Trials, Tribulations & Telcos

What a nightmare trying to arrange a SIM card with reasonable data (ie: enough to stream the odd movie or two).  We started off being led to believe that we could get 100GB of data with unlimited text and calls, as well as hotspot, for $65/month AND I could trade my iPhone 7+ for an iPhone 11 and I’d just have to pay US$87 for the upgrade!! America truly is GREAT!!

Sadly, turned out this was NOT the case. Even sadder was that despite confirming the above several times (if it sounds too good to be true etc), it was only after we’d been there an hour that it became clear that it was the other way around. The US$87 was how much they’d give me FOR the trade in! So off we went to do more research on plans on the internet again.  After having spent hours earlier in the day walking the length and breadth of Millbrae and spending time at each of the 3 main providers, (not to mention our sleep-deprived state) – our legs were aching and our heads spinning!  Appears mobile plans work VERY differently here and are substantially more expensive than in OZ.  For example – it will say “unlimited data” and then say “limited to 20GB per month”. What the HELL???  And either “no hotspot data” or “hotspot data limited to 5GB”. We decided against another US$30 cab trip to the closest AT&T and decided to drive to an AT&T shop after collecting the van on Wednesday.

After a somewhat better sleep on Tuesday night, we had breakfast at our motor inn and headed to Walgreens to stock up on vitamins etc. Found we could get 2 for 1 discounts if we joined their rewards club – only needed a mobile number to join.  Slight problem … no USA mobile number yet and won’t accept Oz mobile number. Eventually cashier asks the next man in the queue if he is a member – yep, he is. She asks him to enter HIS mobile number so we can get the discount, which he happily does!

Starting to LOVE Americans … yesterday we went to the movies because Jarrah wanted to see “Parasite” again on the big screen. The young man serving us was asking a million questions about what we wanted from our popcorn (no butter??, lots of butter??, mid-butter????, extra butter??). After we told him we didn’t know, having just arrived in the country, and therefore to decide for us and surprise us, he asked where we were from. When we told him, he said “Australians are the BEST people ever” (and also expressed sadness and concern over the fires).  Didn’t have the heart to tell him that I wasn’t quite the “genuine article”. Then as we were headed to the cashier a lady approached us with a large empty popcorn container (about 4 times the size that we’d obtained) and told us she was leaving and asked if we wanted it? Was a tad confused until she explained … it’s a “free refill” container; we could get it filled at no cost. Knowing there was no way we could eat that amount of popcorn and having already obtained a popcorn from our biggest fan, we thanked her profusely for the offer but declined.

Back to Wednesday, THE day finally arrived. Picking up the van, I thought the nerves were going to hit at some point but strangely enough, never eventuated (thankfully). Were picked up from the motor inn early (!) by the motorhome rental company and the young lady was lovely and friendly. Took about an hour and a half to go through all the paperwork, check the van and have a crash course on how EVERYTHING works. To our delight found out that we had been allocated a 22ft WITH a slide out!! Was NOT expecting that and OMG what a difference it makes (Google it people). We drove a few blocks to a nearby (pre-determined) shopping centre (made it in one piece, stayed on the correct side of the road at all times and even managed to park in a car park that I don’t think we were meant to be in!). Went to AT&T to sign up for a data and mobile phone plan (100 GB of data, unlimited local calls and texts for US$80/month) that we’d been told we could get, only to find we’d been given incorrect info yesterday; it is only available to US citizens (need a social security number). Long story short, went to T-Mobile to get the deal they told us we could get as it was better – only to find the same problem, DESPITE TELLING THE MANAGER AT THE START THAT WE ARE ONLY HERE FOR 3 MONTHS! The plan they are prepared to offer us infidels was worse than AT&T. By this stage Jarrah is losing it … back to AT&T and fortunately were in and out in 10 mins but paying US$75 for about 20GB of data. It is now 4pm and we still have to do grocery shopping for 4 days AND get to the campsite before sundown @ 5.30pm.

