eSims vs Verizon for confused Seniors?

It would help to have more information. First, are these two trips together or two separate trips? In other words, do you come back to the states after the first one, and then leave at a later time for the second, or are they back-to-back?

Second, which countries are you traveling to?

Having asked that, here are my thoughts. If you are comfortable using WhatsApp OR FaceTime Audio for phone calls to your granddaughter and folks back home, then that is usually the cheapest and easiest scenario along with a data-only eSIM. I've spent many weeks in various countries in Europe (using an eSIM without phone serve) and made most of my calls with FaceTime audio (or video if you have a good wifi connection) to family and friends back home, as most of them have iPhones. The few who did not had WhatsApp, so we talked via that app.

I used an Airalo eSIM, which gives you choices of various countries and regions for their eSIMs. I found theirs very easy to use and once it's installed and activated, it gave me great service. But again, it would help to know which countries you want to visit.

Do you both need full coverage? If only one of you does the Verizon international
plan, for instance, that cuts your costs in half.

But 2 eSims for both your phones should cost less than $100. As long as you don't
plan to do something like stream videos over cellular data, a reasonable amount of
data should suffice for both trips, and as long as they are not too far apart, the eSim
will still be active for both (but check expiration dates as well).

Also a senior, and like to keep things simple. We have Verizon and have just used the international plan on one number (mine, since I am usually the logistics/booking person) when we travel. Other phone (hubby) just uses available wifi, or can hotspot from mine.

This spring I switched my data plan to the Unlimited Ultimate (they are going to run out of names soon lol), which includes international talk/text/data. $52/month, which is $8 more than I was paying for a regular unlimited plan. Over a year, the difference in cost works out to be less than the $100 30-day international plan...and we travel at least twice a year, so it was a no-brainer. Again, just have it on one phone right now, but when husband upgrades his phone soon, will probably upgrade his plan as well.

Worked fine in Spain, going to Africa in a few weeks, should work there as well.

To be specific, #1 is 18 days in the fall to Sicily and Stockholm. Trp # 2 is 28 days in the winter to Spain. As seniors, we do want to be able to get calls from the U.S. for family, MDs, friends.... while also naviagting our way around our places in Europe. One =related question for your generous input... if we use, the $10/day if used Travel Pass, I assume the daily costs are incurred even if we get spam texts?? or spam calls?. Correct?? And being in Airplane mode will stop us for getting any calls or texts that do need to come in. Can't ask important vendors to use What's App, can I?
Just trying to avoid the $400 cost so appreciate your ideas. Thanks again!

The dedicated international help desk is (or was) 1-800-711-8300. The people there are very knowledgeable pleasant, and helpful. They sould be able to clarify things about cost. My experience with trying to get accurate information from the people in the stores, and from the people at the regular telephone number has been way less than satisfactory. Same with the web site.

In a nut shell, you'll need to verify that your phones are set up for international use, and if you need to update the roaming capabilities. Verizon can email you detailed dialing instructions for calling back to the U.S. On our last trip we had all of the numbers we might possibly need in our contact list. If we needed to make a call we simply highlighted the number, hit "Send" and the phone did the rest even without the "+ 1" in front of the U. S. number. If someone in the U.S. needed us, all they had to do was call as they always would. That might have changed, so do check with Verizon to be certain.

On our last trip, I think we had a $10 per day plan that was only charged on days we actually used the phone. I don't recall being charged for junk calls, text, and etc. That might have changed, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Hope this helps.

What TC said.

The $10/day "if you use it" plan can work, but you have to manage it, daily. We opted for that on several trips, but then we went to Sicily on a RS tour, got COVID, got removed from the tour and were on our own for the remainder of the tour time, plus the extra days we had booked afterwards in Sorrento. Suffice to say, at that point, it was not a deal anymore as we had to use cell service almost daily for the rest of the trip.

One idea would be to have one line on the international plan or the Unlimited Ultimate plan, and have the other line on the $10/day plan, to use as/if needed. If you really need to have both lines available for cell service.

We always do the Verizon 1 month international plan on 1 phone, and have the $10/day on the other. good combo for us.

But, BE SURE you understand the $10/Day plan. It is NOT "If you use it". It is "If your phone pings a cell tower". So, put that phone in airplane mode for the entire time unless you absolutely need to call. You can use it for wifi and GPS. If you need to use it to make an actual call, the 24 hours starts when the airplane mode is turned off. Be sure to turn the airplane mode back on within 24 hrs while in range of a cell tower, not when you are way out somewhere that may not have cell service.

All these questions from Verizon and AT&T customers make me doubly happy to have changed my cellular service to Spectrum, which in the US uses Verizon's system. They charge me a low per-minute rate for calls in Europe, usually 5 to 8 cents per minute. Texts are entirely free.

Data gets expensive at a penny per MB, so I simply get a data-only eSIM. If a Europe-traveler has Spectrum cable and/or hard internet at home, they should have Spectrum cellular IMO. (Monthly rates are low, too.)