If you are a solo traveler or spend a lot of time away from your family with business then you will know how important it is to stay in touch with your family whilst you are away. Back in the day you used to have to rely on sending letters that could take weeks to arrive in order to speak with your family or wait at one of those public phone offices and wait your turn for a minute or two conversation with your loved ones, which you would have to pay a fortune for. Thankfully, those days have gone and in the modern world of technology, it has never been easier to keep in touch with your family back home. Here are just a few ways to do it.
Video Calling
Providing both ends have strong enough wi-fi or data then video calling is by far and away the best option for staying in touch. The beauty of calling this way is of course that not only can you hear your family, but see them in real time as well. There are great services out there like Skype and Apple’s Facetime which you can use and even Facebook and Whatsapp now have video call features. Poor signal may result in a frustrating call so ensure that you both have good connections.
Wi-fi Calling
You can use the power of the internet to make direct audio calls as well, once again Facebook and Whatsapp offer these services as well as apps like Viber, putting you in touch with your family as if you were in the same town. The same rules apply regarding the strength of your internet although audio calls use less megabytes which means that if the connection isn’t perfect then you will still be able to call.
Straight Up Calling
There are a great many phone providers who now offer well priced tariffs whereby you can call back home straight rom your mobile. Generally these tariffs are for certain blocs such as in Europe or just in the Americas. Many phone providers have teamed up with their international counterparts to offer great deals to their clients. In order to ensure that your kids have enough credit on their phones to call you then you can even add credit to their phone from anywhere in the World with great services like www.recharge.com, simply put their number in, their make and model of phone and how much you want to charge and hey presto, they have credit.
Old School
You can of course still write to your family with letters or emails or even text messages. Letters may take a while to arrive at their destination but they do offer a very personal touch and they can be kept. E-mails and messages are of course far more instant and will put you in touch with your family right away. The best course of action that I’ve found on my travels is really a combination of all the above, if my internet is good then I call or video call and I try to stay in touch using messages along the way with an occasional letter back home.