One of our customer recently wrote us asking if we had any advice about adding an international package to their cell phone plan for their upcoming trip to the UK and France from Florida.

According to them, they would only need it for Maps and potentially Uber.

Here’s what we found out.

Firstly, you can download Google maps of specific areas you know you’ll need directions. Additionally, check out WeGo – simply download the map of the country you need and you can then use it without Internet. It has route options for cars, taxi public transport, walking and biking. Another one is amps.me, it’s also great for offline use. A great perk is that it will find you the best public toilets.

Second, Whatsapp can be used when there is free wi fi for calls and texts.

We asked our community and most said that in the UK free WiFi is available but in some place unreliable. Free wifi can be found in all Costas and Most pubs.

In case you can’t get online and need a ride, our community suggested using visitlondon.com for public transport information – and since they don’t accept cash be sure to check out and buy a londonpass.com. It was quickly pointed out that most bus service does accept cash outside of London though.

In some cases use EE when in the UK and others swear by getting a SIM car when they get to the airport. Wifi can be slow, spotty and untrustworthy if you’re going to access your bank or credit card info.

One of the recommened SIM cars would be from mrglobetrotter.co.uk/no1-mobile-network-for-travellers. We recomend the Three pay as you go SIM Card.

In terms of France, definitely rural parts will has limited cell coverage anyway – WiFi will be your best bet.

If you’re a Verizon customer, they offer an International plan for only $10 a day that’s unlimited everything. Feel free to use your phone as a hotspot and fire up your laptop. Often public WiFi has its limitations in accessing certain basic websites and it’s slower and it won’t follow you when you are on the street trying to figure out where your uber is. Also, there’s secruity risk of using public Wifi as we stated above – but to get a roun that simply get a VPN privacy from Norton for example.

T-mobile data plans are unlimited and have no additional charges in 50 countries. One of our members was in Eurpore for 3 months and said the total charges was only $22 with T-mobile and he had 3 and 4 G almost everywhere.

Check out Why T mobile is a great option for international travelers.