How to Travel Europe Using Only Wifi Hotspots

Happy February and welcome back!

This week we would like to go over one of the ways we stay connected to friends and family while we travel without paying for extra services on our phone plan and without using digital SIM cards and international calling plans. 

If you have been following us on Mountains2Seas for a bit, you’ll notice that one of our favorite and must do things as soon as we get into a new country or town is we go for a walk after we drop our bags off. 

We do this for a number of reasons, aside from getting outside and getting our steps in after sitting in airplanes or trains. 

1. We always go for a walk to get the lay of the land around where we stay. We like to know where the markets are, immediate spots to grab a bite and nearest bus stops/ metro stop.
2. Another reason we get out and walk the area is to see what activities are closest to us and what we can do either that day or the next morning. Due to the nature of how we travel, we often don’t have a lot of info on the places we end up except for maybe a google search while we’re on our way there. 
3. This is a big one for us when we travel, we get out and immediately try to find a couple of cafe’s and/or pubs that have WiFi and decent coffee. This serves a number of purposes for us aside from finding a pint or a decent cup of coffee. It’s oftentimes good to have places where you can go to charge your phone, jump on the internet, or just someplace to relax that isn’t your hotel or airbnb. Things happen and sometimes you just need WiFi and a recharge. 

When we travel, we don’t use international plans or get new plans when we are overseas. We primarily just use WiFi signals for text/ email and social updates and if we need to get a call out we just WhatsApp which is free to use on WiFi. We have nothing against international plans, we just prefer to use local networks and WiFi when we travel. Most everywhere in Europe has good and reliable WiFi and as long as you have your phone protected and use VPN’s staying connected is pretty simple and safe. 

Full disclosure, our T-Mobile plan lets us text while we are traveling, built it is not good for much more than that. So we can text each other and friends and family, but sometimes the signal isn’t great and you can’t get a message out. That is why we identify a handful of places with good WiFi that we can use while we stay in the area. We also make a point to have one or two that we pick and both agree to meet at if we get split up. 

This may sound like overkill but it’s just something we do. We have our hotel or airbnb as our primary spot but after that we have at least half a dozen places that we have the WiFi passwords saved in our phones and know that we can go there to get work done, make some WhatsApp calls, and grab an espresso while we’re at it. 

Another benefit to identifying a handful of WiFi places when you travel, is that most cafes are multilingual so if you don’t speak the language of the region, you can hit up one of these cafes and know they speak English and as long as you are polite, they will more than likely help you with directions, things to do, and local recommendations. 

Personally, and I share this with all my friends and family when they travel, I always recommend you find the local Irish Pub when you get somewhere new. It sounds dumb I know, but almost anywhere in the world you go, you can probably find an Irish Pub. The benefits of this are that you are guaranteed that someone speaks English there, they almost always have WiFi for free, the food is consistent and reliable which is good if your stomach is on the fritz from local cuisine or airplane food, and once you make friends with the bartenders, they generally are more than willing to share local insights with you. 

We’re sure this isn’t earth shattering information for many, but we hope that this helps some of you on your next adventure and you think of us when you get somewhere new and find “your” spot to stay connected!

Stay safe and stay traveling! Don’t forget to ditch the itinerary for maybe a day or so on your next trip, you never know what you’ll end up doing.