Summary: Choosing an international data plan can be simple and affordable

Things have changed significantly — mostly for the better — for travelers who want to use their mobile devices while traveling abroad. I wrote about my failed attempt to use my mobile phone when traveling in Japan back in 2016.

For my trip to Italy, I really wanted to have data access. This would enable me to use Google Maps, post pictures to Instagram, check email, translate words on the fly, and look up things on the internet.

My existing cell provider, Mint Mobile — which I highly recommend — offers international coverage, but it isn’t cheap. I didn’t expect to make phone calls or send/receive texts — my main communication would be through Signal and WhatsApp. There was a slight chance I might have needed access to my phone for 2-factor authentication.

I decided to go with an international data plan and install it on a second phone. I chose Eskimo (available for iOS and Android). I have no relationship beyond being a customer and I receive no benefit for promoting their service.

You don’t have to have a second phone. You can install the Eskimo eSIM on your existing phone and switch carriers depending on when you are home or abroad. I just happened to have another phone that was compatible, so I went that way.

Eskimo is not the cheapest plan out there, and it has one major drawback: this is a data-only plan; no phone or texting service is offered.

Why I Chose Eskimo

That being said, there are several advantages that persuaded me this would be the best plan:

1. Eskimo uses an eSIM (i.e. no physical SIM card required)
   As long as your mobile phone supports eSIMs, you will be able to get up and running within minutes. You don’t have to wait for a SIM card to be mailed to you, install it, etc. Unsure whether your phone is supported? Check the device compatability list on Eskimo’s website.
2. No data limit or speed throttling
   Many providers will limit the amount of data you can use during a period of time. Others may offer “unlimited data,” but throttle your data transfer speed after a certain amount of data has been used. Eskimo has no such limits or throttling.
3. Data can be used for 2 years
   I purchased 10 GB of data. After my week in Italy, I had used only 2 GB. So, I left my phone with my traveling companions who are staying another week. I doubt they will exhaust my purchased data, so I will be able to use the data next time I travel abroad.
4. Over 80 contries served
   Some data plans may be cheaper, but they may be limited to certain countries or continents. I should be able to use this plan most places I might want to go.
5. Personal Hotspot Functionality
   Since I installed this on a second phone, I left my primary phone settings unaltered (other than turning off mobile data and roaming services). I could turn on hotspot functionality so I could use other mobile devices (laptops, tablets, etc.) as well as allow my traveling companions to use my phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot and take advantage of my purchased data.

My traveling companion had a phone with a plan that offered international coverage. But enabling it cost US$10 per day — a typical fee. For a two-week vacation, those charges quickly add up. I purchased 10 GB of data for just US$39 (and it is likely it will last me for a year or more).

I advised them to set their phone in airplane mode. Free Wi-Fi was available at our lodging and on many of the trains we took. But when they needed access where no free Wi-Fi was available, I just turned on my personal hotspot and they were good to go.

When Was I Most Grateful to Have Data Coverage?

1. Using Google Maps
   The streets in ancient cities like Rome, Venice, and Florence go every which way. Even when walking just a few blocks one can get confused or lost. Using Google Maps to guide my way helped me identify landmarks, and locate a coffee shop, a gelateria, or restaurant. Furthermore, Google Maps was able to indicate which bus lines to take and even water buses in Venice. Also, it was kind of cool to fire up Waze and see how fast our high-speed train was traveling (up to 150mph!).
2. Unlocking my AirBnB door
   One of the AirBnbs we used had an electronic door lock. It could be unlocked by punching in a code or by visiting a website and clicking a button online. The code our host sent us never worked, so I unlocked our door several times every day using my phone.
3. Purchasing tickets and reserving seats on the train
   We were encouraged to always reserve seats on the train, which we did using the Eurail mobile app (available for iOS and Android).
   
   
   
   We were able to check train schedules, reserve seats, and show proof of our tickets and reservations using just our phones.
4. Dinner reservations
   This was a busy time for tourism, so we made reservations using my phone. We were able receive reservation confirmations as well as alter existing reservations using my phone.
5. Translating
   I used Deepl to translate unrecognizable words on menus, signs, and more. Restaurants with online menus but none available in English could be automatically translated using my cell phone web browser.
6. Hailing a taxi
   We found out how much supply and demand for taxis can fluctuate depending on the day of the week and time of day. Lyft doesn’t appear to serve Italy, and although Uber does, it is much more expensive than taking a taxi or public transportation.
   
   At first, simply hailing taxicabs at busy intersections and roundabouts worked fine. But one evening we were trying to make our dinner reservation, and we were unable to secure a taxi for over a half hour standing on a busy street. We weren’t eager to try to call and navigate a phone conversation to order up a taxi.
   
   Finally, my companion fired up their appTaxi app, which was able to secure a taxi, indicate our destination, and let us know how long our wait would be (about 6 minutes).
   
