Verizon $100 plan question

But, will I be able to text and talk to my daughter who will be a
couple of blocks away from me in Paris or Florence? If so, will I need
to use a country code for my call?

YES, if her phone has an international plan.

And what if I want to check my hotel reservation in the next city I'm
going to? Again, will I have to fuss with country codes?

You wont have to fuss with them, but you will have to use them. Everyone in Europe does when they are not in their home country. And technically you will be in the US. Which can be a good thing in some situations. And since you have your home phone number, everyone in the world who you know, knows how to get hold of you in an emergency.

My guess:

• if you and your daughter are both on the Verizon plan, you can call and text using the
  regular US #'s, as you are not substituting any different # on your phone. If she
  has a eSim, it depends on how the eSim is set up (voice, data, or both).

• to check anything in the foreign country (voice or text), you will have to fuss with
  country codes, as your phone is active using a US #.

Country codes are not as difficult as you may think. Just start by holding down the "0"
key until the "+" character appears. Then enter the phone number, including the country
code. Leave out any leading zeroes (I think).

I suppose it depends on how you made your hotel reservation as to the detailed checking
of a booking. If you made it through Expedia, you can probably just dial the US 800 support
number. If you made the booking direct with the hotel, you'll need to dial the French #
as above.

You might want to get your info from the Verizon website so there are no surprises. It is not unlimited calls. But it is unlimited data.

https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-travel/monthly-plan/

I use the Verizon monthly international plan all the time. My phone works just as it does at home.

I’m in Copenhagen now. If I want to call my sister in Illinois I just find her name in my contacts and call. I would do the same thing if she was in Copenhagen with me.

It’s expensive but worth it for me.

Be sure you have written confirmation that you're on this plan. One time we signed up for it and they still charged us a daily fee. That's when we switched to T-Mobile.

We use the plan to which you are referring. Yes, you will be able to talk and text with anyone that you would communicate with if you and your phone were in the States. When we land, we reboot our phones and get a text message that we are on the Verizon plan via whatever service Verizon uses in that country (you would think I would have that memorized by now, but alas, I do not). After that, we just use our phones like normal -using our phone contacts. However, I just looked and most of my frequent contacts (husband, kids, brother) already have the "1" in the phone field. I know you would probably prefer a bullet list of what to do, but here is the end result:

1. Try to call / text like normal; if that fails
2. Add the "1" before the number and call/text again - may have to enter the numbers manually.

Regarding hotel reservations, especially in Florence, you may want to download WhatsApp. Many Italian businesses use WhatsApp for communication. But, to call any country outside the US, you will need country codes.

A little tip. If you will not be in Europe for an entire month, pick your start date for the plan a day or two earlier than you leave. That way you can make sure you receive the text message saying your plan has started while you are still at home.

There is no need to restart your phone once in Europe. It will automatically switch over to the appropriate county’s network when you land at the airport. Just make sure you keep the roaming setting on.

The one thing I recently did was to update all my US contacts (primary ones like family) phone numbers with the +1 so it's saved in the phone with the international code. I assume you already have the country code for outside the US for numbers you call/text with.

If you have an iPhone you don’t need to add the + or country codes.

If you have the dial assist option set to on, your phone will do all the work for you.

Check to see if your hotel(s) have WhatsApp. That should be on their websites. If so, download the app, add the hotels to your contact list so you can call them for free.

I can't thank you all enough for the sage advice. Yo've made me much more comfortable. Carrie, in particular, thanks for correcting my misimpression of the number of minutes allowed.

Truy appreciate it, friends.