How to Install an eSIM On Your Windows Laptop

How to Use an eSIM to Get Cellular Data Connection On Laptop Computers

I just bought my Surface Go 3 LTE laptop/tablet and one of its best features is the ability to use a physical SIM or eSIM to connect to cellular network and provide Internet. This feature is a life saver when you travel and especially if you are a content creator.

What I noticed in many countries is that the hotel WiFi was so slow, it was unusable except for checking email and light browsing. I was pulling my hair out using it, as I was getting behind updating my YouTube and I was unable to do any work.

An LTE laptop is capable of using a local SIM in your destination country or you can even install an eSIM before leaving for the trip in your own country. Installing an eSIM provides you Internet access right away when you land and you don’t need to search for a local SIM card. The disadvantage of this is an eSIM is always more expensive than the local SIM.

Installing an eSIM or physical SIM is not difficult at all. Search on your 4G or 5G LTE laptop and go to Cellular Settings to setup your eSIM or SIM.

There are many eSIM providers. Your laptop might even have some pre-installed by Microsoft, but I noticed their rates are horrible. The one I use is called Airalo (I am not affiliated) and I have used and tested them in several countries and it always worked for me and it is also by far the cheapest provider I came across. Regardless of which provider you go with, always do your research first for an eSIM for your destination country.

I have a video showing the full step-by-step eSIM installation process on a Windows Laptop here.

1 New Year Resolution I Want to Keep – How to Start Journaling

My 2023 New Year Resolution – Why I Am Starting Journaling & Its Benefits

I remember keeping a journal when I was little. My dad used to buy diaries from the local shop. They had colorful plastic covers and pages for every day – like daily planners. It had to be when I was in Grade 5 or so.

Somehow, I discontinued keeping journals since then, but not I am coming back to this after a few decades. I am into pens, notebooks, and planners and after reading about the many benefits of regular journaling, I decided to give it a try starting in 2023.

Daily writing practice can be enormously helpful in terms of clarifying your thoughts and goals. It is our nature to overthink things and get caught in a spiral of thoughts going nowhere. Writing regularly breaks this pattern by allowing us to externalize our thoughts and get some distance from them.

In addition, a daily writing habit can be a great source of inspiration and creativity. Research shows that journaling regularly can boost the immune system, help injuries heal faster, reduce stress and anxiety, and provide so many more benefits.

Also, most successful and famous people, throughout the wheel of time, have one thing common – they all write daily or do some sort of journaling.

My main challenge will be to continue writing and not giving up on journaling after a few months or weeks. But I am serious about keeping it going and determined to stay on my path to daily journaling.

I hope to write and create more videos on How to Journal and its benefits. Here is the first video I already created: How to Start Journaling

What You Need to Know About Tim Hortons Refreshed Rewards Program

Tim Hortons New Rewards Program

Tim Hortons just updated their rewards program, which will be effective starting Feb 21, 2023. Today, we will look at the changes and if the new Tim rewards programs is better or worse than before.

Tim Hortons Old Rewards Program

Here is a quick look at the current rewards program that will be obsolete starting Feb 21.

- Every purchase earns 10 points

- 50 cents minimum

- 30 minutes interval in between purchases to get points again

- To get free a Coffee and Donut you would require 70 and 50 points

Tim Hortons New Rewards Program

- Every $1 purchase earns 10 points

- 10 cents minimum

- Points will be converted from the old to the new program by multiplying 6.2

- To get free Coffee and Donut you would require 400 and 300 points

- No points buying or reloading Tim Cards

- Points expire after 1 year

Tim Hortons Devalues Its New Rewards Program

I will do a demonstration to prove that Tim Hortons new Rewards Program deteriorates from the old. Assuming you are spending $10 under the new program and $10 under the old program and ignoring the fact that you need to wait 30 minutes under the old program to get points again:

New Program – you would have to spend $40 to get a free coffee (400 points) and $30 to get a free donut (300 points).

Old Program - you would have to spend $3.50 to get a free coffee (70 points) and $2.50 to get a free donut (50 points).

For more details on how I derived these numbers, visit my video here:

New Tims Rewards Program - What You Need to Know Now

Even though the new program is not as lucrative as the old one, I will continue collecting points (instead of wasting them) and recommend doing so to make the most out of it.

50 Cent Shave by A Village Barber in Bangladesh

The Village Barber Gave Me the Ultimate Shaving Experience for 50 Cents

I always wanted to try a different type of shaving experience and the opportunity came when I was shooting my 24 Hours Living in A Bangladesh Village video.

My journey took me to a rural Bangladeshi village in Gaibandha, a district in Northern Bangladesh, in the Rangpur Division. The village barber shop was in the local market and there were only 2 barber shops I saw.

The barber shop was a run-down place with all the charm of a typical Asian village barber shop. My contact told me that they don’t use a shaving brush for hygiene purposes, so he would use his hand to generate lather.

I was surprised at how much later he produced with his fingers and shaving cream rubbing on my face. He used a professional straight edge barber razor and broke a double edge razor blade into pieces to fit in it.

He took his time to shave me and he even trimmed some of my hair before starting to give me a clean look. There were curious people who came to see a foreigner getting a shave and video recording everything. I was expecting only 2 passes for my shave, but he did 3 passes.

My contact told me that if I was a local, he wouldn’t have put this much time and care into it. And I felt that too. This was a type of experience I had never had before.

My bill was only 50 cents (after converting to US currency). I asked my contact to double it and pay him $1. He was very happy and appreciative.   

To watch this experience in a video, please visit here: My Ultimate Village Barber Shaving Experience

My One-Month Bangladesh & Morocco Trip Brief Highlights

Two Continent – Two Countries – One Month Trip (Bangladesh & Morocco)

After a one-month trip covering various popular tourist destinations, I am finally back home in Canada. I visited two countries in Asia and Africa, Bangladesh and Morocco, during this time.

Although both of these destinations are exotic and out of the ordinary, they differ vastly from each other and offer very different travel experiences.

I haven’t written any day-by-day, diary-style trip reports, but I am hoping to write the most important aspects of these trips in the future.

In Bangladesh, I was blown away by Cox's Bazar, the world's longest natural sand sea beach. Cox's Bazar beach has a gentle slope and an unbroken, uninterrupted length of 155 km (96 mi).

 Cox's Bazar is often termed the "the longest natural unbroken sea beach" in the world. It is so big that there are many beaches on its unbroken shore with different names.

I was able to visit some of the places in Morocco that I have been dreaming about since I was a kid. These include places such as the night markets of Jemaa El-Fna Square in Marrakech, The Souk and Tanneries of Fez, a stunning view off the cliffs where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea in Tangier, and much more.

Due to a weather change, from extreme hot to cold, I got sick after landing in Toronto and I’m still recovering. I will slowly work on writing more about my experience in the upcoming days.