e-Sim card?

Check out this exhaustive posting on the e-Sim card topic. I found it very helpful.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/buying-an-international-esim-data-plan-for-your-regular-phone-with-esim-no-more-burner-phones

Thank you very much! An eSim card is so new to me; I would not have thought to look for info on it on the forum.

Check out airalo and buy a Portugal esim 1gb data plan for a few dollars. Load at home onto the phone and turn on when you land in Lisbon. Very easy to do. We have done this in Spain and Portugal. You only have data but use WhatsApp to communicate for messaging, video calls, google maps, etc

Thank you!

I have usually picked up a Vodaphone Travelers sim in Lisbon ($30) for a month with plenty of minutes and data.
My carrier (Verizon) charged $10/day which can really add up.
Swapping sim cards can be a pain in the butt and being careful not to lose my Verizon sim was a worry. I
I converted mt Verizon to an esim, but have had too many problems (loss of 5g) so going back to the physical key.
I have found out that Verizon does offer a monthly international plan for $100. That is a lot cheaper than the daily plan (I am going for 3 weeks). It is only $70 more that the Vodaphone sim. I will probably just do that. It is worth $70 to me to eliminate the sim swap and have the same telephone number.

I guess I should of asked who your US carrier is.

Here's a good article about esim options in Europe:
https://abrokenbackpack.com/best-europe-esim-providers/#Airalo_eSIM_Eurolink_Plan

I have verizon, with a physical sim in a google Pixel 4a. After reading the article, I went with BNESIM for my trip to Italy last month. With the discount code from the article I paid ~7USD for 3gb data with no expiration. In 2 weeks of pretty constant use I used a little more than 1gb so I have almost 2gb data for my next trip, which will hopefully be Portugal in the fall.
It was a little tricky setting up the esim (at home before departure) and I was nervous upon arrival that I had all the settings correct so I wasn't getting charged on my verizon account (never had to remove the sim, just made sure to turn off data roaming, calls and texts in the sim settings on my phone) but once I figured it out it worked great.

One note on usage - If you don't want to burn through data, make sure your photo back up is set to only upload to the cloud (google photos in my case) when on wifi. I learned the hard way in Iceland, burning through 2gb data in 2 days, because it kept trying and failing to upload on data because connections were poor. So now I just let it do it while back at the hotel on wifi.

Just want to point out that I use cellular when I am not in Wi-Fi areas for google maps, Uber etc. I would not feel comfortable without it.
What is your provider and what do they offer for international traveling?
Dennis.

Regarding Airalo eSIMs, they have an eSIM from Czech O2 Mobile that is slightly more expensive than EuroLink but is usable in Western Europe. The kicker is that it one of the rare eSIMs that also gives you a real phone number albeit a Czech one. That number could be useful to people that need to be called/messaged outside of WhatsApp/FaceTime

Speaking of which, what are people doing to book Uber in Europe with data only SIMs?

Speaking of which, what are people doing to book Uber in Europe with data only SIMs?

Using the Uber app.

Booking Uber is easy with “just” a data esim. Set the uber app and account on your phone while at home before you leave. Enter your visa or MC or Amex, etc. then when need it in Europe open the app and order a ride. Very easy. Some say Bolt is cheaper than uber but we haven’t tried it. Esim is so simple and easy to use! Hope this helps!

Regarding Uber, I seldom use it but vaguely remember them wanting to send an OTP to the phone number of record.

Glad to hear that is no longer the case.

Noted below that Verizon now offers a $100 a month international plan. I understand you can also suspend your U.S. verizon service during that time so the net cost might be about the same as your usual monthly service. On arrival in Lisbon, I got a physical sim card from vodafone by the train station as airport location was WAY too crowded. Cost $20/10 GB/30 days. To avoid losing my verizon sim, I scotch taped it to the inside of my case and just popped it back in myself on my return to US, so might want to put a tool/paperclip/something on your keychain so it's handy when you need it. If you anticipate being in Europe again, I understand you can keep the vodafone sim and top it off later, but I'm not sure.