How do you keep in touch with home...

Obviously email is a pretty easy way to keep in touch. What about phone? Has anyone here taken an international sim card and phone? Or is that just not necessary? How about phone cards that let you use pay phones?

I talk to my Mum pretty frequently so I'd like to have an easy way to keep in touch (preferably phone).

Any advice is appreciated

I' m usually send post card to my family and friends.

Yeah I'll probably be doing that too... but it's a little one sided lol!

If your parents have a computer and the internet then skype is a good way to keep in touch - it's free computer to computer calls, most internet cafes around the world have it now.

Hi ya

I've bought a global Sim Card from www.redcommunications.co.uk. And in a lot of countires its free for people to ring us (well the same price it would to call if you were at home) even if you have no credit on your phone. Not used it yet but sounds pretty good. x

skype is great, and I use that with a few of my friends and my sister. As my parents haven't quite mastered it yet, I use calling cards to call the uk, and they are really good value. You can use them from most pay phones - I've used them in hostels plenty of times. $10 gets me something like 600 minutes. I also text home a lot as I have a NZ sim card so if you are travelling in NZ or Oz it's definitely worthwhile investing in a sim from that country.

Almost no contact apart from an email or two.

Most of the time I only use email, but sometimes it is fun to hear (and see) some relatives or friends, in this case I use Skype. It's cheap (or even free) and very convenient!

I usually just rely on email and messanger. But for making phone calls, you can't beat Skype. As already mentioned, most internet cafes these days are set up with Skype and mic and headsets. For Skype to Skype between two parties online, it's free. But you can also make calls to landlines for ridiculously cheap - far cheaper than any calling card that I've seen.

Emails and Messengers