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keeping in touch
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No matter how long you travel, whether you go to Boston or Bolivia, after a couple of weeks on the road I begin to wonder how my family and friends are getting along. How was my brother doing in his new job? Did my friend have her baby yet? Does my dog miss me? Although I was having the time of my life living the life of an adventurer, I still wanted to know about those I loved back home. I found keeping in touch with home depended largely on where in the world I was. In some countries, it was just like home, go to the post office, buy a stamp, lick it, stick it, and post it. So, how best to keep in touch with home? Depending upon where in the world you travel, it may be as easy as calling the operator or as difficult as finding that precious needle in a haystack. But don't despair, there are several options, some just demand more patience and time. Remember when traveling just trying to make a phone call can be a day's adventure. ELECTRONIC MAIL IS THE WAY TO GO E-mail is available almost anywhere! The most simple and easy way to keep in touch with loved ones at home. From the mountains of Nepal to the plains of India, email is the favored mode of communication for most all travelers. Some ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are not accessible in all parts of the world. MSN's Hotmail is my choice of providers when abroad. Sign-up for free email at www.hotmail.com and keep in touch with everyone!
TELEPHONE "Hello? Mom? Hello?" Today, telephone wires circumnavigate the globe, keeping loved ones in touch and global communication a buzz. Strung beneath the seas and strewn across the skylines, now, more than ever before these lines let you reach out and touch the ones you love. Telephone accessibility depends upon the country and particular area you are calling from. Some cities have public telephones on practically every street corner, in other cities, you may need to go to the general post office or use the telephone services offered by shop owners. Telephone communication will be the quickest way to reach family and friends back home. Depending upon where you go, this will be easy, more or less. Remember this equation: The farther you are from home and the more remote the area, the longer it may take to get the connection to the United States. Be patient. THE OPTIONS WHEN CALLING HOME The easiest and most efficient way to phone home is by the use of a calling card. There are two services, AT&T USA Direct and MCI Services, which assist people calling the United States from foreign destinations. Call your long distance carrier and inquire the long distance international services they offer. AT&T USA Direct Operator Service When abroad I used the AT&T USA Direct Operator service. I found the service terrific and the AT&T USA direct operators helpful and efficient. When I wanted to call home, I thumbed through a small listing of the International AT&T USA direct operator country contact numbers (provided by AT&T). I located the AT&T USA direct operator number of that country and called the direct operator. Each country will have its own specific AT&T USA direct operator telephone contact number. The list of International AT&T USA direct operator telephone numbers should be written in your journal and the list kept safe in your money belt. Call the AT&T U.S.A. Direct Operator and ask for more information about their service. If you feel satisfied with the telephone carrier, sign up for their services and request the AT&T USA Direct International Access Number Table. This table will give you the access numbers to call an AT&T USA direct operator from practically anywhere in the world. Calling Home From Budapest, Hungary Arriving in Budapest, Hungaran lodgings were slim, so I shared a room with two other "accommodation-needy" travelers above a gambling hall. Not one of my favorite night’s but surely one of the most memorable. We all decided to go out to eat, basically just get out of that place until we had to sleep, and see the city by the night lights. I decided to call home at around 10:00 p.m. Here's How You Call Home
Calling Card Obstacles And Hassles The obstacles and hassles you may find when trying to use your calling card will most likely have less to do with your telephone service carrier than with trying to find a public telephone in which to access the operator. There is no overabundance of public telephones in developing countries. Locating a public telephone to call home can be a real hassle and, once you do find one, pray it will work properly. Shop Owners Provide Telephone Services Operating telephone services in developing countries is a bonafide business. The lack of public telephones has created a whole new business for a few entrepreneurs, so they offer their own telephone services. A shop owner may have a kiosk with a chair, table, and black bulky rotary dial 1950’s era telephone. Viola a telephone business. Shop owners will gladly let you use their telephone for local or international calls, but they expect full payment at the end of the call. Many shop owners do not trust or understand the concept that an international call will be billed to the traveler's calling card and not to the shop owner. If you want to explain the billing procedure, go ahead but, believe me, there have been many before you who have tried and failed. On dozens of occasions, I tried to explain that I was calling an American operator, the call would be charged to my bill at home, and they would only be charged the cost of a local call. This concept only translated into meaning I was trying to rip off the shop owner. I tried and tried to explain and had no success. My advice is either be ready to pay up with cold hard cash at the end of the call or do not make the call at all. TELEPHONE CARDS Telephone cards look like a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back which has been encoded for a certain amount of money. Purchasing a telephone card would be practical if you need to make several local or regional