Before we left, Greg called our cell phone provider (Cricket Wireless) and explained where we were going so we could get service in Europe. Unfortunately with Cricket, you can't use data FROM Europe. This was critical because we would need Google Maps to get to where we were going. The person Greg talked to said we would have to get European SIM cards which would mean different phone numbers while over there. With mine, because I had just bought a new one a few months prior, it could not be unlocked (has to be at least 6 months, mine was 4). Fortunately, I still have my previous phone so was able to use it. I still took the newer one as I think it takes better photos. That meant I was juggling two phones!
After arriving at the apartment building in Prague, we went in and looked for our apartment number (the apartments are accessed from the inside). We were told ours was on the first floor. There were only two doors on the first floor and neither had numbers. Problem #1 was we couldn't call the office as we had no cell service! The saga has started!
It didn't take too long and I told Greg I was going up the stairs to see what was up there and guess what - our apartment was UP the stairs - what we could consider the 2nd floor. Evidently the first floor in Europe is actually the ground floor and the first floor is on the 2nd (who's on first!).
The next thing was to find a cell phone provider to get these SIM cards. Greg had done research before we left, found a place and printed out a map. We walked, and walked (and walked some more) and couldn't find this place. Finally, we stopped in a sandwich shop to ask and the lady at the counter spoke no English, but someone else came to help. Come to find out this place was in a mall like building which we had passed a couple of times. We didn't have to walk far and found the place. The one person inside was a young lady - no smile, no greeting, unfriendly and not helpful. She said they didn't have the SIM cards we needed (which we didn't believe, Greg looked them up online!). He even asked if there was another place in the mall we could get these cards and her response was "I don't know". This didn't help the situation.
We start walking in the mall and saw what looked to be a security guard and Greg asked him about cell phone providers and it turned out there was one not far from the first place! When we got there, it was busy but we didn't have to wait long. When it was our turn, Greg specifically told the young man what we needed, where all we were going and he assured us they had what we needed. He tested our phones to make sure calls were going through and they did so we paid and left.
A little while after being back at the apartment, I don't remember the events, but we discovered we couldn't use data. We pondered what to do (we didn't want to call as data was valuable and didn't want to use too much). We decided to walk back and fortunately when we got there, the young man that helped us was still there. The issue was something in our phone settings and even he was perplexed, but we tested things again and back to the apartment we went.
I needed a beer!
To be continued.....
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