How I Discovered eSIMs to Be the Smart Choice for Travelers
Back in 2010, I took a backpacking trip around Indonesia for two months. I didn't travel with a mobile phone. All I had was my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook for recommendations, and the occasional stop at an internet cafe to email location updates to my parents
Now, in 2024, I can't fathom how I managed to travel without the internet constantly at my fingertips. A phone is a travel essential and roaming while I'm overseas is non-negotiable -- and if I listed the reasons why, I'd be here all day. But roaming, if you're not careful, can also get expensive.
No matter where you're coming from or where you're traveling to, ensuring that you have internet access without running up a scary bill is a travel essential, and something you should ideally look into before you leave on your trip.
Carriers know how important it is for you to stay connected while you're traveling, and most have some kind of roaming deal you can take advantage of. But what happens when your network's roaming offering doesn't meet your data requirements for your destination, or is just too expensive?
Turns out, there's a very simple, practical solution if you have an unlocked phone like me: the eSIM. It's an electronic form of a SIM card embedded into your phone, which allows you to switch between carriers and data plans without the faff of removing and replacing physical SIM cards. The result is that you can have several SIM cards associated with your phone at once, allowing you to easily switch between plans and carriers as you travel.
In the past I'd opted for a Mi-Fi device equipped with a local pay-as-you-go SIM card when I touched down in a new country. This let me keep using my phone number and ensured I had internet access when I was out and about during the day. It's a fiddly solution, though, which usually involves finding somewhere to buy a SIM card immediately after getting off a long flight, and then remembering to charge the Mi-Fi every night.
I turned to eSIM as a last resort, but I won't be going back. I'm based in the UK, and my operator GiffGaff only allows limited roaming in select European countries. While planning a trip to the US and Canada last year, I was once again about to reach for my trusty Mi-Fi when I remembered something I'd heard about eSIM roaming operators.