Most people think I’m nuts when I tell them my monthly cellphone bill is over $150. Why is it do high? because both my wife and I use iPhones. iPhone 4Ss to be exact.
So we left yesterday en route to our first extended vacation without Jackson. Oue destination: Washington DC. However, our little adventure got off to a rough start.
Our rough start happened right outside of Harrisburg, Pa. We we were going along, the guy in front of us suddenly slammed on his brakes. I in turn slammed on mine just as hard, if not harder. Unfortunately, Newton won out and we ended up colliding. Thankfully it ended up being at about 15 miles per hours rather than 65 miles per hour. The damage: minimal. The injuries: none. The only thing that was a pain in the ass was the time taken away from our vacation to exchange information and to file a police report over the phone for insurance purposes.
So where does all of this fir in with the iPhone. First, we left out GPS at home and decided to use my iPhone as our only form of navigation. So far, it was working flawlessly. Next at our stop in Harrisburg for breakfast At The Waffle House, I was able to submit out entire accident report, with pictures, online through the Progressive Insurance app.
Pretty cool, eh?
The iPhone then got use flawlessly to the place we are staying in Alexandria, Va. Once there, we met up with my Uncle who staying there temporarily and he showed is the lay of the land in Alexandria. We immediately left for the Metro station and into downtown DC.
Once there, I used Google Maps once again to not only find all the museums we wanted to hit an the first day, but it helped us out in a real jam.
While we were in the American History Museum, Jess realized that she had left all of her medication at her mom’s house in Easton, Pa. A quick search with the iPhone found us a CVS pharmacy about a mile of so away, and about 2 blocks from a Metro station. We called our doctor with my iPhone while she kept the pharmacy’s info up on her phone. Within an hour, her prescription was called in and we had it in hand. Without the iPhone, it would have been nearly impossible for us to find a pharmacy.
After that, Progressive called to interview us about the accident. It was very quick and efficient of them. Yay for the iPhone again!
Next, my Uncle texted us seeing if we wanted to meet up and get some dinner that night. We of course accepted and he gave us the name of the restaurant and our reservation time. Whipping out my iPhone and Google Maps, I was not only able to find the restaurant, but excellent directions to the place.
Then the real kicker happened. My uncle texted back a few hours later asking if we wanted to meet for drinks, pre-dinner, at another location. Google Maps to the rescue! We instantly found the place he wanted to meet and were there 3 minutes before he arrived.
Why am I so impressed by all of this? Simply because the phones we had before we got iPhones would NEVER have been able to do any of this. Sure, they had Internet and were cable of a simple Google search, but they did not have the ability to take us right to our destination.
So the nest time someone is appalled by the amount of our cell bill, I can not only ignore them, but give them a counterpoint this this very story. Long live the iPhone!
