The great thing about owning an unlocked phone is freedom! Cell carriers like to dictate what you can and cannot do with your phone because they “give it to you”. Ultimately, when they sell you a phone below its MSRP, especially smart phones, they make up the cost by charging you extra and requiring you to add certain features to your plan (features you might not even want).
A good way to get around this is to put up a lot of money up front and purchase an unlocked device. Although you part with quite a bit of cash in the beginning (although you really don’t have too if you shop smartly) you end up saving quite a bit in the long run. A lot of times, the data plans are cheaper on an unlocked device because you can use the generic “Unlimited Data” plan vs. the “Smart Phone Data Plan” which is twice as expensive but is the same exact thing. Also, the cell provider can’t dictate what features you need because they don’t know what device you are using. You can also use features like tethering and GPS navigation at no extra cost.
The above picture shows just how easy it is to travel when you have an unlocked GSM device. Although I use my Sony Ericsson X10 in the USA, I simply purchased a “rechargeable” SIM Card from VodaCom on my recent trip to Africa, and voila… local calls and 3G data for a lot less than the international roaming plan I could have set up! If you can afford to go unlocked, definitely do it. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to get an unlocked device either.
If you would like some assistance picking a phone that’s right for you please feel free to leave a comment or email me at styleandbrains@gmail.com. You can also tweet me @jpchamberlain
So before I left for South Africa, I had heard a few suggestions from people. I was told that sometimes when traveling to Africa, checked bags tend to get wet. I also didn’t want to fill my bag with clothes and not have to come back home with more bags. I was very interested in purchasing a couple boxes of space bags to see it they really work. People laughed at me but guess what??? They work and now those same people laughing at me are using the product also.
So what is a space bag to-go?
It’s like the larger Space Bags but instead of vacuuming out the air you simply roll the bag to remove as much of the air as possible. I was able to fit two weeks worth of clothes in the bottom of my duffel bag leaving the entire top portion for things I accumulated on the trip. I was also able to put an emergency set of clothes in my carry-on backpack also thanks to the Space Bag. As a result of my success with the Space Bags To-Go, I’m headed out tonight to get some full size Space Bags to start organizing my room. If you have a trip coming up soon be sure to check out Space Bags to keep the bulk down!
For our final day in Pretoria, we were again looking to go on a Safari. We ended up at a game reserve and didn’t have time to go on the safari but we were able to check out tons of animals at their zoo. It was incredible! I’ve never been so close to exotic animals before since our zoos keep us very far from the exhibits. I was able to capture pictures and Melany got some great video of a lot of the animals. This was possibly my favorite part of the trip as I got to run with lions and tigers and stare down the King of the Jungle! I’m not sure if he wanted to eat me or play. Either way it was both scary and exciting at the same time. I also got to play with a four month old lion cub. It was a lot like a big/really strong dog. Man I miss South Africa!
The World Cup finals in Johannesburg were incredible! Soccer City stadium is massive and the design is very unique. The closing ceremonies were electrifying, exactly what was needed to open the Finals Match. The vuvuzelas were much louder in Joburg than in Durban.
I’m glad the match scoreline went the way it did as Spain deserved the victory. Iker Casillas made some pretty spectacular saves allowing one Spanish goal to settle the match. He should have been Man of the Match for sure. Sergio Ramos might be my new favorite player. He is probably the ultimate defender playing both offense and defense with ease. The Spanish defense shut down both Germany and the Netherlands causing the opposition great frustration. Spain takes a difficult to master game and makes it look like simple art.
I was able to take tons of pics at the game so make sure you check them out below! This was a wonderful experience and I’m happy to have been there for Spain’s first World Cup Victory! Thank you Sony for sponsoring such a great event and for allowing me to attend!
For our second day in Pretoria,, we were scheduled to attend the Sony FIFA World Cup Finals Gala dinner at the Nelson Mandela Center in Johannesburg. This was by far the most incredible event I’ve ever been to.
When we arrived at the Nelson Mandela Center we were escorted to the Sony 3D area where we were shown a fantastic presentation on a large theater size screen in Sony 3D. The results are fantastic! I wasn’t really the biggest fan of 3D and Melany always get’s headaches from 3D movies in the theater so I was a bit skeptical. Let me tell you first hand, we watched clips from World Cup Matches in 3D… Awesome… a trailer for the new Resident Evil Movie in 3D… Awesome… and Shakira’s Waka Waka Video in 3D… Awesome… no headaches to report… Awesome!
