Lyle and I have recently returned from an eight-week holiday exploring the beautiful country of Spain.

Eight weeks is quite a while to be away from home (and my grandchildren), so we wanted to make sure we could stay in touch with Facebook messenger, Whatsapp, etc. It was also important for us to be able to access our emails and google maps at all times, and not just when we had WiFi.

I did a bit of research, but the one company that kept appearing in my Facebook and Instagram feed was Sims Direct.  It offered for $49 – 30 days – 12gb of data and unlimited texts and calls to other European numbers.  The information promised it was easy to use, just put the sim in and restart your phone.

So, we received two cards in the mail, one for each month and off we set to Spain.

When we arrived in Barcelona, I sat and changed my sim over while Lyle collected our luggage, and after three text messages from the sim company, and restarting my phone, we had the internet up and running.  It took less than 10 minutes and was as easy as they described.

At first, I was a bit wary of using too much data too soon, but after 2 weeks, I checked our usage and we had only used a little over 2gb.  We used the internet every day, especially for maps, but one of the unexpected benefits was using Whatsapp to phone our apartments, or hosts to organise our check ins.

We also used Whatsapp to stay in contact with friends that we met on our travels, so we could meet up for dinner, drinks and day trips.

It was really nice to have video chats with family and friends while we were out exploring, so we could show them in real time where we were and what we were doing.

Two of my grandchildren had birthdays while I was away, so I was able to sing them happy birthday in real time via video as well.

We took all our photos and videos on our mobiles. My phone’s memory filled up quickly, so each day I was able to upload all my photos and videos direct to Dropbox, even if we were out and didn’t have WiFi.

Why We Love Sims  Direct

·       So easy to use (even for “mature” people)

·       Great value

·       Plenty of data

·       Able to talk via video to family at home

·       Upload precious photos and videos to Dropbox

·       Able to ring local agents and apartments to organise check ins.

·       Google maps

·       We could check opening times of restaurants, cafes and attractions etc.

·       For using all our apps, like Strava, weather apps, Tripadvisor, Facebook, Instagram, Email

·       Banking at our fingertips wherever we were so we didn’t miss any bill payments.

·       Play music from our Spotify playlists at the beach.

·       Download and listen to Podcasts while out walking or relaxing on the beach.

·       Book day trips and transport.

·       Use currency converter

The only small problem we had with Sims Direct, was the data stopped working at the end of our 3rd week, so I thought we had run out, but when I checked usage, we were only at 5gb, so I restarted my phone, and that fixed the problem straight away.

I would recommend that you take a small case, or tin of some kind to store your Australian Sim in while you are away.  They are tiny and would be extremely easy to lose.

Next time we head overseas, we won’t hesitate to use Sims Direct again.