Travel, in our humble opinion, is one of the most exciting and fulfilling experiences life has to offer. There are many ways to travel, many different ways to experience the world, all depending on your preferences, needs, opportunities, and budget. Though some desire to wander completely off-grid, most want/need to stay connected in some capacity.
When we first began travelling together, we had zero social media presence and only used our phones to text/call family when we had arrived. Wanting to avoid roaming fees, we left our devices secured in our hotel rooms. Over the years, we vacationed with one foot still back at the office, accessing available WIFI and checking email on the daily to put out fires.
Today, we do our best to shut off from work when exploring, carrying our devices with us wherever we go, sharing our unique and luxury travel experiences over multiple (too many to count) social media accounts, and using our phones to track our personal itineraries, access maps and research local restaurants.
Though we leverage WIFI as much as possible when travelling, the hotel or café WIFI doesn't help when roaming the streets of Rome, Athens or Ecuador. And as we learned on our most recent trip of a lifetime to the Polynesian Islands, sometimes the available WIFI isn't working properly or isn't strong enough for your needs. We have opted for purchasing a local physical SIM card (or tried to), but found them too often to be overpriced and experiences too many hassles finding a local vendor with available cards.
If we wanted to stay connected while travelling, our only available option was to incur the outrageous roaming fees. Until now. Enter the amazing eSIM.
What is an eSIM (and How Do You Stay Connected)?
Quite simply, an eSIM is a digital SIM card.
An eSIM provides the same access to local networks as a physical SIM card, without the hassle of finding a local vendor on location and eliminating the need to change the physical SIM card in your device. Without the need for a physical SIM card, an eSIM allows instant access to local networks. Imagine landing in a new country and having instant connectivity without the need for WIFI or roaming.
The advantage of not needing to swap physical SIM cards in your mobile device, in addition to the lack of waste, is the ability to keep the existing SIM card installed on the device and thus, keeping the main phone number active and available to receive calls as usual.
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Why You Should Choose an eSIM:
Access to local maps, trains, ubers (and more):
As part of Making Them All Trips of a Lifetime, we sometimes take the opportunity to add stopover vacations to our main itineraries. On route to our trip of a lifetime in Mauritius, on one such stopover vacation in Austria, we spent the better part of a day wandering the beautiful streets of Austria. With only a limited time available, we aimed to make the most of exploring the wonderful city and created a walking itinerary to the unique destinations we wanted to visit, noting directions to each. Seemingly easy on paper, we found ourselves easily turned around among the one-way and winding streets of Vienna.
It was only by accessing Google maps that we were able to navigate and follow our itinerary, allowing us to visit each destination and making it back to the train station (and airport) in time for our connecting flight. Purchasing a local SIM card seemed a waste of both time and money for such a short stay, especially since we planned on following our printed itinerary. As a result, we incurred a significant roaming charge. Had we accessed an eSIM, we could have easily selected the appropriate plan and obtained instant connectivity for a fraction of the cost.
What is a Stopover Vacation? This is a term we coined to describe a short vacation added to the primary destination, usually as a result of a layover. The stopover can extend a few days or simply a few hours. As a general rule, if a layover at a given airport is more than six hours, there is usually enough time to plan a short leave from the airport and exploration of the nearby city. Learn more about Stopover Vacations, by reading: The Art of the Stopover.
Connectivity without WIFI:
When our trip of a lifetime is set far away from big city streets, we often have to rely on the available WIFI. Most recently we spent a spectacular week on a remote island in Fiji. Our luxurious beachfront bure at Barefoot Manta Resort had zero connectivity (as did all accommodations on the island), with WIFI available only in the main building. We were aware of this fact prior to travelling and had resigned ourselves to only using the available WIFI.
One morning, enjoying the beautiful sunrise on the beach directly out front of our bure, the familiar notification chimes on our phones indicated we (somehow) had connected to a local network.
The WIFI available in the main building was intermittent and sometimes week, so we found ourselves relying on this connectivity on the beach to access social media.
Physical SIM Cards were not available for purchase on the resort and no other buildings existed on the remote island. Had we had access to an eSIM like SIM LOCAL, we could have easily enjoyed this surprise connectivity without having to incur the roaming charges.
After we said goodbye to Fiji, we headed to the beautiful island of Samoa. Though SIM cards were available at the airport, we opted not to purchase one as we understood that the luxurious Le Vasa Resort, where we would be spending most of our time, would have WIFI. We soon discovered that the WIFI was malfunctioning and unavailable. The staff suggested we instead get a local SIM card, but comically, every time we asked the front desk about purchasing one, none were available.
