USA Vacation: what to pack?

[TheRift]

Sooo... me and my family are off to the USA in December for 3 weeks, with a short 3-day stop in London.
Visiting my sister and experience our first snow Christmas in Denver, Colorado, up in Rockies in winter. I hear temps are down to -6C.

Any recommendations on what clothing we need to buy and pack?
Preferably on a budget. I had a look at jackets at Cape Union Mart and there's no way I am spending R3000+ on a single jacket.

My sister says thermal underwear and many layers, and also t-shirts because the temp swings are large.

Also, for those who have travelled to the USA, what's the best option for cellphone data?

 

[Arthur]

Clothing: something warm for outside. But remember, almost all insides (houses, stores, transport) are heated, so dress normal light with just a good jacket/coat for outside, otherwise you'll melt inside.

Get a US network SIM. One month of unlimited national calls in USA, and 10GB of LTE data can be easily had for $60-70.

 

[Sinbad]

Cellphone data: avoid anyone selling Sims at any airports. They will rip you a new one.
Find a t mobile shop and buy a prepaid Sim. I think it was 50 dollars for unlimited 4g data, calls and smss for a month. An inferior offering (10gig i think) they wanted 90 dollars at the airport stall.

Only caveat is it doesn't work well as a Hotspot. You can set up a mobile Hotspot but data transfer for your connected devices will be very slow. Fine for whatsapp though, not for downloading anything.

Of course check t mobile has coverage in the areas you plan to be.

I'd buy cold weather clothing there. It's going to be more suitable and probably cheaper.

 

[Magnum]

Guns and plenty of ammo!

 

[TheRift]

Guns and plenty of ammo!

Already sorted for that. They even have Bibles as they "Live by the Bible and the gun"!
I more worried about driving around there as they had to "downsize" to a 6.2L.

 

[TheRift]

Cellphone data: avoid anyone selling Sims at any airports. They will rip you a new one.
Find a t mobile shop and buy a prepaid Sim. I think it was 50 dollars for unlimited 4g data, calls and smss for a month. An inferior offering (10gig i think) they wanted 90 dollars at the airport stall.

Only caveat is it doesn't work well as a Hotspot. You can set up a mobile Hotspot but data transfer for your connected devices will be very slow. Fine for whatsapp though, not for downloading anything.

Of course check t mobile has coverage in the areas you plan to be.

I'd buy cold weather clothing there. It's going to be more suitable and probably cheaper.

Cool. Thanks.
My wife checked with Vodacom and apparently she can use her mobile data there just fine. I need to check as I don't trust that.

The idea is to spend the day after we arrive down at the thrift stores and buy warm jackets.
Then get decent affordable boots. I don't mind wearing a 2nd-hand jacket, but never someone else's shoes.

So for now I'm thinking:
- thermal undergarments
- thick hiking socks
- long sleeve tops and some t-shirts
- regular winter jackets as we wear here
- beanies and scarfs

That should get us through London stay and to their house in the USA.

 

[satanboy]

A turban?

 

[Sinbad]

Cool. Thanks.
My wife checked with Vodacom and apparently she can use her mobile data there just fine. I need to check as I don't trust that.

The idea is to spend the day after we arrive down at the thrift stores and buy warm jackets.
Then get decent affordable boots. I don't mind wearing a 2nd-hand jacket, but never someone else's shoes.

So for now I'm thinking:
- thermal undergarments
- thick hiking socks
- long sleeve tops and some t-shirts
- regular winter jackets as we wear here
- beanies and scarfs

That should get us through London stay and to their house in the USA.

You will pay through your arse for using vodacom data! DO NOT DO THAT! International roaming is RIDICULOUS.
Be sure to turn off data roaming on all your devices, or prepare your anus for bill shock when you get back. However, keep your vodacom sim in if you're on wifi, because you should be able to use VoWIFI to make in-bundle calls to SA and receive calls without roaming charges.

There is a LOT of free wifi there as well, btw. Starbucks, walmart, most restaurants all have it.

 

[Arthur]

You will pay through your arse for using vodacom data! DO NOT DO THAT! International roaming is RIDICULOUS.
Be sure to turn off data roaming on all your devices, or prepare your anus for bill shock when you get back. However, keep your vodacom sim in if you're on wifi, because you should be able to use VoWIFI to make in-bundle calls to SA and receive calls without roaming charges.

There is a LOT of free wifi there as well, btw. Starbucks, walmart, most restaurants all have it.

+1000 Roaming on your local SIM is absolutely loony, unless you have unlimited money and don't care. I've seen bills >R40 000 for roaming overseas.

 

[Magnum]

Already sorted for that. They even have Bibles as they "Live by the Bible and the gun"!
I more worried about driving around there as they had to "downsize" to a 6.2L.

Yeah got me one of the last 8+ liters. Sad indeed!

