How to Take Your iPhone Overseas

Before I leave for a long-overdue vacation in Europe, I'm going to get my iPhone in travel-ready condition.

I've been anticipating this vacation for a long time. But in my planning, there was just one thing I wasn't looking forward to: Doing without my iPhone, even if only for 10 days. But after a year and a half of integrating the device into my lifestyle, I decided it just wasn't worth it. 

Now, before you judge me as a tech-dependent freak, allow me to explain: I'm going to Paris and London -- two cities where an iPhone could certainly be useful just to find my way around (as opposed to lugging around travel books). If I were going somewhere like India, where an iPhone would disturb my spiritual journey toward self-discovery, then yes, I would more than happily leave the Jesus phone at home. But given the circumstances, my iPhone's coming with me.

Sure, I could just enable the iPhone's data roaming feature, but I don't want to come back home with a $2,100 bill from AT&T. To roam internationally without breaking the bank, you need to take a few steps before you go: unlock and jailbreak the phone, get a pay-as-you-go SIM card that will work in the country you'll be visiting, and preload your iPhone with useful travel apps.

Here's a guide on what you need to do to travel with your iPhone to Europe -- followed by some applications that should be helpful for your trip.

1. Jailbreak and unlock your iPhone

Before you get on the plane, you need to both hack and unlock your iPhone. (Note: Jailbreaking is not illegal, although Apple is trying to make it so.) Otherwise, you'll end up sticking in an international SIM card, only to be greeted with the "Invalid SIM" message. (Or if you're on AT&T and you opt for an international roaming plan, you'll likely end up paying more than your plane tickets just to use your iPhone.)

To clarify, I own a first-generation iPhone. And I've never felt better about not upgrading, because unlocking the iPhone 3G to work overseas, according to my peers, is a nightmare, including the complicated unlock process and the humongous 3G data fees. On the other hand, the unlock process for the first-generation iPhone is extremely easy and reliable, and I can get by with cheaper 2G data services.

To simultaneously unlock and Jailbreak my original iPhone, I followed a very clear, intuitive tutorial at HackThatPhone. It took about 45 minutes to perform. In summary, the process involved downloading software called PwnageTool and configuring it to build custom firmware to manipulate the iPhone into working with other carriers. (I can't wait to get away from AT&T's shoddy service.)

2. Find a pre-paid SIM card

Orange has the best data plan in Europe for 9E ($11) a month unlimited; for calls you can opt for a pay-as-you-go plan. That sounds great for me, because I'd only make calls for an emergency, and for data I don't want to get charged up the wazoo when I'm looking up maps and subway schedules.

The best, cheapest way to score a SIM? Craigslist, says my tech journalist colleague Cyrus Farivar, who currently lives in France. Otherwise, a SIM brand new costs about 20E ($25). I'll be checking Craigslist periodically, but if that doesn't work out in the next week I'll just order a new one.

3. Download travel apps
Here's the most fun part -- downloading apps for your trip. Here are the ones I dug up:

Currency (free): Obviously, a calculator that does currency conversions for you.

London Tube ($1): An app that displays a map of the London Tube, as well as Subway line routes and directions to stations.

Metro Paris ($1): An app that displays a map of the Paris Metro, as well as the line routes and directions to stations.

Pano ($3): An app that works with your iPhone camera to create panoramas. (See an earlier review of Pano from Wired.com's Michael Calore.)

Cycorder (free, for Jailbroken iPhones only): An unauthorized video recorder for iPhone.