raveling across many countries in Europe in a single trip? Or doing your version of a grand European tour? But only want one phone number and enough data to keep you fully connected?
Someone turned me onto the Orange Holiday SIM. Orange is a French Company, so I wasn’t sure how well it would work across Europe, would there be roaming charges? Would it be expensive? How long would the SIM card last?
I’m used to the plans they offer here in the Philippines; (Sun, Globe and Smart ). To be honest, they leave a lot to be desired. You can barely surf the internet with them, and forget about using them as a wifi hub as there’s no consistency – at least where I live.
However, The Orange Holiday SIM card works like a dream!
1. Step One
I bought two Orange Holiday SIM cards from Amazon (as they delivered to the Philippines). They’re a little expensive at $50 each. However, note that you can keep this SIM for 1yr, 2yr, 5yr, etc – more on that later.
2. Step Two
Once you get the SIM card just pop it in your phone and when you land in Europe it’s self activates as soon as it connects. How easy is that!
There are currently 26 Shengen countries to get through if you’re on a Schengen visa from Asia, and this service covers all of them (and then some):
Andorra, Azores, Aland islands, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belgium, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Corfu, Crete, the Cyclades, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faeroe Islands, Finland, France mainland, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Isle of Man, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Rhodes, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom, San Marino, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Vatican.
Why I love this plan
When we’d arrive in each new city and needed to text our Airbnb hosts there were no problems. Or if I had to call for dinner reservations or look up something on Google maps. Everything just worked, texting, calls, data – great. You keep the same number wherever you go in Europe so others can text you as well.
The best part (for me) was using the SIM as a wifi router. Just enable wifi hotspot on your phone and then you can connect your laptop or iPad. So if you’re on a train without wifi coverage, in a dead-spot, you can still connect. My travel partner had to attend several Skype meetings while we were out sightseeing and we simply found a quiet park, used the Orange SIM to connect to the net and he was able to take all his meetings with flawless speeds.
If there’s a downside it’s that you currently can’t call or text the Philippines – but you can connect to FB, Skype and other services to contact your family and friends back home.
3. Step Three
Now, the trick to keeping your phone number long term.
Most Schengen visas are good for a year, so you might be wanting to go back several years in a row. We like to go every Xmas and then once in Summer. Rather than having to buy a new SIM card from Amazon each time we’re ready to travel we just write down the last time we used the SIM (the last day we leave Europe) and then put a note on the calendar for 6 months after that date.
As long as you log into their website before that 6 month period expires you can extend the life of your SIM indefinitely.
Just visit:
Orange Holiday SIM – On Amazon
Put in your phone number and you can top up your load online and that keeps your SIM card and phone number good for another 6 months. Just a 20 euro top-up will extend its life for 6 months… Note the 5 euro top-up only extends it for 1 month. So you’ll want to do the 20 euro minimum.
Even topping up 2 cards only costs us 40 euro for 6 months, still cheaper than buying a single new SIM card from Amazon.
4. Step Four
Another thing to note is how long you’re be traveling. Most top ups will last for 1 month. Meaning that if land in Amsterdam on June 01, and June 30th rolls around and you’re only in Berlin – you’ll need to load the phone with more money to keep your plan We mostly bought the 30euro plan each month – it offers (pretty much) unlimited texts,, calls and data for a month. So for a long three-month trip – that’s 3 top-ups.
It’s still the easiest and most affordable option we’ve been able to find. The service is flawless and the data is super fast. It’s nice to be always connected.
When we’re back home in the Philippines we bought a cool little SIM card holder that comes with a widget to open the SIM tray so we don’t lose our cards until our next European vacation.
You can view the SIM card holder on Amazon here. It’s only $6.50
Another note – it’s not just good for Schengen – it’s also good for the UK which is another visa and a whole nother set of fun territories to make your way through.
