My Husband and I will be in Ireland for 10 days in February. We live in California and have Verizon so our cell phone won't work in Europe. We are renting a car and doing B&B's as well as a Castle and also staying the first and last night in Dublin. Any suggestions on what to about a cell phone or if we really need one. We have never taken one before but have traveled by train and never rented a car. Verizon says we can rent one from them but I'm not sure that is the way to go as it would be our regular number and we would like to avoid any work related calls!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
If you click on the bold topic "Get answers to your questions", you can search for the numerous previous discussions about this topic (and the numerous personal opinions about what the best option is). This is frequently discussed here and there is a lot of information available in the archives. I'm like you - I wouldn't want my regular phone. I don't need the dentist calling to confirm my appointment while I'm gone! For calls home, I usually just use a phone card from a convenience store at a pay phone. Many of the B&Bs I have stayed at have phones in their lobbies that you can use, too. Keep in mind that if you use an unlocked phone with a SIM card, your number will change whenever you change the SIM card.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
I perfectly 2nd Steve's suggestion. IMO that's the best and cheapest way to go, too. But make sure it's an Irish pre-paid card and not one of those "international" ones they sell on planes and at airports. They're just too expensive. Also see if you can get a calling card to call home inexpensively. If the dial-up number is a toll-free one than usually they won't even charge you for airtime to use it...