But let’s face it, sometimes the mundane details can be the factors that later on make the difference whether your trip goes smoothly or is a nightmare.

This weeks call was with Verizon wireless, making sure that we’d be able to connect with home as much as necessary during the excursion without breaking the bank. I got a pleasant customer service agent, Amanda,  who went over every aspect of the trip with me in great detail, then shot me an email when we got off the phone to cover all the details of what we had just discussed.

First hurdle, E’s phone is not compatible with their normal travel plan, which means either:

•  She will cost far more and be very limited throughout the time we’re abroad…this makes for a very unhappy tweenager, and subsequently, a very unhappy mum.(she’s practicing for London and has been calling me that this week, I find it endearing)
• We upgrade her phone to a compatible, which costs a bit more, but locks her into the more affordable price point on the travel plan. or…
• She does’t get to use her phone during the trip, which I think sounds like the most miserable option of all.

We opted for the middle choice and brought her, and her brother (to be fair) up to a more compatible phone. Both phones should be here by the end of the month and hopefully we’ll be able to get their info converted to the new phones.

So, it seems on the Queen Mary, we will need to work to keep ourselves limited to just their wifi.

Amanda told me they charge somewhere around 3.25 a minute to use the phone onboard. She highly suggested that I keep both of our phones on Airplane mode the entire time and tether them to the wifi when able. I hope that I can keep E honest on this policy, as I really don’t want any surprise charges. I’ve tried searching the Cunard site to better understand the Wifi capabilities and costs, I can only tell so far that 120 minutes will cost me approximately 45 dollars, and that we cannot be on more than one device at a time, I will encourage E to let her friends know that she will be out of touch for that week and get email addresses if she absolutely needs to contact her friends. The good thing is the bulk of emails can be written offline (as can my posts) and only take seconds to a minute or 2 to actually connect and send. I will probably try to encourage her to understand that factor prior to embarking on our adventure as well.

In London, it seems we’ll be in good shape, I should approximate 20 dollars a day as an extra cost.

We have 2 phones at 10 dollars a day,  and for that 10 dollars, it keeps everything on our normal plan the same. Unlimited texts, unlimited calls, ability to call US and UK without any extra charges (in case we order takeout or something). Data usage will be same as it is in the US, and hopefully we’ll have some rollover data from previous months to make up for any extra we may use during that time. I will also have Wifi, unsure of whether it costs any extra as that hasn’t been disclosed, in the Apartment while we’re there.

only possible bump with the costs there is if we make a day trip to Paris. Then it will cost us 40 for the day if we happen to use the phones while in both countries. Amanda was very thorough on explaining this. I love Verizon’s customer service for this reason.

So, now I am in the know, with one less detail to fuss with…have a good one!