From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[Flossbolna]

I just found your TR and read all of the updates. It sounds like you two had a great time. DM amd I stayed at AKL in 2008 and loved it!
I find it interesting that you thought the coffee at Tusker House was not strong enough, every time DM and I got coffee we asked for half a cup so we could add water and then it was just barely tolerable!

Hi and How funny that you thought the Tusker House coffee was too strong! I guess this just shows how diffferent tastes can be!

If I can "afford" the time on my trips, I try to do 2 days, or at least a day and a half, per park, including AK! One day for rushing around and getting everything done, and a second day for strolling through the park, taking lots of pictures, drinking in the atmosphere and maybe catching up on anything missed on the first day.

Yes, I think it is a question of what you can "afford". Since we have to cross the Atlantic, I tend to take much longer trips than most Americans (it also helps that I have 29 days of vacation per year). Therefore touring becomes much more relaxed than when you only have 4 or 5 days or even 7 days...

That chicken salad looks really yummy. Mmmm. I could really go for that for lunch today.

Glad you were able to find some souvenirs.

I've had a chocolate covered strawberry from Goofy's before and it was really delightful!!

WPE is a great place and the salad was really refreshing. I think it would be fantastic on a hot day!

The great thing about the strawberry was that it was a fantastic fruit - like a real summer strawberry!

 

[glennbo123]

Getting caught up!

Since we were done with AK for the day, we decided that our last ride would be Kali River Rapids. Since there is a great danger of getting wet and since it was still not very warm that day, we thought that we had to do this ride as the last ride of our day. We came prepared and put on one of our disposable ponchos (some readers of the PTR might remember that I was afraid of not bringing enough of them...). We also turned up our trousers. Prepared like that we were lead to our own raft. No one else on the raft... Scary! Not because of the lack of the company, but because the raft appears to have the tendency to turn on the way down so that the heaviest part hits the water first and will get a huge splash over the boat. Obviously our seats were going to be the heaviest side of the raft...

As I have never been on Kali River Rapids I found it actually a little bit scary that it was so empty! What had happened to all these people???? I think one CM even joked about our „preparations“ for the ride.

I am always sad that KRR is such a short ride. And I hate the burning part. But actually on that day it was quite nice, because it was warm. Then there was the drop: and we didn't get splashed to badly. We did not end up with the water wave coming over us. My theory with the heaviest side seems not to be absolutely foolproof.

I don't think weight has anything to do with whether you get splashed at Kali, it's just a constant slow spin, and if you happen to be at the bottom of the raft when it gets to the bottom of that fall....yep, it's about a bathtub-worth of water that pours over you. I should know.

Of course in order to understand each other over the distance we had to talk a bit louder and Katharina told me afterwards that half the bus was starring at us who those weird foreigners might be...

They may have been enjoying listening to you. This past week my kids said things like, "I love hearing the different languages and accents."

 

[KrazyKat4DIS]

Hey there,

I am coming out of "Lurkdom" to tell you both that I am REALLY enjoying your trip report!!!

I'm especially enjoying it because my sister and I like to take trips together as well! In fact, our last trip together was to Berlin and Prague! We had a great time and I can't wait to go back to Berlin and explore some more! We're planning a WDW trip (with Universal mixed in, as my sis loves Harry Potter).

Anyway, can't wait for the next update!

-Kat

 

[Flossbolna]

Getting caught up!

Welcome back! I did not get to post nearly as much as I planned to during the last two weeks...

I don't think weight has anything to do with whether you get splashed at Kali, it's just a constant slow spin, and if you happen to be at the bottom of the raft when it gets to the bottom of that fall....yep, it's about a bathtub-worth of water that pours over you. I should know.

Might there be an interesting story coming up in your TR?? I guess it really might be just draw of luck, that's why wearing a poncho really makes sense! We got soaked once on Grizzly River Run, the DCA counterpart to KRR, and this was while the Santa Ana winds were blowing through Southern California. Ideal weather for a ride like that - the hot dessert wind had as dry in half an hour.

They may have been enjoying listening to you. This past week my kids said things like, "I love hearing the different languages and accents."

Your kids are very sweet! I never realized that you could hear so many different languages at WDW, but this might be more in the summer. And possibly I am more used to it since there are so many foreign tourists in Berlin as well as in Nuremberg.

Hey there,

I am coming out of "Lurkdom" to tell you both that I am REALLY enjoying your trip report!!!

