I remember, not so long ago, arriving at some hopelessly charming small town in Europe after a sleepless 7-hour overnight flight followed by a 3-hour train ride and having to immediately embark on a scavenger hunt for a shop that sells local SIM cards so that I could use my cell phone and avoid roaming charges.

Sleep deprived and five time zones out of synch and there stood I in an overstocked little tabac trying to calculate euros to dollars in my head as I stammered out  « Vendez-vous des cartes SIM? »

The good news is that an eSim makes that whole process a lot easier because you can purchase it and (if necessary) get your tech savvy daughter (or grand-daughter) to help you install it and set a date when it will be activated before you leave home.

An eSIM (embedded SIM) is a digital SIM that allows users to activate a cellular plan without needing a physical SIM card. This is really helpful because with it travellers can switch carriers and plans easily while abroad with significant savings.

Recently while in Switzerland my young millenial Swiss friend recommended Airalo. I downloaded the Airalo app on my phone and chose the destination (France) and the dates it would be needed. Then I installed the eSim and set it to activate a few days later when I arrived in France.

A 7-day package while in France costs $4.50US for 1GB of data, a 15-day package is $7.50US and 30 days is $10US. That’s significantly cheaper than the $10-$15/day roaming package offered by my provider.

If you want to compare packages with other companies besides Airalo, look at Nomad and GigSky.

How do they compare? Airalo tends to be the cheapest option overall with flexible short-term plans. Nomad offers slightly higher prices but may have better customer service experiences based on user reviews. GigSky is best suited if you’re looking for longer validity periods or more extensive coverage across multiple regions.

I love that I can get the whole thing set up before I leave home (with the help of one of my kids) so that I can focus on my sketching while I’m away which is why we vacation in the first place, right?