Staying in Touch - The Basics

Our guide to keeping the folks back home up to date!

While it may not be the first thing on your mind as you trek through the Amazonian rainforest or scale the peaks of the Himalayas, keeping in touch with your family and friends is as much a source of survival to those you left behind as your backpack is to you. Here's how to do it:

Online

Probably the easiest and most convenient way to keep in contact with those you’ve left behind. You can find internet cafes all over the world and their rates are mostly very cheap. So get typing! Try the numerous online photo albums and travel blogs that are out there.

Online email:

Fastmail
Yahoo
MSN Hotmail
Care2 Email

Blogging and online photo journals:

MyTripJournal
Travel Blog
Travel Post
My World Journal
Blogger

Landlines

Buy a phonecard and call home from a payphone. Check out some of these sites for more info:

www.card4anywhere.com
www.iscard.com

Mobiles

Alternatively, if you’re staying in the same country abroad for a reasonably long time you could buy a foreign SIM card before you travel and use your own mobile to text as well as talk at local rates!

Check out your mobile phone operator's website to find out more:

3
Vodafone
Orange
o2
T-Mobile

Another alternative is to get a foreign sim card which allows you to use your own phone abroad at fixed call rates:

0044.co.uk
Sim4Travel

Letters and postcards

Stay in touch the old-fashioned way with a hand-written letter or postcard, it will definitely be appreciated!

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