8 Ways to Stay Connected with the World While Travelling Abroad

8 Ways to Stay in Touch with Family and Friends While Travelling Overseas

Travelling abroad can be one of the most memorable and enriching experiences of your life. Buying travel insurance policy is the first step to making your trip fun and stress-free. However, it is equally important to stay in touch with your loved ones at home while travelling. But are you wondering how to keep in touch with family and friends while travelling abroad?  Here are 8 simple tips that you can follow to communicate with your loved ones regularly while on your foreign trip:

1. Stay Connected Via Emails

Emails have become a vital part of our day-to-day world and can also help you to stay connected with your family. Thus, make sure to have access to your emails when you are travelling. Moreover, since emails arrive instantly and are completely free, you can use them more often to drop a short note to your family, especially if you are a student. Apart from this, you can also share your trip details, travel documents like student travel insurance or your itinerary copy with your loved ones at home.

Besides, emails are also helpful as they notify you of any information sent by your bank. So, make sure to stay connected via emails while travelling.

2. Use Social Media

Modern technology has given us so many social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, to connect with our loved ones from any corner of the world. While on your overseas trip, you can make brief status updates, post pictures, videos or even use messenger to tell your friends and family about your whereabouts. You can also use the check-in feature on Facebook to tell your loved ones where you are at that particular time. With the help of social media, you will not only be able to update your family about your location but can also share memories of you having fun during your journey.

3. Send Text Messages

Another easy way to keep in touch with your family is by sending them text messages. You can use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to send text messages to your loved ones via free Wi-Fi. In places where you cannot use these applications such as China, you can buy a local SIM card and use it to send updates to your family and friends.

If you are planning to go to any off-grid location where the mobile network may not be available or are going to keep your phone in flight mode, you can send a quick text message to your family at home informing them of your safety.

4. Use Video Calling Apps

If you are homesick and longing to see your family while you are away, you can use FaceTime for video calling them from your destination. Apart from Iphone’s FaceTime feature, many other apps also allow you to video call your loved ones for free. These include WhatsApp, Zoom, Facebook, Skype and more. All you need is a stable internet connection that you can easily get by using free Wi-Fi. Through video calls, you can spend quality time with your family and also show them the places you are visiting during your journey.

5. Get a Local SIM Card

If you are travelling abroad for your studies and plan to stay for a long time, you should consider buying a local SIM card so that you can easily call or text your family. A local SIM card will allow you to call your family at a comparatively lesser cost. Moreover, you will not have to rely on finding free Wi-Fi in the destination country. Alternatively, you can also get an international phone network plan if you don’t want to switch your SIM card. However, an international phone plan can be pretty costly and tricky if you are planning to stay abroad.

6. Keep a List of Emergency Contacts

An emergency can knock on your door any time during your journey. To promptly deal with such situations, it is important to stay connected with your friends and family along with some local authorities of the destination. Therefore, make sure to keep a list of emergency contacts such as the number of embassy consulate, number of a local police station, nearest hospital and pharmacy contacts, numbers of your friends and family, etc. in case you get stuck in any unforeseen situation during your travel. If you are a student studying abroad, you must also include the contact details of the TPA of your student travel insurance provider in your list of emergency contacts.

7. Register with Department of Foreign Affairs

If you are going to stay in the same foreign country for a while, you can also register with the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs. By doing so, you will permit them to contact you if there is an emergency in your family or any unfortunate incident has happened at the place you are travelling. Besides, if you have covered your trip with travel insurance plan, your insurer will pay for the losses incurred due to trip curtailment or cancellation.

Moreover, make sure to inform your bank about your travel plans so that it does not freeze your card for suspicious transactions in a foreign country.

8. Use Free Wi-Fi

Using mobile data around the world can be expensive, especially when you are on data roaming. Instead, you can make use of free Wi-Fi to stay connected with your family and friends. Wi-Fi is easily accessible in most countries these days. Moreover, your hotel may also provide a free Wi-Fi connection along with your accommodation. With the help of free Wi-Fi, you can use social media apps and apps like Skype and WhatsApp to stay in touch with your loved ones.

Wrapping Up!

Irrespective of where you are travelling or whether you are travelling solo or not, it is very important to keep your family updated about your whereabouts. Therefore, you must follow these above-mentioned tips to tell your loved ones that you are safe and enjoying your foreign trip to the fullest. Also, secure your trip against any financial adversities arising due to an unwanted situation by buying the right travel insurance policy for yourself. You can find the right travel insurance plans on websites like Policybazaar.com where you can also compare them and choose the one that suits you.

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