I’ve been a professional travel writer for nearly 30 years now, and Mary and I have traveled to more than 50 countries together since our first trip abroad in 2009.
But despite the fact that we’ve traveled as much as 90+ days a year, we’ve never lived a “digital nomad” life. As a dad with 50/50 custody of my daughter, I’ve always balanced my career as a travel professional with personal responsibilities.
For us, that meant taking fewer (and shorter) trips each year than many of our travel blogging peers, but visiting multiple countries on each 2- to 3-week jaunt.
In fact, many of our favorite trips involved 2 or more international destinations, including Chile/Argentina/Antarctica in 2012, Norway/Sweden and Greece/Turkey in 2014, Tanzania/Rwanda in 2015, and Scotland/Ireland in 2017.
One problem we always encountered during these memorable adventures was the high price of calling my daughter back home, which limited how much time I could spend talking to her.
And of course the astronomical roaming charges for using our phones to tackle simple day-to-day travel challenges on the ground were cost-prohibitive, especially when we weren’t making much money from this site.
But in recent years the rise of eSIMs have offered a digital solution that allows you to activate a cheaper cellular plan while traveling internationally, with global usage expected to reach 70 million people in 2025.
Read on for a look at the many reasons eSIMs are essential for international travelers, and how not all eSIM options are created equal…
READ MORE: 7 Travel Tech Essentials for International Travelers
How eSIMs Help International Travelers
1) Helps You Save Money
Most major phone carriers these days offer international roaming plans that can be used in hundreds of different travel destinations.
But these pre-paid plans can be very expensive. For instance, the AT&T International Day Pass costs $12 per day for land and air travel, or $20 per day for sea and land travel.
These plans also come with limitations, including the number of days you can use them in a given bill cycle or reducing data speed after you use a certain amount.
Pay-per-use plans can be even more expensive, with high rates for data usage, phone calls, or texts.
But eSIMs are up to 70% more affordable, starting at around $3 for 1 GB of data, and can be used for up to 30 days from date of purchase.
READ MORE: 7 Simple Tips on How to Save Money for Traveling
2) Helps…
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