'It could've been in the thousands': Young British couple hit with extortionate £109 phone bill after just TWO hours in European country

A British traveller has warned holidaymakers about the risk of unexpected roaming charges after just two hours in Monaco left him with a £109 phone bill.Polo Lam, 30, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, was travelling across Europe with his girlfriend Laura Matos, 29, in September when the couple made a brief stop in Monaco.Despite using just 18.66MB of mobile data between them, the pair incurred almost £85 (€99.79) in roaming charges, sending their monthly bill soaring to £109 (€128.88), compared with just £25 (€29.18) the previous month.To put that in perspective, 18.66MB is roughly the amount of data someone might use scrolling through Instagram for just three to 10 minutes.The couple were enjoying what should have been a budget-friendly interrail holiday from Barcelona to Vienna, travelling through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary.While staying in Nice, they decided to visit nearby Menton and make a short stop in Monaco, which hadn't originally been part of their plan.Laura, a psychologist and founder of psychology centre La CoolMente, said: 'It was actually my idea to visit Monaco. I'd heard so much about the luxury and the famous casino, and I wanted to see what it was like for myself.'However, their brief visit proved considerably more expensive than expected. Polo Lam, 30, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, was travelling with his girlfriendIt wasn't until they continued their journey into Italy that Polo checked their mobile account and discovered the charges.Speaking in an interview for Nomad eSIM, Polo said: 'I couldn't believe it when I saw the bill. We'd only been in Monaco for a few hours, and somehow our phone bill had jumped to £109.'We'd barely used our phones. We only checked Google Maps and opened Instagram, but that was about it.'What really scares me is thinking about what could have happened if we'd stayed overnight. If we'd spent a whole day or two there, we could potentially have been looking at a bill running into the hundreds, or even thousands of pounds.'I'm pretty stingy when it comes to money, so you can imagine how I felt. We'd gone interrailing to have a relatively inexpensive holiday, and suddenly we had this huge phone bill.'Laura said: 'We were both confused about where the charges had come from. We'd only used our phones briefly to find our location, so we felt the bill was completely unreasonable.'We kept talking about it for days afterwards because we'd been trying so hard to save money throughout the trip.' The pair noticed their phone bill had jumped to £109 (€128.88)Polo said the unexpected expense put a dampener on their holiday.'The worst part was thinking about what else we could have spent that money on. We were trying to keep costs down, and it would have paid for three or four meals out in some of the places we visited.'The experience left the couple more cautious about using their phones abroad, particularly when travelling between countries.Polo said: 'I'd tell anyone travelling around Europe to check exactly which countries are covered by their mobile plan. Just because somewhere is in Europe doesn't mean your normal roaming allowance applies. We found that out the expensive way.'Tim Page, marketing lead at Nomad eSIM, said: 'One of the biggest misconceptions about mobile roaming is that travelling within Europe automatically means you're covered by your usual mobile plan.'Monaco is a perfect example. Despite being surrounded by France on three sides, it's not part of the European Union and isn't automatically covered by the EU's Roam Like at Home rules. They have warned other travellers to beware roaming charges and differing rules'Introduced in June 2017, these rules generally allow customers of EU mobile operators to use their calls, texts and data across EU countries without paying additional roaming charges.'This means travellers could be using their phones in Nice without additional roaming charges, then cross into Monaco and face significantly higher rates for exactly the same usage.'He advises: 'Before travelling, always check which countries are included in your mobile plan, particularly destinations such as Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland.'Even small amounts of data can result in surprisingly expensive bills, so consider switching off data roaming or using a travel eSIM that specifically covers your destination. 'If you do receive an unexpected roaming charge, contact your mobile provider as soon as possible. While there's no guarantee, some providers may be willing to reduce or waive the charges as a goodwill gesture.'