By: Zara Donovan

At Gate 12 of a crowded European hub, Anna, a frequent business traveller, steps off her flight and instinctively reaches for her phone. No missed calls. No messages. No working maps. Her screen shows “No Service.”

She had planned hotels, transfers, meetings, and dinner reservations weeks in advance. She had backups for her passport, currency in two wallets, and a printed itinerary in her carry-on.

What she did not have was a working mobile internet.

The first ten minutes of her trip turn into a small crisis. She walks in circles looking for airport Wi-Fi, refreshes a login page that does not load, and considers turning on roaming “just for a minute.”

Later, she will joke about it. In that moment, it feels like losing control.

For many international travellers, this scene is routine.

The Invisible Checklist Item

Modern travellers prepare carefully. You can see it in departure lounges everywhere.

People organise clothes by day. Carry printed boarding passes even when they use digital ones. Bring medication for problems they might never have. Carry power banks, adapters, backup cards, and copies of documents.

Connectivity, however, is still treated as something that will solve itself.

Travellers assume airport Wi-Fi will work. They assume hotel internet will be enough. They assume roaming will be affordable. Or they assume they will buy a SIM after landing.

Unlike passports or insurance, internet access rarely makes it onto the written checklist.

Why Being Offline Hits Harder Than Expected

Travel today runs on apps.

The moment a plane lands, travellers reach for their phones to:

• Message family or colleagues
• Open hotel confirmations
• Order a ride
• Navigate unfamiliar terminals
• Translate signs
• Approve card payments
• Access work documents

Without mobile data, even simple tasks stall.

Travellers often underestimate this dependency until it disappears.

Surveys consistently show that a majority of travellers consider internet access essential when choosing destinations and accommodation. Yet, behaviour does not always reflect that importance. Connectivity is valued in theory, but postponed in planning.

What Travellers Actually Do at Arrival

When mobile internet does not work, most people fall into the same patterns.

They stand near airport walls, refreshing Wi-Fi portals.

They turn on roaming temporarily and forget to turn it off.

They buy the first SIM card they see without understanding the plan.

They borrow hotspots from friends and ration usage.

They postpone tasks until the hotel Wi-Fi is available later in the day.

Each solution is reactive. None is always reliable.

Public Wi-Fi often struggles during peak hours and raises security concerns. Roaming can deliver inconsistent speeds and unpredictable charges. Physical SIM purchases take time, create confusion, and often cost more than expected.

The result is friction at the exact moment travellers need clarity.

Roaming Is No Longer a Safety Net

Traditional roaming still exists, but it frequently does not deliver the experience travellers expect.

Coverage varies by country. Speeds can be slower than local connections. Background apps quietly consume data. Charges accumulate invisibly.

For business travellers, this means delayed emails, missed messages, and unstable video calls. For leisure travellers, it means frozen maps, failed ride bookings, and increased anxiety about costs.

Roaming is no longer a dependable fallback. It is often a gamble.

Connectivity Has Become Travel Infrastructure

For decades, travel planning focused on physical risks: losing documents, falling ill, missing flights.

Now there is a digital layer of risk: losing access.

The Internet is no longer a luxury or a convenience. It is infrastructure.

It determines whether transport works, payments succeed, accommodation details load, and safety tools function.

Yet, most packing lists still overlook it.

How Some Travellers Avoid the Arrival Scramble

To avoid this cycle, more travellers are now securing mobile data before they fly.

Instead of relying on public Wi-Fi, roaming, or physical SIM cards, they use travel eSIM platforms that activate the moment their plane lands.

Jetpac is one of those platforms. It allows travellers to arrange mobile data before they fly. Their phone connects automatically on arrival, without searching for Wi-Fi, without physical SIM cards, and without relying on roaming.

The role is simple:

• Predictable connectivity
• Immediate access after landing
• Controlled costs
• No queues or language barriers
• No hardware changes

In practical terms, Jetpac turns the internet into something travellers plan, not something they hope for.

For travellers who choose Jetpac, that planning happens in a few taps before departure.

The service offers:

• Coverage across 200+ destinations on a single eSIM, so travellers do not have to change plans every time they cross a border.
• Instant activation on arrival, with data working as soon as the phone connects to a local network.
• Dual-network connectivity in supported regions, which switches between partner networks to maintain signal strength and stability.
• Predictable pricing with prepaid data bundles, helping to reduce the risk of unexpected roaming charges.
• No physical SIM cards, no paperwork.
• Voice calling in 50+ countries, which is useful for situations where data-only access is not enough.
• Continued access to essential apps such as WhatsApp, Uber, and Google Maps even after the main data allowance runs out, so travellers can still message, navigate, and arrange transport when it matters most.
• Complimentary airport lounge access during eligible flight delays, turning long waits into something more manageable.

For frequent travellers, it removes several small but recurring points of friction. For occasional travellers, it replaces uncertainty with something closer to routine.

Connectivity becomes another box ticked before boarding, alongside insurance and accommodation, rather than a problem to solve after landing.

A Small Change With Outsized Impact

People often overprepare because they want certainty.

They plan clothes. They plan documents. They plan money.

They forget the one tool that connects everything else.

Adding “mobile internet” to the travel checklist does not sound exciting. It does not photograph well. It does not fit neatly into influencer packing videos.

But it determines how the first hour of a trip feels.

Prepared or panicked. Calm or chaotic. In control or improvising.

Jetpac does not replace good planning. It complements it.

And for modern travellers, that may be the most practical upgrade of all.