Sections: Keeping in Touch | Calling | Internet | Digital Photos

Keeping in Touch:

So you've been traveling around Europe for a couple months now, I bet your loved ones at home miss you terribly. Let them know you're all right, and show them what fun you've been up to. These days you can still keep in touch with everyone at home while you're on the road.

Calling:

International calling can be extremely expensive, but there are ways that you can talk to the folks back at home without blowing the budget.

Calling Cards:

I would definitely bring a pre-paid calling card with you on your trip. With a calling card, you can keep in touch with everyone at home. They also come in handy when you're looking for your hostel and need some directions.

Zaptel.com -- Zaptel has tons of different low-cost calling cards so you can pick one that fits your trip.

CallingCards.com -- CallingCards.com also offers a number of cheap pre-paid calling cards.

Cell Phones

Getting a rental cell phone for your trip is another option you might want to consider. They aren't the cheapest things in the world, but they are useful for emergencies.

PicCell Wireless -- PicCell offers both rental phones and international SIM cards. If you're going to be in one country for a while, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one. Their rates aren't awful, but don't do too much chatting, especially when you aren't in your home country.

Cellularabroad.com -- Cellular Abroad offers rental as well as purchase plans for individual countries or for multi-country travel. Outgoing call rates are just fractions of a dollar per minute — even for international calls back home. Plus in nearly every country, you get unlimited, FREE incoming calls, regardless of their origin.

Backpackeurope.com has a really good write up about using cell phones in Europe. I would highly recommend reading it. You can find that, Here.

Internet:

These days keeping in touch through the internet has become the norm. People back home love getting emails and photos from your trips, and it's usually a lot cheaper than calling home.

Internet Cafes:

Internet Cafes are all over Europe, so you probably won't have too much difficulty find one. Just ask your the staff at your Hostel and they can point you in the right direction. Many Hostels themselves have a computer that you can use for free or for a small fee.

However, if you want to look up some just in case, here are some directories

Cybercafes.com -- Contains a database of 4208 internet cafes in 141 countries.

Skype:

Skype is a Voice Over IP (VoIP) program that allows you to call both land lines and other computers equipped with Skype for low/no cost. Skype has become very popular lately and can be found in most internet cafes around Europe.

Skype is a really cheap alternative to mobile phones or calling cards, as you can call home for as little as $0.02 a minute.

Digital Photos:

After a few weeks (if that), you're definitely going to be running out of space on your digital camera. So what do you do when you can't take any more pictures and you're going to Paris tomorrow?

Good thing for you, there are a number of site where you can upload your pictures. You can free up space on your camera, and show the folks at home what you've been up to in one fell swoop.

Photo Storage Sites:

30 FREE prints plus free shipping Snapfish --
Free online storage and sharing, 20 free prints, and 12¢ a print after that for digital photos. I use this to store and share the photos from my trips.




Photobucket --
has free storage for up to 10,000 photos and hours of video. Share with people you know by email, IM or mobile phone.






Shutterfly.com Shutterfly --
Free unlimited photo storage, a personalized web address for sharing your pictures. Print your digital pictures for as little as 12¢.


Flickr -- Upload, edit and share photos.