Now that the world is becoming a smaller place and travel is becoming less expensive, more people than ever before are leaving these shores. Students are taking gap years and business people are taking career breaks whilst the elderly and wealthy buying property abroad.  And all of these people is likely to be offered everything from travel insurance to day trips at reduced rates.

So, why then is the cost of staying in touch with home such an expensive business? The mobile phone is a travel (every day) necessity these days, ensuring that you can stay safe and in touch with home. Whether it’s the kids texting friends back home, gap year students checking in with their parents or the fact that you might want just to hear a friendly voice, it doesn’t need to cost a fortune to keep in touch.

Staying in touch with friends, family or colleagues while travelling is a priority for most people, but often the choices of communication are not that clear or indeed understood. Here is the 0044.co.uk guide to staying in touch while you’re abroad.

• Hotel/motel phone – convenient if your room or dorm’ happens to have one, but they are often very expensive especially for long distance international calls. Remember to check the rates and your room bill before you depart. Hotel’s often take advantage of their captive market and are known to charge in excess of £1.00 p/min!

• Phone cards – portable and cheap. The only downside is that you’ll need to find a land line to use them. Our global phone card can be used whilst in 155 countries to make international calls from just 5p/min. Credit can be purchased in values of £5, £10 and £20.  The phone card is definitely the best solution if you want to call home for a long chat. For further information please click here.

• Mobile phones – perhaps the most convenient, but also can be the most expensive as you pay international roaming rates to make and receive calls when using your phone abroad. Check your network for the call charges they apply while abroad. However, most UK networks will charge you over 60ppmin to receive a call and 60ppmin to make a call and is some countries this can be as high as £2.00p/min!!

• Foreign or International SIM cards – used in your existing mobile phone in place of your UK network, these offer a cost effective solution and mean that you can still use your mobile abroad and avoid all international roaming charges. By utilising a foreign or international SIM card you become a local mobile phone user. Consequently you do not have to pay extortionate roaming charges and can call the UK for as little as 7p/min. To view our range of SIM card please click here.

• Voip – The cheapest solution to staying in touch however it is often the most impractical. Voip allows users to make cheap calls over the internet via a microphone and a broadband connection. The easiest way to get online whilst abroad is via internet cafes. Many internet cafes do not allow the download of applications such as skype to make calls that is why we created 0044 Talk Online. By accessing our website you can connect to Voip and make calls for Free wherever you are in the world. For further information please click here.

• Internet café / Email – Probably the easiest and most convenient way to keep in contact with those you’ve left behind. You can find internet cafes all over the world and their rates are very cheap. So get typing!

• Internet – such a useful thing, how did we ever do without it! Try the numerous online photo albums and travel logs that are out there.

• Letters and postcards – Stay in touch the old fashioned way with a hand-written letter or postcard, it will definitely by appreciated!