Last month, I travelled to Europe twice in the span of a week and change for work. (I didn’t know the second trip was happening until the first had already been locked in, otherwise I would have tried to just stay in the continent.)
Admittedly, these trips can sometimes come together relatively last-minute, so I sometimes forget to get an eSIM to avoid paying hefty roaming fees. Thankfully, though, I was recently offered the chance to test out Airalo, which I hadn’t yet used abroad, and I was really pleased with the experience.
For the first trip, which was to Barcelona, I was there for five days. In that case, it was worth going with the 5GB, seven-day option for $13. The second trip, meanwhile, was to Berlin for three days and I got the 3GB, three-day option for $11. Very affordable, especially considering my carrier, Koodo, would charge me $18/day in these European countries. Even the Easy Roam Travel Passes, which offer a one-time charge for unlimited use of your data plan, would have been $50 for 14 days. (That’s actually not bad if I was going to be in Europe longer.)
Along with decent prices, the reception remained steady throughout my travels in both countries. The only time it dipped was when I visited Barcelona’s Park Güell, a complex of unique architecture and gardens as designed by famed artist Antoni Gaudí. That said, I wouldn’t blame the eSIM for this, as the park is located on the mountain range overlooking the city, so it’s easy to see why reception would be poorer here, regardless of your type of connection.
But it’s that flexibility that I really liked about Airalo. With the handy mobile app, you can browse rates per country and in Canadian dollars, so there’s no conversion sneakiness upon checkout. And under each country, you’ll find different day and data increments, as well as unlimited data options. (The latter are also pretty reasonably priced; for Japan, for example, three days is only $18.)
My only gripe, which I understand is more of a “me” problem, is that there aren’t any options for one or two days. On my last full day in Germany, I unexpectedly walked 30,000 steps and saw a lot of the city, so I ended up using more data than I thought. Since it was my last day, I only wanted a little bit more just to help me navigate back to the hotel safely and then for the trip to the airport the following morning, but my only option was another three days for $6. To be fair, that’s still pretty cheap, especially compared to turning on Easy Roam, but it was still a bit excessive for my particular situation. It’s also easy to see how many of my U.S. trips, which can often be for one night (or, in the case of NYC, even same-day) might benefit from hypothetical one-day options.
Park Güell, Barcelona
Still, the pricing is quite reasonable, so it’s by no means a big problem. In general, that pay-as-you-go functionality is still really handy. After all, you never quite know how much data you’re going to use, and so having to guesstimate with a one-time purchase before you leave can be tricky. Spend too much and you’re left with excess data that’s likely going to waste. Spend too little and then you’ll have to scramble to get more. And because you get five per cent “cash back” with each purchase at default (and up to 10 per cent the more you use it and level up tiers), the credit I was gifted and put towards the initial purchase of the eSIM just went towards the top-up. Handy.
I’m curious now to try Airalo should I ever get back to Asia. During my vacation to Japan last year, I used FlightHub, which was affordable and worked remarkably well, but is frustratingly limited to those who book travel with the agency. And this year, during my Assassin’s Creed Shadows trip in Kyoto, I used Ubigi, which I’d heard was quite good and, sure enough, it was. That said, I paid US$32.40 (at the time, C$48.36) for 25GB across 30 days, while the highest 30-day option for Airalo is 20GB for $34.50, so it would be a bit cheaper. Plus, you’d get the cash back, which is nice.
That’s the great thing about eSIMs: you have a lot of options nowadays. But after this unorthodox “Euro trip,” I’m definitely going to give Airalo another shot the next time I travel.
