3 Reasons Why You Should Buy an eSIM for Your Next Trip!
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Have you ever wondered how people stay connected when they travel? This was one of the biggest questions I had in my mind. I was fed up of paying a fortune for cruise ship wifi packages - there had to be another way of staying connected, I thought.
I started to look into a whole host of options, including using venues close to my cruise ports, things like Starlink, and then I landed on eSIMs.
Truth be told, I’d never heard of eSIMs before I started travelling full time last year, and I’m delighted that I did - they’ve saved me a fortune on expensive wifi packages onboard cruise ships! In this post, I’ll tell you more about what an eSIM is, and also why you should strongly consider purchasing one for your next trip.
Ok, so what is an eSIM? Most mobile/cell phones will have a built in SIM card. You know, that little card that you have to put inside the device when you first buy it. This will allow your device to then connect to a mobile network - without it, you won’t be able to.
An eSIM is a digital SIM card, and it operates the same way as the physical card, but you just install it on your device - it’s really easy to do! You’ll find eSIMs are compatible with a huge range of devices, including most Apple, Google and Samsung phones. When you buy your eSIM, you’ll purchase an amount of data for a specific time period (for example, 10GB for 30 days, or something similar), and so it’s really easy and simple!
So, which provider do I use?
I evaluated the coverage (and prices) of a number of eSIM providers, and the company that I decided to use was Airalo. I found Airalo to offer the best coverage (based on the reviews I had read) at the most realistic prices, and so I decided to give them a go.
I was delighted with all of the eSIMs that I purchased from Airalo last year - so much so, that I wanted to directly recommend them to you! I used this company to get connected in the USA, the Caribbean, and the Middle East - all without any connectivity issues whatsoever!
You can purchase these digital SIMs to be valid for a day or two, or right up to a month. I genuinely believe they’re a really flexible product that can suit the needs of almost every traveller out there - cruise ships or not!
So, why should you take one on your next trip?
1. eSIMs are SO simple to install and use!
To prove my point here, the below diagram shows the process of purchasing and activating an eSIM for Airalo:
The whole process of downloading the app, making your purchase and activating the eSIM takes only a couple of minutes. When you buy your eSIM, you’ll receive an e-mail from Airalo, detailing the steps you need to follow to activate everything and get online.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’re good to go!
2. Airalo has saved me SO MUCH MONEY!
If you’re reading this post as a cruiser, then you’ll understand why I was so annoyed at paying so much money to cruise lines to use their (often really slow) wi-fi. Okay, Airalo only gets me connected when the ship is docked in port, but that’s perfect for me!
I just line up the various things I want to post about, and then when I connect my eSIM to a local network once the ship is docked in that country, everything uploads!
I’ve often found that my connection via Airalo is actually faster than what my provider gives me in the UK. For example, I was enjoying 5G almost constantly while travelling in the USA last year - something that I rarely pick up here in the UK.
3. Airalo keeps me connected, and therefore much safer, when I’m travelling.
As someone who often travels solo, this point is super important to me. As a result of having no mobile data in Oman, I found myself in a few challenging situations where I had no idea where I was, and at one point I managed to get myself completely lost. This was one of those situations where I thought I was confident with where I was going, but I ended up getting confused during the journey, and it could’ve ended terribly, with me potentially missing the departure of my cruise ship!
From that day, I decided to never put myself in a situation where I have no connectivity - if I’m travelling to a country that supports eSIMs, I now always check the price from the Airalo site versus what it’ll cost to use my own mobile provider there. If Airalo is cheaper, I buy an eSIM for that trip - simple!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a discount code to offer you, but this link will take you straight to Airalo’s website, where you can really quickly and easily browse through what they offer for any of the countries you might be travelling to.
If you’d like to check out more of my travel tips, head to the top of the screen to explore the website further. Alternatively, click here to go to my Cruise Tips page!