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You can download various maps ahead of time and use them offline, so don’t necessarily need a SIM card for that. That’s something you can google if you’re not familiar.
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Check your phone to make sure it has a slot for a SIM card. Some newer ones don’t, because they use only e-SIMs. In those cases, they allow multiple e-SIMs at the same time.
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@Maggie8K
Thank you. I love this forum because of all the helpful advise I gain. I’m new to THS and it’s been a long time since I travelled to Europe (2019).
I don’t know what I don’t know so the forum helps because it gives me answers to questions I haven’t thought about yet.
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Now I am here in England, I got a prepaid Maya Mobile eSim with 3 GB for one month for £ 6 (which is the price for UK only). I chose it somewhat by chance.
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@pietkuip
Thank you for your helpful info. Can I ask
Where did you buy the sim?
How much data do you get.
I’m probably going to use my phone only when I’m between sits to check train/bus connections and times and to get from the train/bus station to the house.
Cheers
Karen
You will be amazed with yourself. People here are very willing to help with just about anything. Don’t be afraid to ask and often some will even sense and ask, “How can I help?”
Transport services are great in my over 20 years coming here. Even before mobile phones, apps and trackers 
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Enjoy your adventures.
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I bought it on https://maya.net/ which in the UK uses the Vodaphone net. I am sure there are other providers, maybe for less money, maybe better coverage, but I did not have the time or inclination to investigate. It was only £ 6 which was going to be much less than the roaming charges of my Swedish provider.
So this is not a physical sim card. It is an eSim, and you need a phone that can use those. I have a relatively old iPhone XR and that works.
It was a bit tricky to install in my case. The easiest way is probably to order it via a laptop and than scan the QR-image with the phone. I did it on the phone itself and then one needs to copy/paste some codes.
Yes, I also only use it on the way, to access Google maps etc. The prepaid version had 3 GB in 30 days. On the day that I was travelling I used 10 % of that. (I was cycling, so I used quite a bit of data.)
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@amparo and @pietkuip
Thank you for the reassurance and information.
This is the first time I’m pet and house sitting overseas. So a certain amount of apprehension and anxiety is sitting in my space😜.
I’m a confident person and I know I will be ok.
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Is there a significant price difference between buying rail tickets from London Gatwick to Guildford in advance versus buying them on the same day? We’re hesitant to purchase in advance due to the uncertainty of our flight connections. Any advice?
Have a look on Trainline.com as that will give you all the options. If it’s off peak then probably not much in it but on peak tickets then yes, on the day is ouchy. Also check buying a single vs a return as if you know you’ll be back to Gatwick within a month then an open return is often only a £1 more than the single so well worth buying. #letthetraintakethestrain
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Compare trainline with uber trains
For short trips they are usually the same price but UBER always seems to have a promotion/ competition on the go!
Currently every booking gives you a chance if winning £1000 UBER credit
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Update: We ended up buying tickets after we arrived and the price was almost the same. Unfortunately Uber didn’t work for us, for some reason during the final payment authorization the app displayed a system error and the transaction didn’t go through. We ended up using Trainline which is connected to our Google Pay and that works without issues.
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Bolt is an alternative to Uber in the more urban areas, usually slightly cheaper.
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The ride sharing apps and their associated product lines often have trouble with payments abroad — they encounter a lot of fraud, so they enact a lot of guardrails, which can create problems for users / travelers.
To mitigate such problems, you might want to make Apple Pay your payment option for ride share apps. That’s because it eliminates the need for the ride share apps to verify your credit card while abroad. I also always keep multiple ride share / travel apps on my phones as backup. Even if I don’t use some much, some have helped in a pinch. And I do that before I travel, because it can be a hassle to sign up abroad, given some apps’ expectations that you register in your country of residence.
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