I'm especially enjoying it because my sister and I like to take trips together as well! In fact, our last trip together was to Berlin and Prague! We had a great time and I can't wait to go back to Berlin and explore some more! We're planning a WDW trip (with Universal mixed in, as my sis loves Harry Potter).

Anyway, can't wait for the next update!

-Kat

Hi Kat and Getting a lurker to post is always wonderful for any TR author!! So thank you very much for posting! I am glad that you enjoy our TR! Sister trips are a great thing!

It is funny that you went to Berlin and Prague. Katharina has a strong connection with the Czech Republic (she was there as an exchange student, studied Czech and now works for their cultural institute here in Berlin) and for more than ten years now we have been planning to travel to Prague together. So far we never managed to do that! I haven't been to Prague yet!! I guess we really ought to get into planning this since it doesn't look like we will be able to plan a WDW trip together that soon.

But I guess my next trip to Orlando will include Universal as well. I really enjoyed all the Harry Potter books and at some point definitely will check out the new land there!

 

[All7OfUs]

Wow! Where to start?

I, for one, am SO glad you did not try to bring "dead bags" back across your border. Those would have been very hard to explain.

I am also very glad to hear that FoLK is not a "sappy" show. I saw Beauty and the Beast last trip, and thought it was VERY sappy, and won't be going again. To know that it has a backstory and not necessarily a love story is very appealing to me.

Your comments about having a phone reminds me I need to put this at the top of my to-do list for when I get home. I can't imagine "doing Disney" now without one.

LOVE me some ribs at FTBBQ! I can't wait to sit by that Lily pond with the girls and snarf some tangy ribs!

Kali needs ponchos- nuff said.

A bit about communicating in a 3rd lang.... Early on in our time here in Blankistan, there was a S. Korean family doing similar work and it was so interesting to us that we had to use our very bad (they AND us) Blankistani to communicate. So funny that they didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Korean!! Those situations are VERY odd!

A 25 MINUTE bus ride to DTD??!!

Glad to see you made the CORRECT choice of choco for your Goofy treats. Dark is the ONLY way to go there. Having live in Asia we are now used to the high cocoa contents 78%+ of the choco. YUM!

Can I ask how much your strawberry was? If you'll recall, that's on my snack list.

Mmm... WGPE is also on my list of eats. I've not read one bad review of the place yet.

AK a half day park? NO WAY!! I could spend days there, just gazing at the animals, on the trails, looking at the tree and counting the carvings, etc...!

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow! Where to start?

Wow, what a long reply!

I, for one, am SO glad you did not try to bring "dead bags" back across your border. Those would have been very hard to explain.

Well, there will be more about a tote bag later on...

I am also very glad to hear that FoLK is not a "sappy" show. I saw Beauty and the Beast last trip, and thought it was VERY sappy, and won't be going again. To know that it has a backstory and not necessarily a love story is very appealing to me.

FoLK is not sappy at all. I have seen Beauty and the Beast once and this is just the type of show I don't enjoy. I am not a great fan of Nemo at AK either, but FotLK is a must do on every trip!

Your comments about having a phone reminds me I need to put this at the top of my to-do list for when I get home. I can't imagine "doing Disney" now without one.

I am not sure about the US, but here in Germany it is quite easy to get a prepaid SIM card to use in your phone. And that's essentially what we did for this trip as well. This might be an easy and quick solution for you as well before you have decided what kind of plan you want. We got our SIM cards from a company called Tuyo (http://www.tuyo.com/) and they worked fine. So if you already have a phone which can be operated with a SIM card and which can GSM 1900 (the American standard, Europe and Asia use GSM 1800 and 900), this might be an easy and quick fix for the first weeks.

LOVE me some ribs at FTBBQ! I can't wait to sit by that Lily pond with the girls and snarf some tangy ribs!

Ah yes, I wish we had had those ribs more often...

Kali needs ponchos- nuff said.

indeed! Even if the CM are mocking you for it!

A bit about communicating in a 3rd lang.... Early on in our time here in Blankistan, there was a S. Korean family doing similar work and it was so interesting to us that we had to use our very bad (they AND us) Blankistani to communicate. So funny that they didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Korean!! Those situations are VERY odd!

I had this experience often when talking English with other non-English speakers. My father has this funny story when he was at an international meeting and he was talking English with a guy from Denmark and from France and the British guy after a while complained when they would start the meeting and speak English...

A 25 MINUTE bus ride to DTD??!!

