British woman issues £3,500 surprise holiday cost warning that simple £9.50 hack can avoid
A British woman has revealed she was able to save more than £3,500 in shocking surprise costs when she jetted off to Thailand on holiday.
And the secret to stopping the monstrous phone bill landing at her feet? A simple travel hack that costs less than £10.
26-year-old Maddie left her UK home in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, for a two week holiday in the south east Asian country of Thailand.
The location has become incredibly popular in recent years, with thousands of Brits calling it their permanent home. In January this year, 120,000 people with UK passports arrived in the country for a holiday in the winter sun.
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And in enjoying the idyllic backdrop of the country and its hundreds of islands dotted through the Gulf of Thailand, little did she not the true cost of the trip if she hadn't invested in an eSIM.
What is an eSIM?
Simply put, an eSIM allows you to browse the internet for not very much extra cost on top of your existing contract or plane.
It's essential for places in the world that your plan doesn't cover; which for many Brits on standard contracts, is anywhere outside of Europe.
To stop yourself from experiencing hidden charges around the clock, these virtual version of a SIM card that we have in our phones essentially give you a local data plan for wherever it is you're journeying to.
It does't replace your SIM card either.
"You can use a data-only eSIM as your secondary line and have two active eSIM plans on supported iPhone models," Apple says.
What did Maddie do?
In Maddie's case, she landed in Thailand and using airport WiFi, she downloaded the Airalo app, which is one of many eSIM providers.
Spending £9.50 on a 10GB package, she used almost all of this during her fortnight in Thailand.
Comparing it to the terms and conditions of her UK SIM contract, it would have cost her more than £3,500 when she got back.
What did Maddie have to say for her experience?
"I purchased an Airalo eSIM for 10GB of data for Thailand - this lasted me the entire duration of my two-week trip and it cost me £9.50," she said. "It was so quick and easy to set up. I landed in Bangkok, connected to the airport Wi-Fi and headed to the Airalo app to purchase and activate my eSIM.
"I was surprised at how quick it was. The process took around ten minutes for it to be fully installed. I was connected and on 5G before leaving the airport.
“If I had used my usual network provider when I was in Thailand, it would have cost me £0.36 per MB. I used almost the entirety of the 10GB, so if I were using my UK network provider this would’ve cost me £3,600, whereas I only paid £9.50."
Feels like common sense. And one to avoid being suckerpunched on for your next bill after a trip abroad.
Tom Earnshaw