Before I went to university, I took a gap year. I decided to take a year off education to go around the world, explore new countries and meet new people. I went from the US to Australia to South East Asia to interrailing across Europe, and along the way I met a lot of new people who I wanted to stay in touch with. Of course it’s all very well swapping numbers, but everyone knows how expensive it can be to make phonecalls and send texts from abroad.
At first, I tried swapping email addresses with a few of my new friends before we went our separate ways, but I soon realised that it’s very unlikely anyone will have time to reply to emails, and by the time we’ve reached an internet cafe our news will probably be long out of date, scuppering any plans to meet up. We added each other on social networking sites, but the same problem applied: we were just too busy experiencing the world to get ourselves online.
Then, when I got to Thailand, I met up with a group of travellers who had been using international SIM cards. These allow you to use your mobile in a much cheaper way, meaning you can call and text everyone you meet without racking up a giant phone bill. It’s a much better idea to buy one international SIM card rather than getting an individual one for each country you visit because it means you have the same number for the duration of your trip so you don’t need to keep texting everyone to let them know where you are and how they can get in touch.
At first it felt a bit strange being stood in the Czech Republic and calling a friend in Australia to find out when they were planning the European leg of their trip. I was so used to avoiding phonecalls at all costs that I worried that it wouldn’t work and it’d cost me hundreds of pounds to catch up with people overseas. However, I checked my credit again later and everything was in order.
Everywhere I went after that, I asked people if they had international SIM cards so that we could stay in touch. Surprisingly few people knew what they were, so I told them how it worked and they all agreed it sounded like a good idea. It meant that suddenly it was so much easier to stay connected with the people I’d met, and my parents were happy because it meant I could give them a quick call when I arrived in each country to let them know what I was up to. While you can get by without one, it certainly made my trip a lot more fun and less stressful knowing I could get in touch with anyone at any time, and I’d really recommend them to other people.
Carla Bedouin writes for a number of online publications about her experiences travelling the world as a backpacker.
