Modern communication tools make it fairly easy to stay in touch with your friends and family at home while you’re on vacation, even if you’re roaming far afield. But you need to know how to make the most of those tools in order to effectively stay in touch. If you’re worried about keeping connected while traveling, keep the following tips in mind:
– Know your contract. If you have a smartphone, review your contract to see whether it will work at your destination and whether you’ll be charged extra fees if it does. Most of the time, if you’re traveling in the United States, you won’t have to worry about domestic destinations. However, once you leave the country’s borders, you can rack up fees fast.
– Use apps. Even if the cellular function of your phone doesn’t work while you’re abroad, you can still use it to keep in touch. Anytime you can get an Internet connection through Wi-Fi, you can use apps to connect with your friends and family at home. Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber all allow users to make calls over the Internet, and Facebook Messenger allows you to send and receive photos and text messages.
– Start a blog. Blogging can take the place of writing postcards. It’s not as direct as communicating via voice or video. However, a blog post allows you to let your loved ones know what you’ve been up to and that you’re safe and happy, even if you only have time to post a quick message.
– Be aware of the time difference. Your loved ones may be more than happy to get a Skype call from you at 3 in the morning, particularly if they haven’t heard from you for a while. On the other hand, they might miss the call if they’re deep sleepers. It’s more considerate to calculate what time it is back home and get in touch when the other party will be awake and free to chat.