How to use your phone abroad!
Hello fellow budget hunters,
Today I have decided that I have overdone it with the italian travel guides and focusing on things to do in places, so I’m back with some ‘sensible’ travel advice.
I am not a sensible person, but I decided I could try and help others by discussing how you can use your phone abroad.
Love them or loathe them… most people spend over 6 hours a day looking at their smartphones!!
For me the best piece of advice if you are travelling frequently and often, it to have an unlocked phone. Unlocked phones make life so much easier as you can interchange your sim cards.
Even better is some phones where you can have dual sim cards slots (Mine has this, but only if I remove the memory card).
EU area
So if you have an EU SIM Card or phone contract, you are automatically able to use your phone as normal across the EU. I have a contract with Tesco Mobile and have no issues using my phone all across Europe (for now anyway – Cheers Brexit).
If you are a traveller to Europe and plane to be around for a while, I recommend getting a simple SIM card to use across the EU.
I would go for a UK, contract free one like Giff Gaff. GiffGaff also has great rate for overseas phone calls. I would personally use Whatsapp as much as possible to avoid costs to other nations and video calls are great – contracts with loads of data are perfect!
Buying SIM Cards
This is something else I would advise… when I was in Tanzania I bought a SIM card for about 30p and used it to text my now boyfriend and other Tanzania numbers. I also bought a data bundle for £1.50 for a month, but didn’t know how to use it until the day before I left.
If you are better with technology than me, it could be useful to get a few cheap sims around the world, especially if you’re going to be in a country for a while or you will need lots of data.
Maps
The most useful and frequent use for my phone abroad. Being lost. I often think it would be a holiday with my boyfriend without Google Maps taking us down some weird back alley, that seems a bit scary and dodgy.
However, the best way to use maps is to download them to be used offline. You can use GPS everywhere without signal so it will pick up where you are. Also when you have wifi, set the walking route up and then it will still show, even without internet.
Another app is City Mapper, but it currently only works in big cities!
Other useful apps
A lot of hotel sites, airbnb, hostel world and many other all have apps, which you can book through – obviously you’ll need internet, but it makes life so much easier than through mobile sites or bringing along your laptop.
I hope this gave you an idea on how to use your phone abroad.
Obviously you also will probably use it for cameras, alarms and social media so I hope this helps you use it better while away.
Until next time,
The Great Ambini
X x x
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