Stopped buying (E)SIM cards at airports and honestly can't believe I did it for so long
Been travelling pretty regularly for the last few years — usually 6 to 8 countries a year, mix of work and personal trips. Every single time I landed somewhere new I'd do the same thing: queue at the airport kiosk, pay €20-40 for a local SIM, fumble with the little tray tool trying not to lose the tiny card, inevitably drop it on the floor of the arrivals hall, spend 20 minutes trying to get it working, miss my transfer notification.
Then I'd do the exact same thing in the next country three weeks later.
I kept a rough note of what I spent on SIM cards and roaming over the course of a year. It was €340. For literally just the ability to have data while I travel. That felt insane when I actually added it up.
Anyway about 4 months ago I switched to an eSIM setup and the difference is honestly embarrassing.
The specific one I use (Oncetel.com) has this model where you pay once and then it just... renews itself for free every month. You can switch which country it's set to before each renewal so when I went to Japan last month I just updated it before I boarded and landed already connected.
Honestly the thing that got me wasn't even the travel side. I just did the maths on what I was spending annually on my regular phone plan at home plus the travel SIM costs and it was a lot. The one-time cost paid itself off faster than I expected.
Happy to answer questions if anyone's looking at making the switch. Genuinely one of those small travel changes that makes a disproportionate difference to the actual experience of arriving somewhere new.