DTD is rather far away from AK... But the bus also goes along a rather convoluted way. But be prepared, the bus ride from POR or the Poly to AK is also 20 minutes. Even the monorail ride from the Poly to the MK is 10 minutes.

Glad to see you made the CORRECT choice of choco for your Goofy treats. Dark is the ONLY way to go there. Having live in Asia we are now used to the high cocoa contents 78%+ of the choco. YUM!

Dark chocolate has become really popular here in Germany as well. There are even 95% cocoa ones to be found here. But those are way too dark for me. I am finde up to 80%. But I still love a good milk chocolate as well.

Can I ask how much your strawberry was? If you'll recall, that's on my snack list.

I will check, I think I have the receipt at home. We kept all of them in Katharina's passporter.

Mmm... WGPE is also on my list of eats. I've not read one bad review of the place yet.

Just make sure that you go to the one at the Marketplace!

AK a half day park? NO WAY!! I could spend days there, just gazing at the animals, on the trails, looking at the tree and counting the carvings, etc...!

More on AK will be coming shortly, we did spend more time there during our trip even after the first full day there.

 

[All7OfUs]

Wow, what a long reply!

Sorry! I do tend to get long-winded.

Well, there will be more about a tote bag later on...

I thought there might be more on this...

FoLK is not sappy at all. I have seen Beauty and the Beast once and this is just the type of show I don't enjoy. I am not a great fan of Nemo at AK either, but FotLK is a must do on every trip!

I do enjoy Nemo, but mostly for the VERY creative theatrical technique.

I am not sure about the US, but here in Germany it is quite easy to get a prepaid SIM card to use in your phone. And that's essentially what we did for this trip as well. This might be an easy and quick solution for you as well before you have decided what kind of plan you want. We got our SIM cards from a company called Tuyo (http://www.tuyo.com/) and they worked fine. So if you already have a phone which can be operated with a SIM card and which can GSM 1900 (the American standard, Europe and Asia use GSM 1800 and 900), this might be an easy and quick fix for the first weeks.

I do have a T-Mobile phone that works for a phone call, which is mainly what I need in case we get separated in the parks or such. I do plan to get a card for it. But, I am also Jonesin' for an iPhone or Android, so we'll see...

Ah yes, I wish we had had those ribs more often...

That's ok, I wish I could get schnitzel more often too.

indeed! Even if the CM are mocking you for it!

In our case, it was other guests who were mocking us. But only until they got doused with the entire Atlantic Ocean...

I had this experience often when talking English with other non-English speakers. My father has this funny story when he was at an international meeting and he was talking English with a guy from Denmark and from France and the British guy after a while complained when they would start the meeting and speak English...

Oh brother...

DTD is rather far away from AK... But the bus also goes along a rather convoluted way. But be prepared, the bus ride from POR or the Poly to AK is also 20 minutes. Even the monorail ride from the Poly to the MK is 10 minutes.

I wonder why they don't take the most obvious routes??

Dark chocolate has become really popular here in Germany as well. There are even 95% cocoa ones to be found here. But those are way too dark for me. I am finde up to 80%. But I still love a good milk chocolate as well.

Mmmm.... me to. Up to 80%. Perfect.

I will check, I think I have the receipt at home. We kept all of them in Katharina's passporter.

Ok, will stand-by.

Just make sure that you go to the one at the Marketplace!

I wasn't aware there was another one.

More on AK will be coming shortly, we did spend more time there during our trip even after the first full day there.

Like you say, so much to see there. And really, it is a "see" park, more than a "do" park.

 

[lovealldisney]

I am not sure about the US, but here in Germany it is quite easy to get a prepaid SIM card to use in your phone. And that's essentially what we did for this trip as well. This might be an easy and quick solution for you as well before you have decided what kind of plan you want. We got our SIM cards from a company called Tuyo (http://www.tuyo.com/) and they worked fine. So if you already have a phone which can be operated with a SIM card and which can GSM 1900 (the American standard, Europe and Asia use GSM 1800 and 900), this might be an easy and quick fix for the first weeks

Hi Flossbolna:

We are looking to do this when we come to Germany in September. I am either going to buy an unlocked used phone on ebay and by a SIM card when we get there.
My question is it possible to buy a cheap phone and SIM once we get there?
We mainly want to use this to call home to the US. What should we look for when we get there? I am hoping to find something in Koln we are arriving there from Amsterdam.

