One of the biggest benefits of international travel in the current generation is that it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to give up on talking to your friends and family at home for weeks on end. Being able to stay in touch with your parents, siblings and friends easily is great, and helps to reduce that feeling of homesickness that many people would feel as they travel. Here are some of the best ways that you can use to call home as you travel solo, which will help you to keep in touch without costing big bucks.
Skype
Skype is the biggest player when it comes to making video and voice calls over the internet, Skype is a great option for keeping in touch as you can make calls without spending a lot of money, and depending on your internet connection you can also get a pretty good video connection too. This is probably a better option if you are going to be traveling in countries that have good internet facilities, as you will need those to be able to get Skype to work properly. If your family and friends already use Skype, then you will see that the calls are free, but you can also use the service to make calls to cell phones and landlines, which do then have a related charge, which is still quite competitive.
Other Internet Call Providers
While Skype is the biggest name when it comes to making calls over the internet, there are plenty of other services that offer free internet calls to other users using the same app or program. Social media and messaging programs such as Facebook and Whatsapp offer the service, Apple iPhone or iPad users can call others with those devices using Facetime, while Viber is another service worth looking at.
As with all of these programs, make sure that you check with friends and family that they use the same service, and make sure that you use free wi-fi and not your phone internet service, otherwise the charges can rack up significantly.
Cell Phone
Most people who to go traveling will usually take their cell phone with them, and these devices now have a complex web of different networks and connections that allow you to be able to call home from almost any location. However, the costs of these calls can vary significantly, with some international calls on some providers costing several dollars for calls of just a few minutes, so checking with your provider and adding an international calls bundle before you call can be useful.
Alternatively, most countries will have SIM cards available that will offer you much cheaper calls internationally, and are relatively straightforward to install in most cell phones. These can allow you to call home for just a cent or two per minute in some cases, and can be funded on a pay as you go basis.
International Calling Card
This is one of the more old fashioned ways of calling home these days, but it still gives you a good option for staying in touch. You can purchase an international calling card in many small stores and retailers in countries across the world, and they will also offer calls home for a few cents a minute. You will then use a public phone to dial a specific number to connect, type in the code from your calling card, and then dial the international number you wish to contact. The downside with these cards is that if you don't use up all your minutes, you are unlikely to be able to use them in different countries.
Hotel Telephones
Many hotels will have handsets located in every room, and as well as being able to contact the reception if there is a problem, you can use these handsets to call home. While they can be handy in an emergency and if you need to make an urgent call, in most cases the costs will be prohibitive and you will be better off using other methods of calling home.