Friends, family and work colleagues often comment on our trips of a lifetime, and many wish to live vicariously through our travels around the world. Most recently, we have gotten into the habit of creating a trip-specific shared photo album prior to our departure, which we update daily along the way with a dump of travel photos, many of which we would not share publicly. We relied on roaming connectivity to post on social media and share our daily adventures in Samoa, but we were unable to upload any photos to our Google drive, nor add photos to the shared album. It was disappointing to say the least.
Peace of Mind without Extra Costs:
Travel can be unpredictable, which sometimes adds to the excitement and adventure, but can be frightening. On our trip of a lifetime in Italy one summer, half way through our itinerary, we found ourselves in Rome at the busy Fiumicino station picking up the rental car before heading to the next region. Standing at the rental car station, luggage and bags all neatly stacked by our side, we found ourselves victim to local thieves. Laying in wait, the seasoned thieves silently approached from behind, and without anyone being the wiser, walked away with one of our backpacks the moment we leaned in to sign the contract.
The bag of plenty (as we now refer to it) not only contained an expensive DSLR camera, but plenty of cash, accessories, and all the tickets/plans for the remainder of our trip. From that point forward, we accessed our planned itinerary only through our devices, also needing to download and access eTickets that had been previously purchased and printed. Luckily for us, we had our passports and credit/demit cards on us and didn't need to quickly cancel them, but with an eSIM, it would have been quick and easy.
We were on edge for the remainder of that trip, enjoying our adventures but one step removed, always looking over our shoulders. Had either one of us been travelling alone, that fear would have been intensified. Having the ability to access the internet, maps, local calls in an emergency, especially as a solo traveller, offers a peace of mind that is priceless.
We discovered SIM LOCAL, a highly rated (five star) eSIM company after we returned from our trip of a lifetime to the Polynesia Islands. Access to the SIM LOCAL app and connectivity would have allowed us to easily and quickly purchase one of the many available data packages for Samoa and avoid the hundred of dollars in roaming fees.
How to Access SIM LOCAL:
SIM LOCAL is easily accessed through their free app, available for download on iPhones and on Google Play for android. Most iPhones are compatible, but if you have an android device or you're unsure if your iPhone is compatible, reference the information section prior to download. Located at the very bottom, the compatibility section will confirm if the app will work on the device you're on, including OS requirements. You can also check your device settings to confirm if it is eSIM enabled.
Once installed, the UI is simple and easy to use, with convenient search features that allow users to determine how much data they require. We have since installed SIM LOCAL on our android devices and within minutes we had access to 149+ local networks around the world.
The settings allowed us to easily manage both SIM cards installed on the device, indicating which would be primary and which (or both) could be active, with a simple on/off toggle.
Using the FIND MY PLAN feature, users can select a destination and search for available plans with calls/texts or data only, for one day, one week, one month or whatever is available, and limit the search by the amount of data required to fit your needs. Instant access at your fingertips.
Want to Save Even More? Use coupon code TRIPSLIFETIME when selecting an eSIM plan from SIM LOCAL for your next trip of a lifetime, and receive 10% your purchase!
In addition to destination specific plans, multi-country plans are also available, which is perfect for the digital nomad or travellers who want to squeeze as much as possible into their vacations. One of the European plans would have come in quite handy when we stopped over in Paris for a few hours before heading off to Rome, or when we rode the Bernina Express from Italy into Switzerland. We would have had constant connectivity the entire gorgeous ride.
SIM LOCAL connects with top network providers in each country to provide reliable service with extended coverage. Searching the available plans, which can be listed in USD, Pounds or Euro, we notes how reasonable the price points were for the available packages. We could have saved so much money!
One of the most impressive features of using SIM LOCAL is the return policy. Users are able to purchase plans in advance of travel, but opt not to activate them until their reached their destination. If you have a change in travel plans, or just simply change your mind, unactivated plans are fully refundable within sixty days of purchase. For budget conscience travellers or backpackers with flexible itineraries, this is amazing.
Though the SIM LOCAL app is simple and easy to use, as a user, you have access to instant chatbot support, email, 24/7 phone support and teams available in more than 300 airports globally. With the freedom, support and flexibility offered by SIM LOCAL, we will be sure to use an eSIM on our next trip of a lifetime.
And so should you.
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