 

[Flossbolna]

Sorry! I do tend to get long-winded.

Nothing to be sorry about! I love long replies and I think I am the wrong person to complain about others being long-winded. We say in German: who is sitting in a glass house should not throw stones...

Ok, will stand-by.

Thanks for your patience! This is what the Goofy's Candy Company receipt says:

Dip Pretzl Rod 5.95
Topped M-Mallow 2.12
Van/Plain Fdge Mix 3.95
Choc Strawberries 2.95
Crisped Rice Trt 3.25

Subtotal 18.22
Tax 1.19
Amount Due 19.41

I must say that the pretzel rods are not worth the money in my opinion, while the marshmallows are a great deal! You even get a Mickey straw as a souvenir! But to answer your question, the strawberry was 2.95. (I guess I just made a point on that long-winded discussion above... )

I wasn't aware there was another one.

Yes, over there, where the real Wolfgang Puck restaurant is on the Westside.

Hi Flossbolna:

We are looking to do this when we come to Germany in September. I am either going to buy an unlocked used phone on ebay and by a SIM card when we get there.
My question is it possible to buy a cheap phone and SIM once we get there?
We mainly want to use this to call home to the US. What should we look for when we get there? I am hoping to find something in Koln we are arriving there from Amsterdam.

Buying a SIM-card won't be a problem at all. But I think it might be better to bring a phone and not buy one here. I think phones are generally still pretty expensive here. I will do some research also on which company offers good prices, and will send you a PM (together with any information on restaurants in Berlin, I haven't forgotten about it!)! I also hope to get that city map to you asap!

 

[Flossbolna]

Since I know that nodnol would be extremely dissappointed if I don't post an update today, I will start with the first part of the Wild by Design Tour at AK today and the second part will follow!

Day 3: January 29, 2010

Once again we woke up to a beautiful sunrise:

Today would start at AK again since we were going on the Wild by Design Tour. This tour is only held on specific days and due to our trip plan, it made sense to do it on this day. Therefore our very first day had to be at AK so that Katharina would not have her first impression of the park during the tour. The tour was supposed to last three hours, with a short break for a continental breakfast. We had to meet in front of the turnstiles at AK at 8:30 am.

Again we went down to the Mara to get something small to eat in order to tide us over until our continental breakfast. This time we chose to share a cherry danish.

It was ok, but we weren't overly impressed. There was actually very little cherry on top, it was mainly rather tasteless red glob. We also decided to give the Mara coffee a try in our refillable mugs after we had this good coffee experience at Tusker House the day before. But the Mara coffee was not as good. It was the typical Disney coffee.

We got to the bus stop to go to AK at 7:55 and had to wait for about 10 minutes. It seemed also on the following days that nearly all the busses would arrive at about 7:45 to 7:50 am and then again between 8:00 and 8:10 am. But since AK was so close, the wait didn't really matter.

We checked in for our tour at 8:15 am and there were already two other people standing there with our guide. It turned out that this was the whole group for our tour! We got small ear sets and our tour guide had a microphone on her. This way she was able to sometimes speak rather low so that others around us would not have the Disney magic spoilt for them. But it also enabled us to stroll around much more while she was talking. I was taking a lot of advantage of that in order to take lots of pictures.

Our tour guide was Jayn from Ohio. She was a fantastic tour guide. She was very knowledgeable! She is a retired teacher and does a lot of tours with children and she kept us amused with stories about how children view the parks. But she was also highly knowledgeable on the design aspects. Even though I had read the Imagineering Field Guide to AK (btw a wonderful series of books about the parks!) she was able to tell me things I had not known before.

The Wild by Design tour is really mostly about the story and the planning behind Animal Kingdom. I am sure most of you know that already, but for some readers who might not be expert Disney fans, I want to explain a bit about this special aspect. Disney theme parks are so special because so much thought is put into how to build them. When Walt Disney first built Disneyland he had those people building the park and they were called Imagineers – a combination of the words imagination and engineer. This name stuck and the people designing the parks are still called imagineers. This involves the structures, the rides, the lights, the sounds, the colours, the costumes etc. And nearly everything at Disney has a story behind it. It isn't just a shop, it actually tells a story. Sometimes the story is in plain view – like on a ride like Splash Mountain, sometimes it is a bit hidden, and sometimes it is really difficult to figure out yourself. Also imagineers are really great to combine functionality with a story and thus are able to create environments where everything fits. And Animal Kingdom is generally known as the highlight of imagineering from this point of view – at least in WDW. Tokyo Disney Sea and Disneyland Paris are in the same league I would guess. For anyone interested in the imagineering of the parks, I would really recommend the series of “Imagineering Field Guides” they aren't expensive at all and really neat little books!

