best phone plan and credit card for long term int’l travel

[Anonymous]

DC graduates college in a couple of weeks and leaves in early June for 2 months of backpacking mainly in Europe.

What are the best phone plan and credit card to use while there with lowest transaction fees and rates? I mentioned the “long term travel” in case that affects the answer for the phone plan. I am funding the phone plan until she starts working (back in the U.S.) in September.

I appreciate all advice!

[Anonymous]

What cards do you already have? A good number have no foreign transaction fees- it's much more common than it was say 10 years ago.

And what's your current phone plan? Usually the best route is to get a SIM card or e-sim locally upon arrival, can usually get one for 20-25 euros/month.

[Anonymous]

Sim card and then remind your kid to always pay in local currency if asked by a vendor. Sometimes they will ask dollars or euros which can trip kids up.

Our credit union doesn't charge transaction fee. Just checkt he cards you already have.

[Anonymous]

Tmobile phone (+wifi) works well for us— no extra charge for int’l altho sometimes the speed isn’t great.

Schwab and Fidelity bank cards are great because they reimburse foreign transaction fees for ATM withdrawals (admittedly you need cash less and less these days, but it avoid feeling like you should make a bigger withdrawal to cut down on fees)

Lots of cards are int’l fee-free.

[Anonymous]

Capital one has a free international fee card.

[Anonymous]

T mobile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:T mobile

Yes T-Mobile is great with their international service, but I wouldn't change an entire family plan for that- just get a local SIM/esim. Also note that their Essentials plan doesn't include the international free data.

[Anonymous]

for Verizon you can add a $100 per month international plan. Most hassle free (easy to add and to cancel) in my experience with DH who travels a ton.

[Anonymous]

Google phone or unlocked phone with Google Fi service. Low fees for texts and calls in 200 countries. It was seamless in China, Indonesia, Australia as well as Europe. No fiddling with sim cards.

[Anonymous]

We've used Airlo eSIMs -- easy to activate, inexpensive. Covers my kid's needs when combined with What'sApp.

[Anonymous]

Uber just changed to charge in $ plus a 1.5% fee so make sure he goes into his app and selects the no preferred currency option so he gets charged in local currency.

[Anonymous]

Check with your phone carrier. The plan we had with Verizon was just 8 dollars extra per month for international unlimited 5G plan. We can add and remove it whenever we want.