Tricks for staying in touch by phone
Staying in touch by phone is easier than ever before, and if you travel to another continent, you might be able to keep your same phone and phone number. Long before you travel, start checking with phone companies to figure out the best plan for you – it might take some time to sort out all your various options, because there are many ways to stay in touch by phone for travelers. Some companies allow you to take your cell phone to another continent, and continue business as usual, but they increase the fees for calls since they are considered international calls while you are gone. Other companies will sell you a phone that works in the place you’re going, so that you have phone service in your hand when you arrive. And sometimes you can take your cell phone to a phone company in a foreign country and they will put a chip into it that allows you to switch over to the local cellular service, for a very reasonable price. Then there are the new companies that let you place calls from your laptop computer by using special headphones and software. The advantage to this kind of phone service is that you can make as many calls as you want, for free, if you use the company Skyper, based in Estonia. The downside is of course that if your phone rings, you have to put your laptop up to your ear (just kidding).