 

[Crowley]

Cool. Thanks.
My wife checked with Vodacom and apparently she can use her mobile data there just fine. I need to check as I don't trust that.

The idea is to spend the day after we arrive down at the thrift stores and buy warm jackets.
Then get decent affordable boots. I don't mind wearing a 2nd-hand jacket, but never someone else's shoes.

So for now I'm thinking:
- thermal undergarments
- thick hiking socks
- long sleeve tops and some t-shirts
- regular winter jackets as we wear here
- beanies and scarfs

That should get us through London stay and to their house in the USA.

Layered clothing with a wind proof jacket on top.

 

[The_David]

Go Check out Gone Skiing in Fourways. They will have the best winter clothing and advice. They also do 2nd hand stuff and huge sale items.
They are the ski shop associated with Afrikski in Lesotho.

As for Data last time I went about 3 years ago we went to T-Mobile to check out the prepaid stuff but it was still quite expensive.

We got by with just the Free wifi all over the place. Did our daily updates at our house, downloaded google maps for the area we stayed in so didnt need data to get around. Managed ok actually. I would suggest dont land and go buy a sim. See if you can get by on the free wifi everywhere. If you really struggling then go check out T-mobile.

 

[Sepeng]

An empty bag and a full wallet.

 

[TheRift]

Go Check out Gone Skiing in Fourways. They will have the best winter clothing and advice. They also do 2nd hand stuff and huge sale items.
They are the ski shop associated with Afrikski in Lesotho.

As for Data last time I went about 3 years ago we went to T-Mobile to check out the prepaid stuff but it was still quite expensive.

We got by with just the Free wifi all over the place. Did our daily updates at our house, downloaded google maps for the area we stayed in so didnt need data to get around. Managed ok actually. I would suggest dont land and go buy a sim. See if you can get by on the free wifi everywhere. If you really struggling then go check out T-mobile.

Thanks. In Cape Town unfortunately, but I've been told of a ski shop in town with decent jackets.

I'm fine going with just wi-fi, but my wife might get a T-Mobile SIM as she has to stay in touch with the business.

 

[TheRift]

An empty bag and a full wallet.

My wallet is my empty bag.

 

[Sinbad]

My wallet is my empty bag.

You're in for a world of pain.
Food there - horee sheeet. It's not cheap. But then again I guess I was in Long beach / LA.
We made the mistake of grabbing a quick breakfast on the Queen Mary at the starbucks. 3 sandwiches, a protein snack and 4 coffees - $66

Definitely self-cater if you can and hit the supermarkets. It's a LOT more affordable.

 

[cguy]

I am a big fan of the “thinsulate” material. It’s light, and keeps you pretty warm. For extreme cold, one can wear it under a heavier jacket, since it sufficiently thin. It also packs well and compresses well (I can literally fold it up and put it in my jacket pocket when not in use).

 

[JibbersCrabst]

From my experience in NY winters, thermals under jeans are a must if you expect to stay outside for a bit. For the rest, a thermal vest, t-shirt then a K-way (or prefered brand) fleece inner and then a thicker down / outer jacket.

As mentioned, all places are well heated so make sure you can take layers off quickly as you will hang the down / outer jackets up at pretty much every restaurant/bar. Don't go too big on the outer jackets - they became a nuisance eventually and bigger does not equal better.

I'd suggest you buy your clothes there if you can, much cheaper at their outlet malls compared to what we pay here. I found food to be pretty reasonable compared to the portions. The SO and I would often order a starter and a main and share at pretty much any place we went. More than enough.

Didn't really see the need for mobile data as most places have free wifi, and if I needed NAV, I just downloaded offline maps and would make do with that until I got onto the next wifi.

Enjoy man!!

 

[Brieuse]

Sooo... me and my family are off to the USA in December for 3 weeks, with a short 3-day stop in London.
Visiting my sister and experience our first snow Christmas in Denver, Colorado, up in Rockies in winter. I hear temps are down to -6C.

Any recommendations on what clothing we need to buy and pack?
Preferably on a budget. I had a look at jackets at Cape Union Mart and there's no way I am spending R3000+ on a single jacket.

My sister says thermal underwear and many layers, and also t-shirts because the temp swings are large.

Also, for those who have travelled to the USA, what's the best option for cellphone data?

hmm, expect delays at the airports, Heathrow shuts down at the first sniff of snow.

 

[TheRift]

You're in for a world of pain.
Food there - horee sheeet. It's not cheap. But then again I guess I was in Long beach / LA.
We made the mistake of grabbing a quick breakfast on the Queen Mary at the starbucks. 3 sandwiches, a protein snack and 4 coffees - $66

Definitely self-cater if you can and hit the supermarkets. It's a LOT more affordable.

Staying with family.
Was kidding about the money, but we're not going with tons of it.