I reached Aswan, Egypt after an overnight train journey. The city is not exactly tourist-friendly, and I wouldn’t get any signal on my Google FI connection. This has happened before but this was the breaking point. I quickly ran to a nearby store and got a local SIM. The plan was cheaper than my Google FI plan (10 US$/GB).

It is 2021, SIM cards are activated in a matter of minutes and data is cheap. It might take you ~30 minutes of bureaucracy to get a SIM but the coverage one gets is well worth it. Especially, if you travel in remote areas where international roaming might only provide limited coverage. Further, only buy a pre-paid plan, so, the amount you are going to spend is limited.

With the arrival of eSIMs, this has become even easier, as one can buy eSIMs directly at websites like eSIM DB or RedTeaGo.