National Tonkoon's Vacation

[Tonker]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

My only phone is paid for completely by my employer.  I could just use it and see if anybody complains (my guess is, they wouldn't) but I'd rather keep it above board.  In any event, it means I can't make a deal with my carrier, because I don't own the contract.

How prevalent is free wifi access?  Because if there's enough of that around, I might not need to use much data.

[Saul Goodman]

Okay chaps, we were looking at an Airbnb apartment in Boystown but it's now booked out, so I've found what appears to be quite a nice place up North, where you get a lot more bang for your buck, space-wise (this place is around 900 sq ft).  It appears to be about halfway between Wrigley and Northwestern, somewhere around W Touhy and N Ridge.  Seems like a decent - if quiet - area, and it's pretty close to Howard El and Rogers Park Metra (should we ever want to head North).  It's also close to the beach, which is important for us.

What do you reckon?  Fork, Huey, I'm looking at you guys because I think this is (was) your neck of the woods, no?

The park and beach at Sheridan and Clark just south of the Northwestern campus were always nice too, if you're making a trip up to Evanston. I'd walk along the lakefill path east of the lagoon too. It's been years since I was there, though, so I wish I could help with info on the new rental spot.

Bear in mind, Chicago beaches are free, and taking wife & Tonklets to an Evanston beach would cost a small fortune. Although if you were going to do it more than twice getting Evanston beach passes would be a worthwhile investment.

The neighborhood isn't great. But that's the tradeoff...you're not going to get bang for your buck in Lincoln Park.

I never paid a dime to use the beach and there weren't any gates. Are there beach cops?

[PenFoe]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

My only phone is paid for completely by my employer.  I could just use it and see if anybody complains (my guess is, they wouldn't) but I'd rather keep it above board.  In any event, it means I can't make a deal with my carrier, because I don't own the contract.

How prevalent is free wifi access?  Because if there's enough of that around, I might not need to use much data.

There's plenty of free wifi or places you can pay for WiFi, but if you're in the car for days on end, you might want to have access to something.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

There are

[Saul Goodman]

There are

Might want to print this post out for reference as you roam these streets, Tonk.

[Saul Goodman]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

My only phone is paid for completely by my employer.  I could just use it and see if anybody complains (my guess is, they wouldn't) but I'd rather keep it above board.  In any event, it means I can't make a deal with my carrier, because I don't own the contract.

How prevalent is free wifi access?  Because if there's enough of that around, I might not need to use much data.

There's plenty of free wifi or places you can pay for WiFi, but if you're in the car for days on end, you might want to have access to something.

DPD, know before you go.

[Yeti]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

Unlimited? Fuck you, man. I paid $20 for 100MB of data that was going to be my GPS shit.... 15 minutes into driving, I used like 11MB

[Tonker]

There are

Might want to print this post out for reference as you roam these streets, Tonk.

Sterling's heating up.  I LOLed.

[Eli]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

Unlimited? Fuck you, man. I paid $20 for 100MB of data that was going to be my GPS shit.... 15 minutes into driving, I used like 11MB

Maybe it was capped but I never came close to any limit. I mostly just used it to pull up maps, but we were only walking or taking a metro so it didn't use much data.

[thehawk]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

My only phone is paid for completely by my employer.  I could just use it and see if anybody complains (my guess is, they wouldn't) but I'd rather keep it above board.  In any event, it means I can't make a deal with my carrier, because I don't own the contract.

How prevalent is free wifi access?  Because if there's enough of that around, I might not need to use much data.

There's plenty of free wifi or places you can pay for WiFi, but if you're in the car for days on end, you might want to have access to something.

DPD, know before you go.

Can you just throw a Sim card into your existing phone?-- if so  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/mobile-phone-accessories/sim-cards/pcmcat265100050014.c?id=pcmcat265100050014

[Quality Start Machine]

Okay chaps, we were looking at an Airbnb apartment in Boystown but it's now booked out, so I've found what appears to be quite a nice place up North, where you get a lot more bang for your buck, space-wise (this place is around 900 sq ft).  It appears to be about halfway between Wrigley and Northwestern, somewhere around W Touhy and N Ridge.  Seems like a decent - if quiet - area, and it's pretty close to Howard El and Rogers Park Metra (should we ever want to head North).  It's also close to the beach, which is important for us.