After the 3D presentation we were escorted to the Gala Dinner. The decadent four course meal was provided by Chef Luke Dale, one of the top five chefs in South Africa! The food was incredible. After the greatest meal of my life Shakira came out and performed a great setlist! This was an incredible evening I’ll never forget.
Now I just need to get one of these new Sony 3D TV’s! I’m hooked!
After an incredible stay in Durban, we headed to Johannesburg for the finals. Our hotel was about 45 minutes outside of Joburg in a city called Pretoria or Tshwane. Pretoria is one of tree capital cities of South Africa serving as the administrative hub. The US Embassy was a block away from our hotel which was extremely comforting. The area wasn’t as pleasant what we encountered in Durban and there was a security guard with us pretty much anytime we left the hotel gates. We were also instructed only to leave the hotel in large groups. That’s totally something you want to hear.
The Court Classique hotel was a beautiful suite style property with high gates surrounding the lot. The Staff was incredibly friendly and the food at the “Orange” restaurant was top class. The best part was it was ridiculously inexpensive for the caliber of food we were consuming. I miss South Africa as the food tasted so natural. Even the Coca-Cola tasted delicious and natural unlike our corn syrup filled Coke here in the states. Anyone know where I can buy South African Coca-Cola here in the US???
Since the hotel was a smaller and suite style, I can’t fault them for not having American Plugs/adapters like they did in Durban. My electronic devices died after day one. I felt helpless. I thought about buying an adapter before I left but I didn’t know what type I needed and I was told most hotels offer them/have American plugs. Oh well… live and learn right! So yeah, I was without electronic devices for a day till we got out of the hotel gates to visit the local mall. Even if I had the adapters though, the power to the outlets went out and the staff had to reset a breaker the next day. To be honest, I was pretty sketched out by the area and didn’t feel comfortable reporting the problem that night to have some person come to fix it. We got the outlets fixed the next morning. Check out pics from the Court Classique taken with my Sony A330 camera!
We had beautiful sunshine in Durban for our second day in South Africa. People were out in the Indian Ocean swimming in the warm waters and the weather was very cool and comfortable. The air is fresh and very breezy along this particular coastline. Melany and I were looking to go on a safari but instead opted to stay closer to the immediate area and visit the Ushaka Marine World. We were able to hop on a easy to ride “People Mover” Bus and were at our destination in around 15 minutes.
Ushaka World is an exceptional aquarium. The species found in this facility are from the Indian Ocean and they have plenty of sharks… lots. They also have penguins and a great dolphin show! After we finished at the aquarium we took a nice walk down the shore back to the hotel to get some great coastline photos. We were also able to take some video clips using my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and DSC-H20 Camera. I took the shots below with the Sony A-330 DSLR. Check out our day 2 Durban photos below!
What an awesome match! Go Spain!!! I’ll have a full post about the flight, Durban, the match and Sony coming soon to both here and the SonyStyle Blog. We have a free day tomorrow so I’ll be sure to get the posts taken care of. Until then, here are some pics I took from Durban Stadium and the hotel room! It’s 4:14am here so I should probably get some sleep.
So I’ve tried to watch as many Group Stage World Cup matches as I can and there is one thing that keeps catching my attention. The thought was sitting in the back of my mind but was brought out when I just received an email from Nike about their new elite line of cleats and other apparel.
If you’ve watched any World Cup games thus far you’ve seen several players on every team rockin’ a cleat from the Nike Elite line. These products range from $30-$400. That’s right, $400 for a pair of cleats.
I’ve seen a ton of Adidas commercials but when I’m watching the games for 90 minutes guess what I’m seeing? Nike, Nike Nike… I hate to say it as I love Adidas but my Nike Mercurial Vapor IV’s are the best pair of cleats I’ve ever worn. I don’t just think it’s just a marketing ploy, these cleats are the real deal. I don’t know if I’d spend $400 but I’d definitely swing for the $120 pair.
Sorry for the bit of randomness but I just had to get this observation in blog form. Great job Nike Marketing Team for getting your boots onto as many players as possible thus into the minds of consumers. Is Nike showing a little style and brains… I think so!