calls within one country. Again, this is a cost you will incur immediately. You buy a telephone card for a specific amount of money, the equivalent of $5 to $20 or more in U.S. money. Make sure you don't buy more than you need and get stuck with a card that still has ten or fifteen bucks credit on it when you leave the country. If this happens to you, call a friend for a nice quick chat until the telephone starts beeping and disconnects. "What's The Matter With This Telephone Card!!!" Remember, if you purchase a telephone card in Paris and try to use it in Barcelona, guess what? Nothing will happen, nada, it just won't work. You can only use the telephone card in the country in which it was sold. Just like currency, it is not transferable from country to country. So don't get stuck with a card that has a lot of time and money left on it when you leave a country. Again, call your mom or a friend and chat for a bit to use up the time on the card. You already paid for it, enjoy it! FAX Fax communication can be a simple way of staying in touch with home. Granted, you need to have access to a fax machine, however, local hotels, travel agencies, shops, and businesses commonly have fax machines and services available. In using a fax to communicate with home, are several bonuses. They are economically less expensive than making the telephone calls. You have time to think about what you want to say, then write it down and send it off. Also, the party whom you are faxing will have the opportunity to return it if you are staying in that location for a couple of days. The down side of faxing is that your transmission may not go through and you will have to pay for the attempted tries as well as the successes. The person whom you want to contact needs to have a fax machine installed, a fax number at work, or at a local shop in their town. The other party may be unable to respond promptly because they haven't seen their incoming faxes yet. You may not have the time to hang out and wait for a reply. Test it out for yourself to see if it works for you. If it does..hurry!..and if not, try something else. Remember to write down the fax numbers of family and friends in your journal or address book. POSTAL SERVICES/ MAIL CALL The general post office will offer the traveler a few needed services: buying postage stamps for postcards, aerograms, posting packages home, and receiving mail. Purchasing Stamps I always keep a few of the stamps from each country I
visit. I am constantly amazed at the extraordinary designs and beauty of some
foreign stamps. Stamps make a fun and inexpensive memento. Mailing postcards from home may be relatively inexpensive for you and me, but for some that stamp (the equivalent of fifty cents) may be a day’s wages. Taking your postcards and letters to the post office and having them cancel the stamp there will help insure that your postcard or letter will be posted and not a victim of postal theft. AEROGRAMS An aerogram is a pre-stamped lightweight letter you purchase at the post office. When you want to write more in-depth about your joyous adventures, this will be the way to go. The economical aerogram provides enough space to write your thoughts and give the folks back home the flavor of your trip. Remember to buy as many of these as you think you will need in any given country. Like the telephone card, the aerogram is not valid in other countries. You will have to buy new aerograms and postage in each country you visit. In addition, you cannot put anything into the aerogram, such as photos or another sheet of paper, unless you add additional postage. RECEIVING MAIL AT THE POST OFFICE Receiving mail while on the road is not only profoundly appreciated by roaming individuals, but such letters may hold a record on how many times they have been read and reread over a journey. Poste Restante/General Post Office (GPO) The general post office in cities will hold mail for travelers up to one month after it was received. Present your passport, as identification, to the postal employee when inquiring about your mail. On a separate piece of paper, write down your name in all capital letters, underlining your last name, and present this in addition to your passport. This will help the postal employee more easily locate your name and mail. American Express Offices American Express offices offer a wide variety of reliable services around the globe. Participating American Express offices collect mail for travelers. Most offices have a postal department within the larger office. Call an American Express office and request a directory of their locations worldwide. In the directory, there will be a listing of the International American Express offices and which ones have postal services. If you possess an American Express charge card or American Express traveler's cheque, you will not be charged a service charge for receiving mail. However, without the charge card or cheque, you will be assessed a fee for mail. I always carry American Express traveler's checks when I travel so I present those and avoid the service charge. If you prefer another type of traveler's cheque or have another system to carry your money, then simply purchase one American Express traveler's cheque and present it when you pick up your mail. The American Express Basic Rundown Before You Go
Collecting Your Mail At American Express Offices Abroad
"What? No Mail!" If there isn't any mail for you and you are just convinced that there should be, try these suggestions.
If you are sure you will be receiving mail in that AmEx office then, for a small fee, you can have the incoming mail forwarded to your next destination. Battered letters that were returned to sender. Were given to me by friends several months after my return. Those poor downtrodden envelopes looked awfully worn out by the time they went around the world and then back home. My friends posted the letters too late. I had already left the city by the time it arrived. If you don't receive the letter on the road, you just may receive it after being home for some time.
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