u/Le_B3ast

I'm headed to Ecuador next month and have 8 days starting with 3 full nights in Quito and headed to Banos on the 4th morning. Wanted to visit ​Cotopaxi national Park or Quilotoa for half a day leaving Ecuador in the morning and carry on to Banos for 3-4 nights before returning to Quito.

Majority of day tours return to Quito obviously but wanted to check if there are any options that avoid going back to Quito as I would be headed to Banos the next day anyways and doesn't make sense to double back.

I understand this is a unique ask so would the best method be to book a few tours each out to each guide and ask about transfers to Banos or just pay the full fee and tell them I would have a checked bag and backpack. Any tips on organizing my own transport from Cotopaxi or Quilotoa to Banos? Any alternative itineraries or suggestions are welcome. ​

Any tips regarding the next stops or advice would be appreciated as well

I will be headed to Cusco for 8-9 nights after followed by Peru Hop to La Paz and spend a few nights there (2-3 nights). Uyuni by overnight bus to do a 3 day 2 night tour ending in San Pedro de Atacama where I also spend a few nights before taking a bus to Salta and take a direct flight to Foz de Iguaçu (3 nights here) followed by 6 nights in Rio, 4 nights in Buenos Aires, 3 nights in Uruguay (2 nights in Montevideo, 1 night in Colonia del Sacramento), 5 nghts in Bariloche before I head back home. ​

Ecuador : 8 nights (Quito, Banos, Cotopaxi)

Peru : 8-9 nights (Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Pichu)

Bolivia : 5-6 nights (Lake Titicaca, La Paz, Uyuni)

Chile : 2-3 nights (San Pedro de Atacama)

Argentina : 3 nights (Salta and Foz do Iguaçu Argentinian side)

Brazil : 8 nights (Foz do Iguaçu (2) + Rio de Janiero (6))

Argentina : 4 nights (Buenos Aires)

Uruguay : 3 nights (Montevideo and Colonia Del Sacramento)

Argentina : 5 nights (Bariloche)

I don't like back tracking as you can tell, also feel Chile and Southern Argentina need much longer so didn't try to fit that in.

I'm headed to Ecuador next month and have 8 days starting with 3 full nights in Quito and headed to Banos on the 4th morning. Wanted to visit ​Cotopaxi national Park or Quilotoa for half a day leaving Ecuador in the morning and carry on to Banos for 3-4 nights before returning to Quito.

Majority of day tours return to Quito obviously but wanted to check if there are any options that avoid going back to Quito as I would be headed to Banos the next day anyways and doesn't make sense to double back.

I understand this is a unique ask so would the best method be to book a few tours each out to each guide and ask about transfers to Banos or just pay the full fee and tell them I would have a checked bag and backpack. Any tips on organizing my own transport from Cotopaxi or Quilotoa to Banos? Any alternative itineraries or suggestions are welcome. ​

I've traveled in the past to Asia and Europe but used regional esims as it's cheaper compared to LATAM and Africa where there seems to be less competition overall and higher prices. Also had mint before so had no included passes or data roaming so excited to try Global passes!

1. I've read that Wi-Fi calling and SMS stop working once you run out of global pass days which is why I wanted to use it towards the end of my trip instead of beginning as using it first would cause me to not have wifi calling in the second half as I would have finished my passes. Others have suggested global pass needs to be activated in the US before leaving so wanted some clarity on this. I wanted to use start using it from day 28/29 so I can have one or two passes left instead of getting charged $10.

2. Is the endpoint always in the US or is the exit point local, does this cause slow downs? For the Asia esims I used it was HK/SG and for Europe it was Germany as example so wanted to confirm.

3. Is there a way to check the roaming partner network list for each country or do I need to manually cycle through each network in each country everytime. Can I just pick the consensus best network and expect it to work?

4. There will be multiple days where I am in two countries in a 24hr interval. There are some who are adamant that two passes will be used within the same 24hrs as you get the sms each time but others insisting only one pass is subtracted from the total so wanted some clarity on this too.

5. I will be complementing my global pass with either total wireless byod (10GB of international roaming), US Mobile Premium with T-Mobile/Att (20GB of data roaming) or Orange world Sim (20/10GB data roaming based on country). All these are 30 day plans ($20-$35) so using the 24 global pass after this would give me enough of a buffer. Along with these I also have gig sky free e-sims that come complementary with my credit card. I have 4 esims with each giving 1/3GB per 15 days but mixed reviews on this so mostly as a backup.

Airalo and Maya seem to be using terrible networks and more expensive for a month compared to above for regional sims covering the full continent. Getting an esim for each country seems to be more expensive too and I'm not always crossing borders via planes so can't rely on this either.

Any tips or suggestions are welcome as well!