OMG – we must have been a sight to behold 😊  … racing around the supermarket grabbing things off shelves like we were in some kind of competition 😊 Thankfully, I’d made a shopping list the night before but that didn’t stop us from “Should we get this?”, “I don’t know … maybe”, “Yes”, “No”, “Mind you … maybe”.  And didn’t stop us from missing about half of the items.  In fairness, the first item on the list was “Bear Spray” 😊

Prices are a very rude shock to the system after Mexico and OMG … the packaging sizes are huge!! You want salad dressing? Here – have a litre.  You want milk – have 5 litres! But we made it though at lightning speed and got enough food for 4 days (how long we will be stranded in the wilderness at our first stop).  The super friendly cashier signed us up for a Safeway card which instantly gave us a saving of around US$20.

Mild excitement whilst we were at cashier – woman shouting on the top of her voice, swearing with a cop walking behind her – obviously escorting her out of the shop. Apparently a repeat offender.

Back in the motorhome, it is now 4.30pm and we have to drive to the campsite which (thanks to excellent planning and fore-thought 😊) is only a 30 min drive away (IF we don’t get lost!). Just a reminder that as of this moment, I’ve driven this huge 22ft van on the WRONG side of the road for all of 10 minutes and we now have to navigate/drive to the campsite hungry (nothing to eat since breakfast) and pissed off and stressed from the friggin telco debacle.

Anyway … first up, decided that I’d rather go the wrong way up a one-way in the parking lot than have to try to manoeuvre the van to the left AND have to do a 3 point turn with cars all around us – fortunately, that paid off without any consequences.  So, Jarrah’s in charge of navigating, I’m in charge of not killing us and we’re off … not even 3 friggin minutes down the road and we hear what is obviously an ambulance siren. We’ve got limited vision in the van, so we’re both looking around in panic – where the hell IS it??  Jarrah declares that it is probably on the road above us (bridge), but of course, as soon as I go through the intersection, I see the ambulance approaching from my left!!! Naturally, I stepped on the accelerator to get out of their way. White-knuckled and wide-eyed, the shrill wail of the siren seems to still ring in our ears. Oh crap, that’s because the f*cking thing is now BEHIND us! I’ve now got to pull the van over on a single lane road in a built up area with cars parked on the side!!  Being the super-fantastic driver and cool, calm cucumber that I am … pulled that off without a hitch.  Road to campsite was very much a long and winding road with very low-hanging branches. As a result, and much to my horror, I realise that I’ve gone too close to the trees in a bid to avoid a head on collision with oncoming traffic and found that I’ve practically removed all the paint from the top and right hand side of the van.  ANYWAY … we only took one incorrect turn (within the camp site) and arrive not only before sunset but more importantly alive.

We raced through the set-up – power hooked up, water hooked up, slide-out out, unpacked groceries, made beds, brought suitcases into van so we could do some unpacking in the morning. Phew!! Made it!!

As you would know – was not looking forward to driving on the right hand side of the road for the first time in my life, driving anything bigger than a car for the first time in my life and driving in a “strange” country (NOT for the first time in my life 😊) but the nerves never kicked in and it has been mostly easy (fortunately). We’d be in a bit of trouble if I couldn’t do it given I’ve hired this van for 85 days (and another one in Canada for 50 days!!).

All those “in the know” have been telling me – “don’t worry, roads are wide in the US” – not when you’re driving a van, they’re not! “Don’t worry, size is might – everyone will give way to you” – wrong again, not only had people cutting in front of me when they didn’t have right of way – seriously, they didn’t – had people overtaking us on solid double lines on winding mountain roads, refusing to let me merge into their lane when my lane is ending/about to become a right only. Pretty much exactly the sh*t you get in Australia – or on the Sunny Coast at least.

Proud to announce a new segment which will appear on the blog from time to time … “Jarrah-ism” – pearls of wisdom from the precious one.

Jarrah-ism
When asked why she’s surprised that a caprese salad tasted good … “because I didn’t think Americans knew anything about salads.”

Jarrah

It’s already Monday but can’t give you anymore updates as we have practically no WiFi access and can’t load pics (other than the above low-res pics from my phone. Your inbox will be flooded with updates when we’re connected again. There’s plenty to come … Anthony Chabot Campsite, Monterey, Big Sur and more!