Staying in touch<br><br>
Keeping in contact with your friends, other backpackers, and
family is essential. Not only does it provide you with a support
line in case anything happens, it is a way of keeping
relationships going and a feeling that you are not completely
cut off from home. There are many ways of doing this.
<br><br>
Internet: Before you leave, set up an e-mail account or a blog
site. This is by far the easiest way to stay in touch with
everyone.
<br><br>
Instant messaging: Instant messaging on the Internet is a
popular and inexpensive method of interacting with someone
or a group of people around the world. Nearly all of the
Internet cafes around the world have one type of instant
messaging program installed. Save yourself some trouble and
sign yourself up for an account before you leave home.
<br><br>
Phone: This is definitely more direct and personal than email,
but quite a bit more expensive and sometimes confusing
to use. The cheapest way is to find a call box. This is a
business with a bank of phones that offers long distance calls
at a discount price. You walk into a booth and make all the
calls you want, and when you are done, walk to the cashier
and pay for all of your calls. You don’t need a pocket full of
change to use these phones. The cashiers will also show you
how to correctly dial long distance in their country.
It is always good to co-ordinate ahead of time when you are
going to reach someone. On average I was plus or minus 9
time zones away from my home at any given time. If you
phone in the afternoon for a little chat, you may be waking
someone up really early in the morning. The only time I used
the phone was to call ahead for a few hostels and phone my
family (very rarely). I always preferred e-mail.
If you are going to be using pay phones, it is a good idea to get
a phone card. Many tobacconists and tourist centres sell phone
cards. Each country has their own type of phone card and
some may not work when you cross the border. If you do
decide to get a phone card, make sure you are instructed on
how to call long distance or overseas. Sometimes the phone
cards help system is in that country’s language. Without
someone there to interpret, you could have purchased a useless
phone card.
<br><br>
Post: Snail-mail is something that my parents did, and I have
never bothered to use extensively. I guess it is nice to receive a
hand written letter a couple weeks after it has been written
with a picture on it, but I have always been more of the type to
use a digital picture and send it via the e-mail (my bias).
I have seen many backpackers send mail such as postcards and
souvenirs via the post office. Sometimes a shop owner will try
to oversell you on stamps, capitalizing on the idea that you do
not know and are unfamiliar with the currency. If you are at
the post office, have them validate the stamps while you are
there. Sometimes, they peal off the stamps when you are not
looking and resell them to the next backpacker.
<br><br>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-5235665451804270";
/* 728x90, created 1/7/09 */
google_ad_slot = "3071001127";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>