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Read Rick Steve's page about an American in Europe and how to use your fone. Roaming, unlocked fones, SIM cards and more. https://www.ricksteves.com/tra...

There are quite a few US states that have no sales tax at all, so that explanation doesn't quite work. If I wanted the PS4, I can swing past a store in New Hampshire and pick it up for exactly its $399 price tag, no additional taxes.

Granted some of the more, uh, government-happy states will inflate that price somewhat.

But even then, according to Wikipedia, the highest US sales tax is 15.5%, and Europe is looking at a 35% increase in price, so that explanation doesn't quite work. (Guess which state has a 15.5% sales tax? Hint: it's a blue one!)

The real answer is that people will pay the higher price in Europe, so that's what it'll sell for. If people refused to buy it at the inflated price, Sony would be forced to be more reasonable.

Or, possibly, the REAL real answer is that you haven't a clue what you are talking about. 399 USD (pretax) = 297 EUR. European prices MUST include VAT, so you have to add that on. VAT rates in europe are typically 20-25% ( http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/vat-rates-europe.htm ). That's a price range of 356-371. On top of that, much (all?) of europe has much tougher consumer protection laws, so it's more expensive to operate there when their shitty products begin breaking. So just pick an average price (makes marketing much easier), add on a few euros more to compensate for the laws (and a few more to round up to the next 9), and you've got your 399 EUR.

I'd look into Orange --- from what I understand they don't care for non-residents registering ( though they used to, and may still do, allow an hotel as a valid address ) --- but here is their Camel Pay-As-You-Go sim, if you hit show details you can see the rates for each country which average 15p a minute ( but 6p for the USA ). http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/paygSimPlanList.jsp?selectedTariffName=Camel You could prolly get someone in England to post you one, or buy one off Ebay.co.uk. If there was difficulty registering to a non-British credit card ( and that's not a given ), nearly every other damn shop in Britain sells top-ups for all the sim providers. Alternatively, starter packs of sims are sold in stores, but those would not have cheap roaming. Here are a couple of quite recent links discussing this problem: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/graffiti134.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10251727-94.html The latter affirms: 'Buying a SIM card when you get to London from a local operator, such as Orange, can offer even better deals. Orange offers a variety of service options for prepaid customers. In general, domestic calls range from 30 cents to 40 cents a minute, depending on the exchange rate. (All calls are billed in local currency.) And texts are about 20 cents to send and receive. With a special international plan, customers can also make international calls for as low as 10 cents a minute. Orange also offers free text messaging for customers when they "top up" or add money to their phones. One plan offers 300 free text messages with a 10-pound top up. And you can get 600 free text messages with a 20-pound top up and a 30-pound top up gets you unlimited text messages until the card expires.'

Have you seen Rick Steve's Iran yet?

Rick's Iran Travel Journal link - http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/beyond/iran.htm
Slide show link - http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/iran_slideshow_1.htm
Torrent link - http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4669117/Rick_Steves_Iran

Have you seen Rick Steve's Iran yet?

Rick's Iran Travel Journal link - http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/beyond/iran.htm
Slide show link - http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/iran_slideshow_1.htm
Torrent link - http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4669117/Rick_Steves_Iran

I have _no_ idea.

I only know from hearsay (e.g. here comment ~5,7: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?topic=20536 )

Absolutely. It doesn't have to involve work; see Rick Steves' Europe Through The Back Door (which sounds like gay porn, but isn't) for guidebooks based on the philosophy of living as the locals do when you travel. He's geared more towards older people who travel with suitcases and stay in modest hotels, but backpacking is the way to go especially if you're under 26.

"Man, this "Ausfahrt" is one really big town!"

I seriously hope no one else initially thought that in addition to being able to find the best deals in Europe, Rick Steves had suddenly thrown his hat into the evolution debate as well.