2014 - Page 2 of 11 - LIVING THE DREAM

Does the T-Mobile Really Give Free International Data?

In all of my travels, I never carried a phone. I'm going to repeat that to let it sink in. Out of the 66 international countries I've visited, totaling well over 700 days of travel, I never once used a cell phone. In fact, even when I was at home I never even owned a smart phone. Crazy, right?

Call it a mix of wanting to save money and not getting hit with roaming charges when abroad, but the truth of it was that I never had any desire to be that connected. When I was out exploring I didn't want any distractions, and I loved every second of it.

But now that I use a phone when traveling, I wanted to have data on the go. Naturally, I purchased my first smart phone with a Simple Choice plan- a T Mobile international data plan with data and text included in 200+ countries.

If I'm going to do it, it will be done right, and with a starting price of $50/month I was sold.

There are many destinations we have visited around the world where we have found that renting a car made for a better experience. In many others we realized we probably would have had a better time had we splurged for our own transportation for a few days. But there are a few select destinations where we did not rent a car and realized that it was a critical mistake that greatly altered our experience.

Oman was one of those destinations.

While it is hard for anyone to fully justify the costs of a rental car, especially when you will need to spend even more for a full SUV with 4-wheel drive, we have a few reasons as to why you should consider it when traveling in Oman.

Before leaving for our long-term trip, we opened up two Hilton Citi and two Hilton American Express credit cards in order to have an upgrade in accommodations for several nights during our travels.

We spent several months using the cards to meet the minimum spending limits to get the sign-up bonuses, and even used the Citi affiliated cards as our primary card during the trip to rack up a substantial amount of points.

But does opening four Hilton reward credit cards, two with a $95/year annual fee, really save you money on a long-term trip?

Let's find out.

Prior to leaving to our 465-day trip around the world, we were really excited to be sent a few pairs of KEEN shoes to wear on our journey.

We were particularly interested in these shoes as they were clearly designed by someone who had our type of journey in mind.

Comfortable for city walking, rugged for mountain hiking, and waterproof just for good measure, they really did seem to be the best shoe for traveling on an adventure such as ours.

But did they live up to the hype?

After 15 months on the road, visiting 38 countries on 5 continents, you could say that we put them through the ultimate test to find the answer.

Does the T-Mobile Really Give Free International Data?

If You Want to Enjoy Oman, Be Sure to Rent a Car

Are Hilton Credit Cards Good for Travelers? A Review

KEEN Shoes Review – Are They The Best Shoe for Travel?