What do you reckon?  Fork, Huey, I'm looking at you guys because I think this is (was) your neck of the woods, no?

The park and beach at Sheridan and Clark just south of the Northwestern campus were always nice too, if you're making a trip up to Evanston. I'd walk along the lakefill path east of the lagoon too. It's been years since I was there, though, so I wish I could help with info on the new rental spot.

Bear in mind, Chicago beaches are free, and taking wife & Tonklets to an Evanston beach would cost a small fortune. Although if you were going to do it more than twice getting Evanston beach passes would be a worthwhile investment.

The neighborhood isn't great. But that's the tradeoff...you're not going to get bang for your buck in Lincoln Park.

I never paid a dime to use the beach and there weren't any gates. Are there beach cops?

There's fencing by each beach and some lifeguards checking passes/taking money.

[Tonker]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

Unlimited? Fuck you, man. I paid $20 for 100MB of data that was going to be my GPS shit.... 15 minutes into driving, I used like 11MB

For future reference, you can cache Google maps and then just use the GPS to find your way around for nothing...

[Saul Goodman]

Okay chaps, we were looking at an Airbnb apartment in Boystown but it's now booked out, so I've found what appears to be quite a nice place up North, where you get a lot more bang for your buck, space-wise (this place is around 900 sq ft).  It appears to be about halfway between Wrigley and Northwestern, somewhere around W Touhy and N Ridge.  Seems like a decent - if quiet - area, and it's pretty close to Howard El and Rogers Park Metra (should we ever want to head North).  It's also close to the beach, which is important for us.

What do you reckon?  Fork, Huey, I'm looking at you guys because I think this is (was) your neck of the woods, no?

The park and beach at Sheridan and Clark just south of the Northwestern campus were always nice too, if you're making a trip up to Evanston. I'd walk along the lakefill path east of the lagoon too. It's been years since I was there, though, so I wish I could help with info on the new rental spot.

Bear in mind, Chicago beaches are free, and taking wife & Tonklets to an Evanston beach would cost a small fortune. Although if you were going to do it more than twice getting Evanston beach passes would be a worthwhile investment.

The neighborhood isn't great. But that's the tradeoff...you're not going to get bang for your buck in Lincoln Park.

I never paid a dime to use the beach and there weren't any gates. Are there beach cops?

There's fencing by each beach and some lifeguards checking passes/taking money.

Making people pay to use a public beach is very Evanston. I had no idea.

[Tonker]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Does your carrier offer any sort international add-on? When I came your way, I was able to add an unlimited international data plan for a month for like $20, then I just canceled it before the next billing cycle. Pretty painless.

My only phone is paid for completely by my employer.  I could just use it and see if anybody complains (my guess is, they wouldn't) but I'd rather keep it above board.  In any event, it means I can't make a deal with my carrier, because I don't own the contract.

How prevalent is free wifi access?  Because if there's enough of that around, I might not need to use much data.

There's plenty of free wifi or places you can pay for WiFi, but if you're in the car for days on end, you might want to have access to something.

DPD, know before you go.

Can you just throw a Sim card into your existing phone?-- if so  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/mobile-phone-accessories/sim-cards/pcmcat265100050014.c?id=pcmcat265100050014

I'm pretty sure my phone is locked, but I'm also pretty sure that I can get it unlocked without too much hassle or expense... something to look in to.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Just as a matter of interest, by the way, will you get two adults and two kids into a taxi?

do they have smartphones where you're at?
you'll want to get the Uber app and UberX it everywhere.

On the subject of which, what about phones?  I'm know you can get a cheap burner for calls but can you also get a throwaway smartphone for calls and data?  I can use my European smartphone, of course, but with the roaming price of data it might be cheaper to get something local.

Fuck me, this holiday's going to cost me an absolute fortune.

Nah. While you are here, just get some interviews lined up. Get a job and just don't go back.  Cheap!