I’ve been living in Asia for exactly a year. That’s what I wrote about in the previous series of posts titled “A year in Asia.”
Fifty different beds, six countries, a few thousand kilometers on foot, by bus, train, plane, boat and motorbike.
I was working in the meantime.
And for that, I needed something that is almost as important to a digital nomad as a passport.
Internet.
The question is not whether there is wifi. Almost every accommodation has it.
The question is whether it works. And if it does, how well. Is it enough to look up a restaurant on Google Maps?
Probably.
Is it enough to work, upload files, edit websites, manage videos or talk to someone on a video call?
That’s another question.
Plus, the accommodation’s wifi is only interesting while I’m at the accommodation.
And I’m usually not there.
I’m going.
The internet comes with me
When I arrive in a new country, one of the first questions I have is always the same:
How will I get mobile internet?
Can I buy a local SIM card?
I haven’t done that yet.
My choice has always been the eSIM.
I don’t have to look for a store. I don’t have to exchange plastic cards. I don’t have to start my first day in a new country hunting for mobile internet.
I buy the package, install the eSIM, and by the time I arrive, I can have internet.
As a digital nomad, this is very easy to get used to.
I don’t always look for the cheapest solution
This may sound strange.
I’m traveling long-term, so of course, how much I spend on something matters.
But I don’t make all my decisions based on which solution costs the least.
My time also has a price.
My convenience also has a price.
And also if my first task upon arriving in a foreign city is not to get internet.
An eSIM can be more expensive than a local SIM card.
In return, it can even work when I get off the plane.
For me, this is often worth it.
It became a routine in a year
A year ago, I tried to plan a lot more things in advance.
Today, I travel in a completely different way.
I arrive in a new city, and often I don’t even know exactly what will happen in the next few days.
But I have to have the internet.
I need it for my work. I need it to find my next place to stay. I need it for transportation. I need it for translation. I need it to see what food I’m pointing at in a Vietnamese restaurant.
And of course, I need it so that the stories I create along the way can finally end up here.
So I don’t like to wait for this one.
Then an email arrived
I received an email right around my one-year anniversary in Asia.
An eSIM provider, previously unknown to me, MegaEsim, found one of my posts, in which I wrote about practical things to do before traveling, including eSIM.
In the email, they introduced their service.
They offer eSIM in over 184 countries. They said that the prices they show on their site are from the same database as the prices you see at checkout. They also have an eSIM Price Index that tracks mobile data prices in 189 countries.
And they offered something else.
A trial option.
I can try out their service before I write anything about it.
I like that.
Let’s try it out
I’m still in Vietnam.
In about three weeks, on September 16th, I’ll be crossing the next border.
Cambodia.
I’m planning to spend a month there.
Then Thailand.
Three different mobile network environments. Border crossings, new cities, hotels, buses, roads. And work in between.
Pretty good test track for an eSIM for travelers.
That’s why I wrote back to them.
I’m interested.
But I want to use it first.
I’m not recommending it because I got a free eSIM. And not because I might get an affiliate commission if someone buys from my site.
I want to know what I would want to know if I were the reader.
Does it work?
How easy is it to install?
Do I have internet when I need it?
What’s the coverage like?
What’s the speed like?
What happens when I move to another country?
And of course:
How much does it cost?
That’s why I haven’t finished this post yet
This isn’t a MegaEsim recommendation.
I don’t know if I’ll recommend it.
I don’t even know if it’s good.
This is the first half of a story.
I can’t write the second half in advance, because I have to leave first.
And MegaEsim, if everything comes together, will come with me.
I don’t know how this post will end yet.
That’s exactly why it’ll be worth coming back to read.
I’m looking forward to this test. It’s exciting. It’s something new on my journey.
And I have a first hunch. We’ll see if I’m right.
Postscript
I sent MegaEsim the first version of this post that same day.
45 minutes later, I received a response.
They read it. Twice.
Then a common plan emerged very quickly. I get a 20 GB eSIM that can be used in seven Southeast Asian countries. I install it in Vietnam and start using it. On September 16, I cross the Cambodian border with the same thing. I don’t need to reinstall it. I don’t need a new QR code. In principle, I don’t have to do anything.
Just cross the border. And watch what happens. I have a very exciting test that will last several weeks.
The package is valid for 30 days, so it won’t be enough for my trip to Thailand. They also announced this in advance, and they offered to give me a second package when I get there.
But that’s not what I liked most about the offer.
They don’t ask for positive reviews. They don’t want to read the post before it’s published. They don’t ask for input or changes afterwards. If it works, I’ll write it. If it doesn’t, I’ll write it. It’s a very fair approach, so I’m already grateful.
In return, they asked for one important thing: to tell you that I got the eSIM from them for free to test.
I did that now. And of course, I’ll do it in the summary.
The whole story went from an email from an unknown address to a joint test across three countries in a few hours.
And I also got a sentence in the process that I’ll carry with me as a writer for a long time.
They wrote: from the fact that I had already written half of the story before I said yes, they learned more about how I work than from any of my answers.
Now I’m even more excited to see how this story continues.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
Linktree
Short introduction