Next Trip: Isla Mujeres, Mexico

photo credit: Mike McHolm

Since coming back from New Zealand in November, I haven’t really had a single trip. I had a quick road trip from where my family live in Texas back to my home in Utah, but was in a hurry and didn’t make it much of a road trip. Also, since I started back at my job, I haven’t accumulated much in the way of vacation days yet, so when I saw that President’s Day was coming up, I knew I had to book a trip somewhere to satisfy my serious case of wanderlust. Plus, after having three consecutive winters in a row, I was more than ready to go somewhere warm.

Being a holiday weekend, flights everywhere in the US were much more expensive than usual. I eventually came across a deal to Cancun on Frontier Airlines with a non-stop flight from SLC to Cancun that was only $50 more than most of the domestic tickets I had been seeing. I gave it a day to think about it and decided to book it. It’s my reward for paying off the little bit of debt I accumulated from my seven months not working while traveling in New Zealand.

photo credit: svachalek

Why Isla Mujeres?

I’ve been to Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen already and found Cancun and Cozumel to be a little too touristy and expensive for my taste. I pulled up a map and found the island of Isla Mujeres, just off the coast of Cancun. Since I could only stay for 3-4 days, this met my need of being fairly close to the airport so I wouldn’t waste my entire trip getting there. After some research, it looked like the perfect destination – just a 15-30 minute $3 ferry from the mainland, a laid-back, small-town place with far fewer high-rise hotels, resorts, shopping malls, and American restaurants than Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa.

Where I’m staying

I found the Poc Na Hostel after a quick search of hostels on the island. It is on its own private beach, a few hundred meters from the most popular beach on the island, right in town, and has a bar and restaurant on-site. Most of the reviews seem to say it’s quite the party atmosphere, which is what I’m looking for on this short trip. I did splurge for a private room, however, so I’m not completely drained when I get back to work. Instead of $8/nt, I’ll be paying $20/nt. I’ve got a job again, so I think the extra $36 should be well worth it.

What I’m doing

photo credit: .thana

Scuba diving has been something I’ve been really excited about learning how to do, so I’m planning to take a Discover Scuba class along with a few open water dives. The reef on the Yucutan coast is the second largest in the world (second to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) and stretches all the way to Belize. I’m also considering a boat trip to Isla Contoy or snorkeling at Garrafon Park, but that all depends on whether I can tear myself away from the beach or not.

NZ Mobile Networks: Who to pick?

If you’re visiting New Zealand for any substantial amount of time, you’ll want to pick up a pre-paid SIM card for your phone to stay in touch with your family and friends at home, all the amazing people you’ll meet on the road, and to make onward travel arrangements.  Coverage in New Zealand is extremely variable and you can’t count on any coverage outside of towns or cities.  The mobile system works like most European countries: the caller is the one who pays for the mobile call.  For example, if someone in NZ calls your mobile from their landline, the caller pays a surcharge and you get incoming calls and texts for free.

The Choices: Telecom, Vodafone, and 2degrees

There are three major mobile operators in New Zealand: Telecom, Vodafone, and a new upstart called 2 degrees.  Though coverage does vary between the companies, with Telecom having the most extensive coverage, it’s not a major difference unless you plan on staying somewhere (like Glenorchy for example) for a long period of time.

Cost Comparison

¹ Telecom’s Selected Countries: Australia, UK, US, Canada, and Ireland.
² Vodafone’s Selected Countries: Australia, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, China, India, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
³ 2degrees’s Selected Countries: Australia, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, China, India, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, France, Germany, South Africa, Fiji
⁴ 2degrees offers a special rate of 22c/min to 2degrees mobiles and landlines in their 22 selected countries when topping up with $20 or more. They also give 100 free texts with a $20 top-up. All these specials must be used within 30 days of topping up.

Specials

As shown in the chart, Vodafone offers a special for $2 per call for up to an hour of talk time when calling their 15 selected countries. Telecom gives bonus credit when topping up e.g. a $20 top-up gives you $25 in credit. 2degrees currently gives 100 texts and changes the rate to 22c/min for calls to 2degrees mobiles and landlines in their 22 selected countries.

The Verdict: It Depends

2degrees is the overall winner. They have the best rates for calling within New Zealand and have the largest number of countries with discounts. They also have the cheapest SIM at $20 including $20 credit (basically free). If you don’t plan to make long calls to Vodafone’s 15 countries on your mobile, this is your clear winner.

Vodafone is the winner for longer term visitors who plan to call any of Vodafone’s 15 special countries a substantial amount. You can’t beat $2 for up to an hour phone call. It makes it much cheaper to call internationally than domestically. If you don’t plan on making these select international calls, however, Telecom is a bit cheaper and 2degrees is much cheaper.

Telecom doesn’t have a whole lot going for them. 2degrees is cheaper domestically and internationally and Vodafone is cheaper to their select international countries. Telecom does have the best coverage, however, so if you plan on spending a large amount of time in the bush without heading to a town every once in a while, they are your best bet.