Note: This post is a work in progress, more to come later!
TimeKettle In-Ear Language Translators - https://www.timekettle.co/
TimeKettle offers a variety of in-ear language translators, depending on your needs, ranging from fluent, bi-directional, instantaneous translation, to simple headphone-to-phone-app translators for simpler uses cases - available in 40 languages and 93 accents.
Check out their website https://www.timekettle.co/ for more detail and information.
Google's Project Fi (eSIM)
If you haven't heard of the Google's Project Fi, you are not alone.. but for anyone traveling long-term, it may be a godsend.
Designed to give you cell coverage almost anywhere in the world with no SIM card - by switching between carriers depending on where you are.. and it works, as advertised, in 200+ countries.
I cannot express how convenient this is; when I first started looking at International Coverage, there were a few compatible phones, but the Google Pixel was designed and built for Google Fi, so I opted for simplicity and purchased one as a backup to my primary phone; and it worked amazingly well - I had cell connection the second I landed in all 26 of the countries I visited; no more unlocking* and/or switching out SIM cards for each new place you visit.
Nowadays, you can bring your own phone, and the number of supported phones continues to grow.
Please note, there are phones that are compatible with Google Fi, and then there are phones that are designed for Google Fi; phones designed for Google Fi will automatically switch between carriers, wherever you are in the world, while phones compatible with Google Fi do not include automatic switching and may have some limitations.
For simplicity sake, I purchased a Google Fi phone that already had a Google Fi SIM card, and I didn't have to do anything to make it work before or while traveling.
If you have a compatible phone and/or if you're looking to change your plan before your travels, I highly recommend looking into phones designed for Google Fi - traveling without having to worry about SIM cards is incredibly freeing and amazing, AND their plans are typically less expensive than traditional US-based unlimited plans.
*If you bring your own phone to Google Fi, it will need to be unlocked, which typically means it must be paid off in full - you will have to switch/transfer your number (at the time of this writing), and you'll be sent a Google Fi SIM card that must be installed.
Before making any changes, I recommend doing some research on what phones work, what the requirements are to make it work, and what the limitations are once your Google Fi eSIM is installed.
Or if the timing is right and you're looking for a new phone prior to travel, get a phone with Google Fi already installed/enabled, and make your life even easier.
More to come soon!