I really don't want to go into too much detail about what our tour guide told us since we both really want to recommend taking this tour! I think it offered so much for both of us from a first timer's and a fan's perspective. But I did take lots and lots of pictures. So I will just mainly post them...

Since our group was complete, we started our tour a bit early and entered the empty park. That is always such a treat!

We started off just behind the entrance where we saw the dedication sign for the park and also this nesting bird:

Due to the extremely cold weather the vegetation at WDW was rather bare and we agreed that this poor bird must have built his nest in a green tree originally, not in plain view of the park entrance, but that the frost must have exposed him that much...

We actually saw a lot of people working on cleaning up dead plants in the park before it opened to the public.

We started wandering around the Oasis first, exploring certain walkways I had not really experienced before. It was really nice to be there early in the morning, not in the heat when I am on my way out of the park.

Our guide also explained a bit about the animals in that area. Especially this interesting guy:

We made our way to the tree of life in a still empty park. Only a few CM around and the odd guest walking to breakfast at Tusker House.

We then walked through Discovery Island and were told the backstory behind each of its buildings. We later crossed through there again on our way to Africa and I will just post all Discovery Island pictures now since they really belong together:

and this is inside Pizzafari

Continue with Part 2

 

[Flossbolna]

We then headed into Dinoland. I kind of knew the backstory, but not really fully and I think it is really neat! I will post it in white, so whoever wants to know it, just highlight the following “empty” space and you will be able to read it. Whoever does not want any spoilers, just read on with the normal text.

It is a place where they found some dinosaur fossils and this attracted some serious scientists. They wanted to found an institute there (which is now the Dinosaur ride), but not everyone was willing to sell their property to the institute. Chester and Hester were the owners of the local gas station and they thought that they would be able to make more money from keeping their gas station and get into the tourist business. That's why they put up the cheap carnival and the souvenir shop. Kind of inbetween these two poles are the students which came to the excavation site to help. They stayed at the Restorantosaurus and put a lot of quirkiness into that building.

This is the entrance to Dinoland:

You can see a bridge in the distance which is part of the playground in Dinoland. Here is a close picture:

It is the “Oldengate Bridge” as is explained here:

Next are a few pictures of the Restaurantosaurus where the students live:

I would really recommend checking out the inside of this restaurant as well, it is so much fun!!

Walking towards the Dinosaur Institute:

And from there to Hester's & Chester's part of Dinoland:

We then continued on towards Expedition Everest, still before park opening, therefore this view over the water was possible:

We had a look at the houses in Serka Zong (the village where EE is) and got to know that since this is high up in the mountains, wood was a rare commodity. So the richer a person, the more wood he or she would store on his or her roof:

We arrived there together with the very first real park guests and were able to pick up a fast pass. And we saw the first train testing the track:

By the way, we were standing at the entrance of EE when the first park guests arrived and I have to tell that even those who ran through Dinoland arrived after the first who walked through Asia!


We walked through the fastpass line and saw this “hidden imagineering tribute”:

a few more pictures of the fast pass line:

Continue with Part 3

 

[Flossbolna]

We then walked back through Asia:

Fortunately it wasn't a very crowded day. Otherwise it might have felt like swimming upstream against a sea of people....

We stopped at the little islands where you turn off the main path towards Kali River Rapids and towards the Maharaja Jungle Trek – opposite Yak and Yeti. There are gibbons living on these islands and we met an animal keeper there who told us about how they care for the gibbons and such. An interesting tidbit which I will hide again was:

They live on an abandoned building site – therefore the many ropes and scaffolding. Of course this is perfect for the gibbons to play on and the keepers can even put out toys such as buckets and fill those with food!

We also learned that mother gibbon was pregnant and expected to give birth very soon. More hidden information:

The gibbons are actually very trained, not to do circus acts, but for example, the mother learns how to offer her tummy for ultrasound scans.

Next stop was the Maharaja Jungle Trek. I love it how they keep warning everyone on this trail that there might be tigers!!

