Michał Kowal
Hi, I'm Michał. I've spent my whole adult life — 25 years now — living outside the country I was born in. Bangkok has been my base for the last five, and it's where I write most of what you'll find on this blog: travel internet, eSIMs and SIM cards, and everyday life in Southeast Asia.
Where I've lived
Before Asia I lived and worked in a few European countries: Germany, Ireland, Bulgaria and Turkey. Every move started with the same questions. Which SIM card, which network, how do I get internet at home, and how do I avoid overpaying for the first month? For the last few years it's been Southeast Asia: Thailand full time, plus trips through Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. In Thailand I've mostly been in Bangkok, with longer stretches in Phuket, Chiang Mai and Pattaya.
Why I write about travel internet
I'm a developer by trade and I've worked remotely for years. For a few of those, living just outside Bangkok, I had no fixed line at all: video calls, work and streaming all ran off an unlimited data plan on my phone. The internet is a work tool for me, so I test it more thoroughly than the average tourist does. My first lesson was the classic one. I landed in Bangkok, spent a few days on my home operator's roaming, and it cost me the equivalent of about 100 dollars. It was the last bill I ever paid them.
How these guides come together
The photos in these articles are my own, and most of them started life as personal snapshots long before I thought about starting a blog. The prices I quote are the ones I paid. Anything I don't know first-hand I check against solid sources, and I say where it comes from. One thing worth being upfront about: this blog belongs to BlueSky eSIM, a shop that sells eSIM plans. I say so openly, because it shapes which topics I cover, but not the advice itself. If a local SIM card is the better call in a given situation, I'll say so. I spent years relying on other people's guides, and the ones I got the most out of were the honest ones, so I stick to the same rule.
Off the clock
I travel with my girlfriend, and she's in a lot of the photos on this blog. After years in Asia I still think the best food is served on the street, at a plastic table. And five years in, I'm still learning how Thai people think, which is the best part of the whole thing.
