This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
News from the tourist world, here and elsewhere.
eSIM cards put to the test
The packages abroad of our mobile phone providers are rarely advantageous when you leave for more than a few days. eSIMs — digital SIM cards — come in especially handy when leaving the country. No need to go to a store: we download the supplier’s application, we choose the package that best suits our needs and we activate it at the start of the trip. “These services have evolved a great deal over the past three years and are now easy to install and very economical,” observes Carl Frédéric de Celles, President of IXmédia. Several packages are valid for periods of two weeks or 30 days. Over the past two years, I myself have tested the services of three companies: Bouygues Telecom, in France, which also offers tourist packages with physical SIM cards that can be easily obtained in Relay shops, as well as Ubigi and Airalo. Very popular, the latter undoubtedly offers the best prices. However, while I was able to use their services without issue in Australia and the United States, I was unable to activate the recently purchased plans in Greece and France. Ubigi, which I tested in five countries, remains my favorite to this day. For example, my package for Greece cost me US$9 for 3 GB (valid for 30 days) and that for France for the same duration, US$14 for 10 GB. However, you must make sure to deactivate your Quebec number so as not to pay roaming charges, unless you do like Carl Frédéric de Celles and keep your number active to receive calls urgent – “even if it costs a fortune when you take them”, he specifies –, but taking care to deactivate the data abroad.
New partners for Air Transat
In recent months, Air Transat has added ASL Airlines and Norwegian to connectair, its virtual interlining platform that combines flights from the Montreal-born company to 11 airline partners in more than 275 destinations. [connectair] fits perfectly with our ambitions to develop the international network, especially with the increase in demand that we are seeing these days,” underlines Bernard Côté, Director, Public Relations and Social Media. With the latest additions, three cities in Algeria and four in Norway can be booked in one leg, connecting at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle or Lyon for Algeria and Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, London -Gatwick, Rome or Barcelona for Norway. You can search on the Air Transat website (airtransat.com) or through certain flight comparators. The company specifies that “the reservation also includes an assistance service in the event of flight delay or cancellation, thus ensuring that travelers arrive at their destination as soon as possible”.
Nature-culture tours in Laval
Presented as “a new concept of animated walks”, the Nature-Culture Tours are the result of a co-creation workshop between the tourist and cultural communities of Quebec’s third largest city. Between July 15 and September 23, these packages will allow families to combine an outdoor activity and a cultural activity on the same day every other Saturday. On July 15, the day will begin, for example, with the temporary exhibition The weight of our myths, which will be followed by a creative workshop at the Alfred-Pellan room of the Maison des arts de Laval, and will continue with the guided tour of the Vaillancourt Farm. A shuttle will provide transport from one site to another. Price for ages 5 and up: $26.50. For ages 4 and under: $5.
Not new, but still beautiful
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.