   If you are traveling to Italy, I highly recommend you install this app (it only works in Italy). Be sure you install and set it up before you need it — it will ask for a lot of information and need to send you confirmation texts before you can use it.

Conclusion

Having mobile data access while traveling abroad is both convenient and can save you serious time and headaches. Purchasing a data plan that supports eSIMs, like Eskimo, is easy and well worth the cost.

Summary: I wasn’t surprised by the quality of food in Italy — I was happily surprised by the affordable prices!

I’ve just returned last night from a delightful vacation in Italy. The cities I visited were Rome, Florence, Venice, and Reggio Emilia over 8 days.

This will be the first of several articles I expect to post about my trip.

Although I’m still recovering from jetlag, the memory of the gastronomic side of my Italian itinerary is as fresh as the ingredients used in the delicious meals upon which I feasted.

1. Breakfast
Breakfasts generally consisted of baked goods and coffee.

I am not a coffee drinker. I usually drink some coffee heavily fortified with sugar, cream, and/or chocolate maybe once every 3-4 months. But I found myself enjoying a cappuccino nearly every morning. So smooth and gentle was the taste that I didn’t need to add any sugar.

Pastries, bottled water, or juice sometimes accompanied the coffee, and I found it all delicious!

Pastries, bottled water, and/or juice accompanied the coffee, and I found it all delicious!

2. Lunch
Lunches varied from small sandwiches to pasta and pizza.

3. Dinner
Dinners were fantastic: seafood, vegetables, meat, pizza, and of course, pasta!

The food was consistently excellent, and very reasonably priced. A dinner for three including wine usually ran between 60-75 Euros. Since tipping in Italy is significantly less than in the U.S., we found the cost of food very affordable.

Here is a menu from a restaurant in Venice, a city known to have a high cost of living:

Here are pictures from most of the dinners we enjoyed while in Italy:

4. Gelato

As expected, gelato was found everywhere and we consumed a lot of it!

The health-conscious will be relieved to know that gelato contains 6 – 9% butterfat, up to half the amount found in ice cream. It is denser, with less air and typically has more flavoring than ice cream. I tasted the best salted caramel in my life, and the mango gelato I had will haunt me until I can find another that matches its flavor and texture.

5. Grocery Shopping

We were quite amazed by the price of food in grocery stores — even in notoriously expensive Venice. The meat and cheese quality was very high and selections vast, but prices appeared to be half of what we would pay for lesser quality goods in the U.S.

We saw quality dry pasta brands found at home on sale for less than 1 Euro.

Eggs came in smaller quantities (2-4 per package) and were about half the price we pay in the U.S.

As is common outside of the U.S., eggs were unrefrigerated. Eggs in the U.S. are required by the USDA to be washed and sanitized, which removes the eggs’ natural outer coating (cuticle) and exposes the shell’s pores. Eggs abroad are not required to be washed, travel far less distance to market, and usually don’t require as lengthy a shelf life.

6. Snack boxes on the train

We took advantage of Italy’s excellent rail service to travel quickly around the country. We always got seat reservations as was recommended, and since 1st Class seat reservations were usually the same price as 2nd class, we bought them whenever they were available (some trains were sold out).

In first class we were given a snack box like this:

The contents varied depending on the time of day, but they always contained a packet of Buoni Perche Ad Alto Contenuto Di Fibre crackers. We found these crackers particularly flavorless, and they left us with cottonmouth.

But according to the package and the website, these crackers are made with organic wheat and oats, are loaded with fiber and protein, greatly benefit digestion, and purport to lower cholesterol.

Given how rich and heavy our diet was with all the cheese and gelato, I was generally surprised not to have suffered indigestion and constipation. Perhaps these dry and flavorless morsels can take some credit.

By the way, I highly recommend U.S. citizens traveling to Italy to use the flexible Eurail Pass for getting around. The mobile phone app is not without issues, and I plan to post a blog article about it soon.

Conclusion

I consistently heard how good the food is in Italy, and I wasn’t disappointed. There wasn’t a single mediocre meal we had while in Italy, and I am sorely missing the quality of food I became accustomed to during my week there.

I expected to gain weight given the quantity and richness of the food I consumed. On the other hand, I was walking constantly, a welcome change from my more sedentary existence at home. As a result, my weight remained unchanged.

What I did not expect was how affordable all the food was. Whether eating out or buying groceries, it seemed like I was paying 1/3 to 1/2 the amount I would pay at home, and for higher quality foods. The favorable exchange rate helps, but given the extremely high cost of fuel (e.g., 1.95 Euros per liter for gasoline), it’s hard to fathom how such good food can be so affordable.

It really makes me question even deeper the system of food production and delivery in the U.S. which favors factory farms, manufactured foods, and long shelf life over locally sourced, organic, and seasonal fare.

If the Italians can make high-quality food affordable and available, even in the middle of big cities, then surely we can too.

Summary: An earworm compels me to arrange and publish a new musical work.

