Neocolours

Just want to be able to phone/text each other if one of us gets lost, contact family, contact you guys if we get lost going to a meetup, that sort of thing. Some data would be great, so we can tether the laptop, but I don't know how much prepaid data costs over there?

Ideally we'd still like to be able to phone/text each other as we travel through France, is this possible, or will it incur roaming charges?

Many providers here give you free calls/texts to anyone with the same company, so if we had one of those that would be ideal and then we could just put a tiny amount of credit on it.

It'll cost a bit more in France for texts/calls/roaming but there are EU regulations on roaming charges, the BBC says "Under new rules agreed by the European Parliament, consumers will pay no more than 29 cents (24p) per minute to make a call and 70 cents (59p) per megabyte for data downloads across Europe." Now it's not clear whether Switzerland is included in that, as it's not in the EU but it is in Europe, but you should be fine in France.

I know O2 do free calls/texts to other O2 customers, and probably other providers do to. It may be worth going to an O2 shop (should be very easy to find one on the highstreet) and asking as there are different deals for different SIMs. As Jazzy says though O2 (and EE/Orange and Vodafone) are the main providers here, and more expensive, but it'll probably be easier to find a SIM from one of these providers because they have shops everywhere and you'll be able to top them up at any supermarket and most corner shops, and online too.

Hilariously, that means it's cheaper for me to call a UK phone from Europe than it is to call a UK phone when I'm here! (I have a special tariff which is designed for cheap international calls, but the payoff is expensive domestic ones. Now my fiancé doesn't live abroad, I really need to fix that...)

Giffgaff also does free calls to other Giffgaff users (lasts for three months after each topup), but only within the UK - and I suspect realistically, that the rest of them will be the same, no free calls when roaming. (Giffgaff is the budget arm of O2). But yeah, if you wanted two Giffgaff sim cards you'd need to request them before you came to the UK, using something like this page because Giffgaff doesn't have shops.

Looking into our accomodation options - a B&B in East Finchley (seems far out of London, but 5 minute walk from the tube station so should be doable), or a slightly cheaper double room in Lambeth, or an even cheaper double room in Newham. (go airbnb, these are all within my AU$100 budget!)

How likely are we to be murdered at these locations, if at all? (that said, I'm partial to the B&B because.... included breakfast! oh my goodness I love breakfast)

Thanks for the advice on the phone situation - looks like my assumptions that Europe is one big happy utopia where you can take your phones around with impunity was as childish as one would expect.

Yeah, it's taken a long time and a lot of court battles to get roaming as cheap as it is now. When I picked a tariff specifically for roaming back in 2006, I went for the cheapest that was out there - a bargain at only 99p/minute for me to call the UK from Germany. 24p seems bargainous after that!

Oh, and I finally worked out why Milo sounded so familiar. I had been wondering if I've seen it in Germany. Then I realised it's because I can buy it in my local supermarket. And probably any other Tesco with a Caribbean section within World Foods. So it's not going to be necessary to bring in.

Amazing Australian Dairy Milk varieties, on the other hand...

You mean stuff like Cherry Ripes? I was shocked that Cherry Ripes are an Australian innovation. Maybe I'll bring a couple of boxes of favourites.

They sound nice. When my parents came back from Oz, they brought the rocky road one which was just divine. And also the one where the different segments all have different fillings. And I think I once saw (here in an import shop for a stupid price) one which was dark, white and cherry flavoured? Something like that.

I hope you have a good luggage allowance ;0)

I've never heard of rocky road cherry ripes!? There's rocky road dairy milk blocks, though.

... you get rocky road in the UK, right? Rocky road is like my favourite thing.

Oh, no, I meant Dairy Milk. I was referring back to my original statement about Dairy Milk varieties. You get loads which we don't, for whatever reason. (Though they've brought out a load of new ones in recent years here - including with Oreo pieces, as if to make it really blatant that Kraft own Cadbury now *grump*.)

We don't get oreo pieces! Trades will be in order

Ooh Milka has really nice chocolate with oreo cookies now too. Not sure who owns them (probably the same company) They have chocolate bars with dain too.
Also, the fact that mainland Europe has oreo cookies now. Does anyone remember the mighty duck movies, I never knew what the oreo move was till years later (they trnslated it as the zebra move or something)

Sorry and return to your scheduled planning.

Yep, Milka's owned by Kraft too (grrr...) - the bars with Daim bits in are fantastic.

Milka Daim is incredible. I'm glad that Milka's fairly easy to get over here now, but I wish we could get a wider variety - and the specials which come out ever summer. A few years ago one of the summer specials was incredible - watermelon creme with popping candy. White chocolate with blackcurrant creme filling was divine too. (Ritter Sport's summer/winter specials are good too. White chocolate with blood orange yoghurt has stuck with me for years.)

Sorry not to answer your questions about accommodation Madge, but I don't know London well enough. I do know chocolate though.

Haha I am also an expert on chocolate but can't really vouch for the safety or convenience of the accomodation you mentioned Madge, I'm sorry! The closest I can come to helping is to suggest searching the specific B&B's on TripAdvisor and reading the reviews. I'm sure somebody here will be able to advise you though.

So did we decide on a definite meetup date in the end? I am excited to meet you all!