This guy actually does not fit into Asia, so there is actually a sign that explains that he was a gift:

On to the bat house, which btw is actually the village cinema:

Next we came to the tiger area and got some really nice pictures:

Continue with Part 4

 

[Flossbolna]

I really love the theming here, it is about how nature reconquers the old palace:

Katharina and I really liked this water fountain for tired travellers:

And since the British were so dominant as a colonial power in Asia, it is only appropriate that the bike is from the UK:

A few more impressions:

We also met some nice feathered friends in the bird sanctuary:

Next I took some pictures of the Tree of Life while we walked on the pathway behind it over to Pizzasafari for our breakfast break:

We also met these two there:

And could see Flick meeting people on the other side of the river:

Continue with Chapter 13: Continuing on the Wild Side... Part 1

 

[PNO4TE]

Loved the update, Magdalene. Your photos were wonderful and I can't believe how empty the park looks without people in it. Loved the wood on the roof!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Marvelous update! Loved the little tidbits!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

We also had to briefly document the view from our room:

Wow, what a view!!

Great updates, Magdalene - I love the story about the conversation with the Brazilian family on the bus. We always love to try to identify accents when we hear people speaking another language. I think its so cool that WDW is such a melting pot.

The Wild By Design tour sounds great! I'm not usually big on tours, but that sounds like one definitetly worth getting up early for!

 

[klacey1]

Great update! Glad you enjoyed your tour so much-- I loved reading the "story" of Dinoland. That's really cute that they crafted something so creative and fun!
Your pictures are great-- I love the tiger ones the best! He looks so cuddly

 

[glennbo123]

Magdalene, great info. on Animal Kingdom! That sounds like a great tour!

I love that fountain area along the Maharajah Jungle Trek too.

The gibbon mother had her baby since the time you were there -- I have a picture of it, which I'll be posting (eventually) in my trip report. (And it's up...link in my signature.)

 

[Flossbolna]

Loved the update, Magdalene. Your photos were wonderful and I can't believe how empty the park looks without people in it. Loved the wood on the roof!

Thanks! I was really surprised how good the photos turned out to be. I was just clicking away with my camera and it was really difficult to weed out the bad ones. Walking around the park in the early morning when it is empty is really a rare treat! The wood on the roof is just one of those details that amaze me about AK!

Marvelous update! Loved the little tidbits!

Thanks!

Wow, what a view!!

Great updates, Magdalene - I love the story about the conversation with the Brazilian family on the bus. We always love to try to identify accents when we hear people speaking another language. I think its so cool that WDW is such a melting pot.

The Wild By Design tour sounds great! I'm not usually big on tours, but that sounds like one definitetly worth getting up early for!

We really had a wonderful savanna view! At first I was dissapointed about bein on Uzima, but I really came to love it a lot. So much that I would really be tempted to pay for a savanna view room next time...

I really love the tours at the parks and I wish they would offer more different ones. I just don't get it why they all have to be in the morning during prime park touring time.

Great update! Glad you enjoyed your tour so much-- I loved reading the "story" of Dinoland. That's really cute that they crafted something so creative and fun!
Your pictures are great-- I love the tiger ones the best! He looks so cuddly

Thanks, but your comment just reminded me that I absolutely forgot to make the text invisible as I intended to. Need to do that now!!

The tiger does look really cute, doesn't he?

Magdalene, great info. on Animal Kingdom! That sounds like a great tour!

I love that fountain area along the Maharajah Jungle Trek too.

The gibbon mother had her baby since the time you were there -- I have a picture of it, which I'll be posting (eventually) in my trip report. (And it's up...link in my signature.)

We will revisit the gibbons later on and may or may not have seen the little one then...

 

[lovealldisney]

Quote:
Originally Posted by lovealldisney
Hi Flossbolna:

We are looking to do this when we come to Germany in September. I am either going to buy an unlocked used phone on ebay and by a SIM card when we get there.
My question is it possible to buy a cheap phone and SIM once we get there?
We mainly want to use this to call home to the US. What should we look for when we get there? I am hoping to find something in Koln we are arriving there from Amsterdam.

Buying a SIM-card won't be a problem at all. But I think it might be better to bring a phone and not buy one here. I think phones are generally still pretty expensive here. I will do some research also on which company offers good prices, and will send you a PM (together with any information on restaurants in Berlin, I haven't forgotten about it!)! I also hope to get that city map to you asap!
__________________

Thank you again for your help! It has been suggested to look on ebay for a used phone. I think I will start there and then get the SIM card when we arrive. Oh do you think 3 and 1/2 days is enough time to see Berlin? At least the highlights? Once again thank you!