STAYING IN TOUCH With email, the Internet, Skype and cheaper mobile phone calls across the globe it’s never been easier to stay in touch with friends and family back home. Long gone are the days of the stamp and postcard.
HAVE A PLAN, PLAN, HAVE A STICKSTICK TO IT TO IT How often you stay in touch is as important as how you do it. If you call too often it can interfere with your trip away, especially if you’re travelling with others. As a rough guide once a week is a good gauge - you can always fill in the gaps with emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, blog and web page updates. Let loved ones know how you’ll be staying in touch and stick to a regular plan. If you don’t, people back home can get nervous. If you’re heading out to remote areas with no mobile coverage or Internet access, let people know you won’t be in touch for a while. It is important to have a back-up way of getting in touch, so friends and families will know where to check if they haven’t heard from you. If you know where you’re staying overseas, leave the hotel’s contact number with people back home.
Internet cafés can now be found in the most unexpected of places, so you can almost always find a spot to send an email. Charges vary and in many places now you can use Skype or other voice-over-Internet services. USE A A PHONE CARDCARD USE PHONE Pre-paid calling cards can provide you with hefty discounts for overseas calls. You buy the card with a set amount of credit, which you can use with a land line or mobile. Calls can be routed in various, if not curious ways, so the quality is sometimes less than perfect. As with any investment, the greater the risk i.e. an unknown card company, the higher the reward - low-cost calls. LOCATE WITH THE FOREIGN REGISTER YOUR TRIPOFFICE Going off the beaten track? Check whether you can register your trip with the Foreign Office. This allows the local British Embassy to find you, but only in an emergency. So if the worst happens such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster they know where you are and how to contact you.
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