Gettin’ Carried Away

On this day, the 25th of December, I feel I should take a break from regular posts to wish you and yours Happy Holidays from me, Carrie of Gettin’ Carried Away!

In my house, we celebrate Christmas. We attend Midnight Mass at the church I’ve attended since birth, we watch classic comdedies like Home Alone, Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story, and we break oplatki wafters before Christmas dinner. We do exchange gifts, even though the holiday spirit shouldn’t be about gift-giving. However, sometimes I feel no greater joy than finding or making the perfect present for a given person.

Last year, I wrote about several gifts that would be great for any traveler. One year later, I find myself living on a tighter budget, and I just can’t afford to spend a lot of money. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give a great gift to my favorite traveler. So get ready channel your inner Julia Child, because this homemade gift will tantalize anyone’s taste buds!

Here’s where Gettin’ Carried Away becomes part food blog…with a traveler’s twist, of course.

Airplane Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of ready-made sugar cookies (I used Pillsbury)
• flour (no set measurement)
• 2 tubes of cookie icing (1 red, 1 green)

Tools

• 1 large cutting board
• 1 rolling pin
• 1 airplane cookie cutter

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Make sure all your tools (board, pin, cutter) are cleansed throughly.
• Begin by gathering FOUR (4) of the pre-cut cookies from the dough and roll them into a ball. Add a dash of flour so the dough stays firm enough to roll. You’ll also want to sprinkle a bit of flour on the cutting board, so the dough doesn’t stick as you roll it.
• Take the rolling pin, smoothen some flour all over the tool, then begin rolling out the ball of dough so it becomes a patty about ONE-HALF (1/2) an inch thick. If the dough starts sticking to the rolling pin, simply flip it over and sprinkle a little bit more flour on the dough.
• Take the airplane cookie cutter and fashion TWO (2) airplanes out of the dough.
• Repeat this process until you have over a dozen airplanes ready to bake.
• Bake for NINE (9) minutes, but keep a close eye on the cookies. Depending on your oven, it can take just SEVEN (7) minutes to bake the cookies.
• Once the cookies cool, pipe the frosting out of the tube and smoothen with the back of a measuring spoon.

VOILA! Airplane cookies for your favorite traveler!

Earlier this month, I started exploring the service of various cell phone carriers in an effort to bring my fellow travelers the most up-to-date information on the best plan. No matter how often you travel, for business or pleasure, there’s a plan for you. Next on the alphabetical list: Cricket Wireless.

THE LOGISTICS

Unlimited

Cricket Wireless’ claim to fame is that every plan boasts unlimited minutes, so you’re really paying for the extras.

• $25: talk, caller ID & text
• $30: talk, caller ID & premium coverage
• $35: talk, caller ID, premium coverage, PLUS text & long distance
• $40: talk, caller ID, premium coverage, text, long distance, PLUS pix, mexico text, call waiting, 3-way calling & voicemail
• $45: talk, caller ID, premium coverage, talk, caller ID, premium coverage, text, long distance, pix, mexico text, call waiting, 3-way calling, voicemail, PLUS mobile web & 411 assistance
• $50: talk, caller ID, premium coverage, talk, caller ID, premium coverage, text, long distance, pix, mexico text, call waiting, 3-way calling, voicemail, mobile web, 411 assistance, PLUS call forwarding, myBackup & mobile email
• $55: talk, caller ID, premium coverage, talk, caller ID, premium coverage, text, long distance, pix, mexico text, call waiting, 3-way calling, voicemail, mobile web, 411 assistance, call forwarding, myBackup & mobile email

Nationwide Romaing

• Nationwide Roaming $5.00/month: Make calls when you are outside of a Cricket service area, including Canada, for up to 30 minutes.
• Nationwide Roaming $10.00/month: Make calls when you are outside of a Cricket service area, including Canada, for up to 70 minutes.
• Nationwide Roaming $15.00/month: Make calls when you are outside of a Cricket service area, including Canada, for up to 120 minutes.

International Add-On

Would you believe there are EIGHT (8) different international add-ons?

