airports that simply can't handle it. It was difficult to get onto when called and queued.

How can I use my phone overseas?

Episode 1013

Brett from Valencia, CA

Brett is going to Paris in a few weeks to make a TV show, and he's concerned about carrying his cellphone. Leo says it's best to get an international data roaming plan. It's not cheap, but it's far cheaper then paying the roaming fees after he gets back. It's also important to have the GPS capability to get himself around.

How can I use my iPhone overseas?

Episode 1007

Bob from Santa Barbara, CA

Bob's wife is traveling to Italy on vacation and wants to know if she should bring her iPhone. Leo says that she could pay for an international data roaming plan. They're not cheap and the data caps are small, not to mention the cell call charges.

Another way is to turn off data roaming. She won't have data unless she has Wi-Fi access, like at her hotel. Some apps, like Google Maps, would allow her to cache data while away from Wi-Fi.

Can I use Google Voice in Europe?

Episode 1006

Jake from Temecula, CA

Jake is going to Paris in the fall, and he wants to know if he can use Google Voice on his phone while there. Leo says no, Google Voice is US only at this point. Can he use Magic Jack? He could use that, but Leo recommends Skype. For $99 a year, he can get international in and out bound calls all over the world.

What's the best phone and laptop for living in England?

Episode 996

Sam from San Diego, CA

Sam's son is moving to England for a few years and they're having trouble getting the right phone. Leo suggests going to Expansys, a british company that Leo gets all his phones from because they're all unlocked. He can also go to Verizon and they will unlock the phone natively so there will be no problem putting a local SIM in it and using it in Great Britain. AT&T will unlock a phone if he's in good standing and ask for it.

Johnny Jet

Episode 975

Johnny Jet is going to a conference in Tennessee in a few weeks and is going to have to hop through a few cities, and he's not really thrilled with that. So he discovered that if he added an extra flight back to LA, he ended up with a cheaper flight. He's thinks it's because he added a Saturday night stay and he didn't return from where he originated. He not only pays less, but he gets more frequent flyer miles. So, if you're traveling multi-city, always check if the price will drop if you close the triangle.

Johnny Jet

Episode 973

Johnny Jet is in France this week and he wants to talk about currency and how you can use your phone to keep up on exchange rates. He's got an app on his phone that helps him make the exchange rate. Leo says that Google has an up to date currency calculator built in as well. And it has drop downs for other languages and a graph that shows the exchange rate over time.

Johnny Jet

Episode 967

Johnny Jet is back, live from the Michael Jordan Invitational Celebrity Golf Tournament in Vegas as part of MGM Resorts M Life Rewards program, where you can cash in your MLife points for experiences. This week, Johnny has a great pair of sites to save money. The first is FlyerTalk, a travel forum where you can find deals. Check out the Mileage Run Deals in forums.

Can I use my Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III internationally?

Episode 946

Brandon from Big Sky, Montana

Brandon is traveling to Europe for a month and wants to bring his Samsung Galaxy SIII on Verizon. Leo says it won't work too well because that phone is for CDMA networks, which isn't international. He'll want a GSM phone for that since it uses a SIM card. He could still use his Verizon phone, but he'd be paying international roaming charges which isn't cheap. He should talk to Verizon about an international data plan.