P4| PURSUITS OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019My wallet has been stung many times with hefty roam-
ing charges, so I asked travel tech specialist Winston Sih
for his advice.
“Before roaming became a little more affordable in
the last few years, I had a good friend of mine go away for
two weeks in the Bahamas and return to a $2,400 roam-
ing bill from their carrier,” he recalls.
“It was a fight to get part of the bill reduced, but at the
end of the day, it was due to [my friend] not checking
their phone’s settings and making sure all the cellular
functionality was turned off when not being used and,
when data was on, monitoring how much was being
consumed by which apps.”
Sih says Canadians who want to stay connected
abroad have to do the math.
For short trips, your carrier’s roaming option packag-
es, which work on a 24-hour clock from the moment you
access roaming, are the place to start.
“If it’s just for a long weekend, that may be your best
bet as it allows you to stay connected to your phone
number for texts and iMessages, as well as data,” Sih says.
For longer trips, consider purchasing a local SIM card.
In that case you’ll need to take your SIM card out of your
unlocked phone (and not lose it) and replace it with the
local purchase. This is great if data in your destination is
more affordable. The catch: You’ll have a different
phone number. That means you’ll have to share the new
number with friends back home, but it’s easy to stay intouch using messaging apps instead of texts. You may also
both incur long distance charges when making calls. Still,
says Sih, if you’re mainly interested in the data access it
can be a great option.
Travellers who don’t want to rely on the hope of finding
good WiFi might want to consider a personal hotspot pur-
chase.
Options such as the Skyroam Solis X can fit in your
pocket, be used with up to 10 devices and has features that
include a remote camera and Global 4G LTE connectivity.
It can be either purchased outright (US$179.99 + your
preferred WiFi package) or rented (from US$8.99 a day, in-
cluding unlimited Wi-Fi). A host of other models, brands
and package options can be found at most places where
cellphone accessories are sold.
“These also include a battery built in so you can charge
your devices on the go,” Sih points out, but you’ll still need
to bring a cord.
Sih opts for a multiuse cord. “It’s one USB cable with
multiple ends so no matter the device, I don’t have to
stress about whether I remembered to bring the cord.”
–HEATHERGREENWOODDAVISSpecialtoTheGlobeandMailNeedsometraveladviceorhaveaquestion
aboutlifeontheroad?Sendyourquestionsto
[email protected].PERSONAL CONCIERGEWhat’sthebest
wayformetostay
connectedabroad
withoutexorbitant
phonebills?
L
enny Kravitz has sold 40 mil-
lion albums and won four
Grammys since releasing his
debut record,Let Love Rule,in- Just as his music has incor-
porated a wide range of styles
and influences – rock, jazz, blues,
pop and reggae among others –
the same can be said for his per-
sonal sense of style. He’s one of
rock’s most iconic dressers. Born
in Manhattan, Kravitz says his ca-
reer in music and love of fashion
led naturally to his interest in de-
sign. He loves how thing are
made, how they set a mood, or
vibe, and how they tell a story. In
2003, he launched Kravitz De-
sign, a New York-based company
that focuses on both residential
and commercial projects, with a
roster of clients that includes
Swarovski Crystal, the Morgans
Hotel Group and Dom Pérignon.
For his latest project, the 55-
year-old designed the entire sev-
enth floor of the Bisha Hotel in
Toronto. Inspired by the glamour
of the 1970s, the “Kravitz Design
Floor,” as it is known, includes 13
guest rooms and three suites, all
designed in earthy tones to create
a warm, intimate vibe. Kravitz
spoke to The Globe about how to
live a well-designed life, how to
find your own personal aesthetic
and why good design comes
down to self-expression.What does it mean to you
to live a well-designed life?For me it starts in the home. My
homes are very important to me.
Where they are, how they feel,
how they’re designed, how they
work as far as inspiration. The
furnishings, the textures, the col-
ours, the art. For someone who
travels so much, home for me is
vacation. So home is refuge and
inspiration and a place to make
more art. Then of course there’s
fashion, there’s design, there’s
how you travel, how you dress,
what you have with you, how you
move from A to Z. Everything has
an aesthetic value and a certain
function.So how to you pick items
to decorate a room with, or even
the clothes you wear?I choose things based on how
they function and how they look.
How they’re made. What’s the
story behind it? It’s all of it, down
to the food you eat. I mean,
you’re talking about a well-de-
signed life, what are you putting
in to your body? What are you
putting in to your mind? Who are
you hanging out with? What kindof energy are you dealing with?
That’s design too, because we
choose that.But not everyone can completely
choose those things.I’m very aware of that. Just wak-
ing up in the morning and having
another day to live life, that’s ev-
erything. The rest of this is gravy.
I mean, I love things. But I keep
them in perspective.How did you develop your style
over the years?There’s so many different styles.
If you see different projects you’d
think they were different design-
ers.How can people find their own
aesthetic?Everybody has their own vibe,
and that’s the beauty. I can go in-
to somebody’s home and have
nothing to do with anything that
I would ever choose or like but I
completely appreciate it and
think that it’s beautiful because it
suits them and their lifestyle.
They’re being authentic to them-
selves. I think that’s what good
style is, it’s anybody that is doing
them. If you’re doing you authen-tically you can read it, you can
smell it, you can see it.Is that why it’s important to
live a well-designed life, because
it comes down to being true to
yourself?Yeah, that’s it. See, the other
thing is, it’s not about the size of
space. You could have one little
room and make it the most beau-
tiful little jewel box for your life
because every detail is thought of
and you can go in to a huge man-
sion that is horrible. A lot of
times I like smaller spaces. I lived
completely in an Airstream trail-
er for 15 years in the Bahamas.
There’s something really com-
forting about it, there’s some-
thing about only having enough
room to bring what you really, re-
ally need so you pare everything
down to the basics. And it’s just
cozy. It’s like a womb.When you design a space what
does success feel like to you?If it feels the way you had intend-
ed. I just worked on my place in
Paris. Completely emptied the
place and redid it. Just like in mu-
sic, I let it tell me what to do. So
when the place is empty and I
stand in the space the space tellsme what to do.So what did you do to the place?It’s more about how the energy
flows between the rooms. I’m ve-
ry sensitive to how the energy
flows in a place, how the light
works, what you don’t want to
block. Maybe you don’t want to
block that window with a couch
going behind it because you want
that energy flow to go straight
through. It’s a very interesting
way to work. So success is when
visually it feels right, it feels right
in the way that in functions for
people to gather.Right, so you have to start
with asking, how do I want
to use this space?Exactly. You don’t always have to
take a large room and fill it up ei-
ther. That was an old idea of
wealth. It showed you were able
to acquire. And now for me it’s
gone in the completely opposite
direction.What’s the opposite direction?Space and feel.Thisinterviewhasbeenedited
andcondensed.ILLUSTRATIONBYPABLOLOBATOAllaboutthevibe
Musician-turned-designerLennyKravitztellsDaveMcGinnwhyit’sworthinvestingindesign