> In a lot of countries, a smart phone is necessary. It is how things are paid for, how metro schedules are shown, how tickets are scanned, it is how local taxi

> In a lot of countries, a smart phone is necessary. It is how things are paid for, how metro schedules are shown, how tickets are scanned, it is how local taxis[1] are hailed. It's convenient, but never necessary. I've backpacked through 40~ countries, often without a local SIM card, and was fine.