When I first flew, it still was the case you would receive tickets from the travel agent which you exchanged for boarding pass at check-in at the airport. To talk with the people staying behind you would have to find a phone. If you were clever you had a prepaid phone card. You would dial a toll free number followed by the card number and the number you wished to call and you could communicate with the home front. Of course you could also go into an internet café and quickly check your mail, but that only worked if the person you needed to reach had a mail account (grandparents where the last to go online).

Now we all travel with an internet capable device and all we need is a data connection to share a picture of our exotic meal. And although wifi is everywhere, it is much more convenient to have your own data bundle to call an Uber or a Bolt or see on the map where you have taken a left, where you should have gone right. And calling through Whatsapp, Line, Signal etc, makes it easy enough to forget you’re in a different time zone.

I have tried several options to alleviate the cost of roaming. I have bought SIM cards at the airport, at the 7-eleven, but nothing quite beats the convenience of e-sims.

Currently I use two different options for travelling to Asia, depending which one is the cheapest at the moment. See the table below and use the discount code for 5 dollars off the regular price.