I. Earworms – Constant Aural Companions
I experience frequent, sometimes constant earworms. There is almost always some song or melody occupying my mind. I don’t say I “suffer” earworms — often they are benign, sometimes pleasurable, and only on occasion are they truly annoying.

For me, they can last for hours, days, and even weeks. Although sometimes prompted by hearing an audio snippet or mention of some related context (a story, a movie, an advertisement, etc.), some can pop into my head seemingly at random.

Here’s a list of just some of the earworms that bounced around inside my head the last couple weeks:

• The music to 3 folk dances I have neither listened nor danced to in over 2 decades (“The Roberts,” “Snurrebocken,” and “Bavarian Ländler“)
• “These Foolish Things” – both the 1952 Billie Holiday version and the achingly beautiful and heartbreaking 1957 Ella Fitzgerald version
• In Old Shantytown – 1932 song and favorite in my family
• Nestle Crunch commercial jingle from the 1980s.
• Chopin Etude, op. 10, no. 3 (“Tristesse”)

When I want to rid myself of an earworm, either because it has been going on too long or is regrettably something I truly don’t like, there are a number of strategies I use to try to push it out of my mind.

One way is to concentrate on some song I really like.

For many years, my earworm antidote was “Cheek To Cheek,” sung by Fred Astaire.

I was first introduced to this song by the 1935 movie, “Top Hat,” arguably the best of all the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films. I remember calling on this song many times during the early 1990s after a certain earwormy hit from Billy Ray Cyrus hit the airways. (I will not name the title so as to minimize awakening an annoying earworm for myself or for you.)

Other earworm remedies I’ve tried, with varying success, include finding and playing a recording of the song or performing it myself on piano or viola.

When a really good earworm gets stuck in my head, I occasionally imagine it played on different instruments than the original. Commonly, I hear the piece with my mind’s ear performed by a string quartet or string quintet. I am then often driven to the point of compulsion to write a musical arrangement.

Such was the case this month, but not for string instruments.

II. Transforming My Earworm Into A New Arrangement
A couple weeks ago, a pleasurable earworm invaded my head.

My father, a pianist, passed away over 25 years ago. I still hear in my mind so many of the pieces he played, as well as those we played together. Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy were composers I heard him play often. The lovely piece repeating in my mind was one of the piano pieces I remember hearing him play so many times.

I was happy to hear it and welcomed the memories it brought with it. After several days, I started to try to figure out what the piece was. I guessed Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff but couldn’t find a match. My brother suggested Chopin when I sang the melody to him, but still, the work’s identity eluded me.

Finally, I sent a recording of myself singing the theme to a pianist friend who immediately recognized it as the Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major, nicknamed “Tristesse” (French for “sadness” or “melancholy”). I just love how it starts out with a sweet, simple melody, but then builds with increasing drama and passion to a stormy and tumultuous peak before returning to its simple, melancholy melody.

As I replayed the piece both in my head and on my computer, I began to imagine it as an alto flute duet. Could two flutes create and reproduce the dark, stormy mood of the piece?

As I wrote recently, I now own an alto flute and I love its sound. I was compelled to give it a try.

With the aid of sheet music for a string orchestra arrangement of the piece, I cranked out my first draft in a blazing fast (for me) 4 hours. I transposed the key both to make it both easier to play (that middle section is awash with accidentals) and to utilize the rich, velvety notes found in the bottom range of the alto flute.

III. Refining and Releasing the New Work
A dear flutist friend who is a long-time musician with me in the Newport Symphony gamely agreed to read through the first draft the afternoon of the day I completed it (he had actually only acquired his own alto flute a month earlier!).

We played though my arrangement, which left me gasping and dizzy.

My work has long passages that offer few opportunities to breathe, and the alto flute requires significantly more air than a standard C flute. Moreover, my stamina and lung capacity are severely lacking — it’s been over a decade since I’ve played any flute more than a few minutes.

Nevertheless, I must say I was pleased how well the initial draft turned out. In my experience, first drafts usually require a lot of fixes and adjustments. I returned home eager to incorporate the few suggestions for improvements my friend offered me.

After making the recommended changes, I completed the tedious task of adding detailed tempo and dynamics markings. I also generated a duet version for standard C flute and alto flute. A coworker and I read through that version just days later.

Wanting to verify if it was really finished to my satisfaction, I returned to my friend’s house today and we recorded it.

I’m quite happy with it — though listening to myself always requires me to grant myself great patience and grace instead of focusing on the imperfections in my playing.

Here’s a video of us playing the final version of my arrangement:

I’m pleased with the result and still a bit amazed how quickly it was completed.

Chopin’s Etude is still echoing around inside my cranium, which I happily accept. But I have to wonder if I will be compelled to create new arrangements for other instruments.

For those interested in the sheet music, I expect it soon to be added to my online library of sheet music for sale.

Update: the sheet music for this work just got published on sheetmusicplus.com. Here’s the direct link.