1. $5 Basic International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or any landline (not mobile phone) Mexico and talk for up to 100 minutes
2. $5 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or any landline (not mobile phone) Mexico and talk for up to 100 minutes. Additional voicemail, caller ID and call waiting included.
3. $10 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or mobile phones (not landline phones) in Mexico for up to 40 minutes per month, plus unlimited voicemail, caller ID call waiting and 3-way calling.
4. $15 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or landlines (not mobile phones) in Mexico for up to 300 minutes per month, plus unlimited voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling
5. $25 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or landlines (not mobile phones) in Mexico for up to 500 minutes per month, plus unlimited voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling
6. $30 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or mobile phones (not landlines) in Mexico for up to 135 minutes per month, plus unlimited voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling
7. $35 International Long Distance: Call anyone in the U.S., Canada or mobile phones (not landlines) in Mexico for up to 175 minutes per month, plus unlimited voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling
8. $10 Unlimited International LD: Make unlimited calls to landlines in more than 100 countries worldwide (including unlimited calls to landlines in Mexico) and send unlimited text messages to Mexico.

MY ANALYSIS

Unlimited

To Cricket Wireless, voicemail (like text messaging) is not a basic feature of a phone. So, if you purchase the cheapest plan, don’t expect to get any messages. And here’s something really interesting… the $45, $50 and $55 plans have recently been reduced by $5. So now, there are two $40 plans, but one of them gives you a few more extras. Happy Holidays, huh?

Nationwide Romaing

Cricket might be popular, but it is certainly not a household brand like AT&T or Verizon. Click on the Coverage Map at the top of the main web page, plug in your zip code, and you’ll see that the coverage is rather small and only convenient to big cities. Headed to Denver, Chicago or St. Louis? You’re covered. Sorry, Champaign, IL…Kalamazoo, MI…Hartford, CT you cost extra. If you only want to see the hot spots of the U.S., Cricket might be the carrier for you. But if you’re planning a road trip, or if you want to see the lesser known parts of the country, this might not be the service provider for you.

International Add-Ons:

Really, the only difference between add-on plans would be calling Mexican landlines versus Mexican mobile phones. You really have to know who you’re calling. For example, if you’re to Mexico and want to call home to let the fam know you’re alive, will you be calling a house phone or a cell phone? When you’re choosing an international add-on, it really makes sense to plan ahead.

As for the rates to other countries? Some of them look pretty steep… check them out for yourself here.

** All prices are projected for your average, run-of-the-mill mobile phone, and none of them include Blackberry phones, PDAs and other Smartphones, as well as text messaging.

Which carrier offers the best deal for American travelers? As I said in my previous posts, I will explore a different carrier in each article, and I’ve decided to do it in alphabetical order to eliminate bias. Next up is:
Boost Mobile.

THE LOGISTICS

Monthly Unlimited

Boost Mobile’s big pitch is that they don’t offer the typical two-year contract like other carriers do. Instead, you choose a pay-as-you go option. In the case of Monthly Unlimited, for $50 a month you get unlimited:

• days
• nights and weekends
• mobile-to-mobile (to Boost, Sprint and Nextel customers nationwide)
• text messaging (and picture messaging, available on select phones)
• wireless web

Click on the coverage map, and you’ll notice that you can use a BM phone anywhere in the U.S. …except in Montana, Wyoming and Mississippi.

International Connect Add-On

If you frequent other countries, you may consider purchasing the International Connect add-on. For an additional $10 per month, you’ll get unlimited text and walkie talkie. Rates for actually speaking on the phone vary.

MY ANALYSIS

National Plans

It’s $50 a month for unlimited, well, everything? AND you’ve got national coverage? AND no contract? Sounds like a deal to me…unless you live in Montana, Wyoming or Mississippi, of course.

What doesn’t make sense to me is saying that you get unlimited days, nights/weekends and mobile-to-mobile (to Boost, Sprint and Nextel customers only). If you have unlimited days and night/weekends already, it doesn’t really matter if you have free mobile-to-mobile, right? However, perhaps that is for the “walkie talkie” option.

International Connect Add-On:

An extra $10 for the international add-on is a bit pricey compared to Alltel and AT&T, however, there is only one price ($50 per month) for all phones, so you wouldn’t be paying more than $60 for an international service. With some other carriers, depending on the package you choose, you could pay up to $100 for national coverage before you even add on international capabilities.

Also, I know I did not include text messaging information in my previous posts, but when I saw this bit of info on BM’s website:

I could not pass up the chance to talk about it. International texts are FREE to receive? And only 10 cents to send? I’ve never heard of that before, and I’ve been with two different carriers.

** All prices are projected for your average, run-of-the-mill mobile phone, and none of them include Blackberry phones, iPhones, PDAs and other Smartphones.