My Grand SIM Card Adventure
Each time I awoke - the issue was exactly the same.
I’m in a foreign country, completely alone, everyone around me is speaking spicy English, and now I’ve gotta pull myself out of bed to somehow track down a local SIM card in order to function properly.
ehhhh, let’s sleep a little bit longer.
I awoke once again with this grandiose task still looming overhead.
*checks time on phone*
14:05
ALRIGHT, FINE. Let’s go tackle this bitch.
I rolled outta bed, slipped on my clothes, and hit the streets.
I found a corner store 50 meters down the road and approached the Man behind the counter.
“Hola!”
“Hola! Do you speak English?”
“No.”
uhhhhhhhhhh “Chip?”
“Chip? Si!”
“How much?” I gestured with my fingers.
“Cien dolares.”
uhhhhhhhhh
He put me out of my misery by holding up a 100 dollar note. (equivalent to around $1AUD)
I handed him the cash, he handed me the “chip”, and I was off on my way.
well, that was easy.
It took me a grand total of two whole minutes to track down, buy, and activate a SIM card. A task that involved a whole lot more umming, ahhing, and existential dread in my mind.
Yet, problems are often a whole lot scarier in my mind, than in reality.
Because at the end of the day - what am I gonna do? Just not solve them?
After 28 hours of travel, 5 rounds of airport security, the ceremonial overpaying of the taxi ride, a 16 hour slumber, and 2 minutes of tracking down a SIM card - all of my biggest problems have been solved.
I’m now sitting in a café, using my newfound local data, typing away on my laptop, in a country that’s 12,382km away from “home” on the other side of the world.
I put “home” in quotes there, because it’s not really that anymore.
I’m at my new home, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I guess it’s time to brush up on my Spanish.