More Prep Stuff! - Money and Phone
Wow, today was another crazy day getting ready for Brazil.
I was supposed to have an eye doctor appointment, but I got there and they had me down for an appointment sometime in 2007 ..... -_- ..... Sooo, I had to reschedule for Friday.
After that I set about changing my flights.... again! But I did it! I am now flying May 4, and I'm flying from Toronto to Sao Paulo with Susan! I got the travel agent to put our seats together. That will be nice, since it's an 11 hour flight. So I arrive at 10:00 Friday May 5th. I'm happy with that. Should be good. The only thing is that means I have that much less time to prepare everything!
Next stop was the bank, and what a stop it was! Wow. I was fortunate enough to get a banker who had just returned from Brazil!! So I not only sorted out the money situation, but also asked him tones of questions. So, I got my limit raised on my debit card, to $1000, for both withdrawls and debits. Next, I got a second card. This one I am supposed to keep somewhere safe so that if the first one gets lost, stolen or otherwise unusable, I have a backup. Then I got my Mom put on as a joint owner of my account, so she can access it and transfer funds to it if necessary. The applies to my visa too, I think. They, she ordered an extra visa card for HER visa with my name on it. So I have that for emergencies if I need it - Access to my Mom's visa. So I now have two debit cards, a main one and a backup, and two visa accounts, mine and my moms. So I should be covered.
He also told me the best way to deal with money is to take out a bunch of cash and work through it. I get charged for every transaction, so I he said to take out like $200 or whatever and spend that and then get more. I can use my visa and debit, but I get charged every time, so cash is cheaper. Plus he said it wasn't a good idea to "flash plastic". So I will probably do that. Also, he said to use ATMs only that are attched to banks, no free standing ones. And not all the ATMs will accept my card. He said one that starts with a B takes CIBC cards, so I'll try that (I can't remember the whole name :P). And apparently when you get to the airport in sao paulo, if you turn to the left there is a whole row of different bank machines. So that is where I will get my cash. I just need someone to read the portugese intructions for me :P
We also asked him about phoning. He said that while they exists, good international phone cards are hard to come by. He recommended instead using Skype, because you can talk over the internet for free or use it to call real phone numbers and it's not too expensive. So I think I might do that. I have a Skype account and a microphone already anyways. And I think I'm going to get a webcam as well. Which means I'll probably be taking my whole computer.
If I remeber anything else, I'll add it later, but I think that covers everything from today. Tonight I might start working on my Canada powerpoint.
T-minus 9 days to departure!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Tomorrow's forecast: Another crazy day of shopping and appointments and getting ready
I was supposed to have an eye doctor appointment, but I got there and they had me down for an appointment sometime in 2007 ..... -_- ..... Sooo, I had to reschedule for Friday.
After that I set about changing my flights.... again! But I did it! I am now flying May 4, and I'm flying from Toronto to Sao Paulo with Susan! I got the travel agent to put our seats together. That will be nice, since it's an 11 hour flight. So I arrive at 10:00 Friday May 5th. I'm happy with that. Should be good. The only thing is that means I have that much less time to prepare everything!
Next stop was the bank, and what a stop it was! Wow. I was fortunate enough to get a banker who had just returned from Brazil!! So I not only sorted out the money situation, but also asked him tones of questions. So, I got my limit raised on my debit card, to $1000, for both withdrawls and debits. Next, I got a second card. This one I am supposed to keep somewhere safe so that if the first one gets lost, stolen or otherwise unusable, I have a backup. Then I got my Mom put on as a joint owner of my account, so she can access it and transfer funds to it if necessary. The applies to my visa too, I think. They, she ordered an extra visa card for HER visa with my name on it. So I have that for emergencies if I need it - Access to my Mom's visa. So I now have two debit cards, a main one and a backup, and two visa accounts, mine and my moms. So I should be covered.
He also told me the best way to deal with money is to take out a bunch of cash and work through it. I get charged for every transaction, so I he said to take out like $200 or whatever and spend that and then get more. I can use my visa and debit, but I get charged every time, so cash is cheaper. Plus he said it wasn't a good idea to "flash plastic". So I will probably do that. Also, he said to use ATMs only that are attched to banks, no free standing ones. And not all the ATMs will accept my card. He said one that starts with a B takes CIBC cards, so I'll try that (I can't remember the whole name :P). And apparently when you get to the airport in sao paulo, if you turn to the left there is a whole row of different bank machines. So that is where I will get my cash. I just need someone to read the portugese intructions for me :P
We also asked him about phoning. He said that while they exists, good international phone cards are hard to come by. He recommended instead using Skype, because you can talk over the internet for free or use it to call real phone numbers and it's not too expensive. So I think I might do that. I have a Skype account and a microphone already anyways. And I think I'm going to get a webcam as well. Which means I'll probably be taking my whole computer.
If I remeber anything else, I'll add it later, but I think that covers everything from today. Tonight I might start working on my Canada powerpoint.
T-minus 9 days to departure!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Tomorrow's forecast: Another crazy day of shopping and appointments and getting ready
posted by Jess at
8:17 p.m.
2 Comments:
What's your skype ID? Add me - mattmccor :)
By
Matt, at 4:22 a.m.
I think I do have you on my list, actually. I'm just never on :P
mine is jessicapatrick
By
Jess, at 4:35 a.m.
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