almaviva90: (Wellington2)
almaviva90 ([personal profile] almaviva90) wrote2011-06-03 10:43 am
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Accommodation fixed and sorted

Finally...after getting freaked out last night by the fact that the rooms available during the time I'm staying at Orient House had decreased from 10 to 6 in one day, I managed to finally book a room yesterday. Will be staying a total of 32 nights, I think. The rate per night was £39.06 though since the total was over £700, I got a 10% discount from the overall cost so it ended up costing £1125 which is a pretty good price. The room is a single ensuite one and there are some self-catering facilities available so I think it's worth the price.

Now that my flights and accommodation are now sorted, I have to start thinking about where I'll be going on my free days (12 days in all *sighs for more*). Oooh, and whether it's better to get a VisitBritain International SIM card before I leave HK which has £25 credit on it or just going to a shop and buying a rechargable SIM when I get to London though I'm thinking that I'm probably not going to spend a lot of time on the phone. Also what the hell is the difference between an Oyster Card and a Visitor Oyster Card? The second one just differs from the first in the sense that you can get it before you leave and it has a picture of the Houses of Parliament or Big Ben printed on it...

Ah, my brain hurts...
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[identity profile] x-reggg.livejournal.com 2011-06-03 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
i've never been a fan of international sim cards so i'm going to be biased and say get a local one XD;;; if you will call your mum for a long duration, O2 have/had (don't know if it's still around) a tariff where you can get free international minutes if you top up a certain amount. there's also another one where you can pay a certain amount per month (or one month only in your case) and you can get unlimited texts/calls in UK, which you can use if you will be using that bit more.

ultimately, if you're not making a lot of calls, then £25 seems like quite a lot of money for a card with no added things; but of course that's me and you might think differently.

[identity profile] almaviva90.livejournal.com 2011-06-05 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, £25 does seem quite a lot once I think about it. Perhaps I should get a local one instead. Any idea which providers give the best rates? O2 or any other ones?

[identity profile] x-reggg.livejournal.com 2011-06-05 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
calls are generally £0.20-0.25/min and £0.10/text... if you can, have a look at the rates in O2 or vodafone or orange, most people i know are in one of those, so they shouldn't be bad :D i wouldn't go for the smaller companies (lycra mobile etc) as it's harder to top up (in the case where you used up your SIM money, you can just go to a supermarket to buy a topup voucher, as supposed to other means...

*diverged* basically go have a look yourself! rates are around the same, so find one with a plan/add-on which works out for you :D eg. if calling overseas will cost most then get one with free international minutes; if you text/call like crazy than get one with free minutes/texts etc :)

*diverged again* IIRC vodafone is £0.20/min for calls and O2 is £0.25/min. they both have a decent/good international call plan, so give those a look? orange has a deal where you can watch a movie at 2 for 1 price every wednesday :)
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