Dairyxox: I just helped setup a friend with travelsim http://www.travelsim.co.nz/

it can do roaming data, but the costs are quite high. Not too bad for the odd email and map check.
Its mainly geared up for talk/txting.

Its a little bit odd in its execution. When you place a call, it hang up on you, then calls you back when the other end has been dialed.

My Mum's going to United Arab Emirates, Spain, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and a couple of other places, partly with a cruise, partly independent. She wants her phone to work, mostly in case of an emergency, might make an odd call to book something or send a text, but usage will be minimal.

She's with 2degrees, who don't do UAE. Has anyone got any experience with Go Sim or Travel SIM? Go SIM seems quite a bit cheaper, based on a very quick look.

We are off to Europe for a month in May. Landing in Paris, leasing a car and driving around for 3 weeks, then another week in London (sans Car).

I'm looking at the Orange Holiday Sim. 40 Euros, 14 Days, 10GB, 120 minutes and 100 texts. Top up after that for another 20 Euros (or another prepaid topup). Not cheap, but seems to be the best deal I can find in France that allows decent roaming outside of France as well.

Interesting looking for these deals - we have it pretty good here - the same deal as the 40 Euro deal above can be had for under $50, and it lasts 28 days (Skinny) instead of 14.

Just throwing my 2 cents in, I think all of these roaming bundles/travel SIMs are unneeded these days. Europe has removed roaming charges.

So you really just need to grab a local SIM at whichever country you arrive at, and the minutes/data will be valid in every European country.

^ That is true, but some of them hobble the data experience a bit.

One of the French ones I was looking at roams outside of France, but at a crippled speed and not as much Data.