Training in Austria

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jenny P said:

I will be headed to Austria to train for an upcoming competition. This
is my first time abroad. How do I keep in touch with my family since I
won't have a lot of time or money? They are my biggest support network
and I feel like I won't train as hard if I can't talk to them.

Two words: Internet Cafe

Martin Smith said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jenny P said:

I will be headed to Austria to train for an upcoming competition. This
is my first time abroad. How do I keep in touch with my family since I
won't have a lot of time or money? They are my biggest support network
and I feel like I won't train as hard if I can't talk to them.

Two words: Internet Cafe

True. That would be the easiest, IMO. I have not been to Austria, but
the internet cafe has been the easiest for me elsewhere in Europe.

If you have a cell phone provider that is not CDMA (Verizon), like
T-Mobile, I think you can swap chips by purchasing a prepaid cellular
overseas too.

I have never actually done this, but know people who have.

rsquared

Jenny P <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I will be headed to Austria to train for an upcoming competition. This
is my first time abroad. How do I keep in touch with my family since I
won't have a lot of time or money? They are my biggest support network
and I feel like I won't train as hard if I can't talk to them.

How exciting. I was in Europe competing two years back and I know what you
mean about missing your family and your support network. Right now, you are
just feeling jitters about traveling and going somewhere new. Once you
start training all of that should go away, and for the moments that they
don't call your family or have them call you. Using the Internet is a good
idea but how do you know your family will go online and sometimes it isn't
instantly gratifying. There is something so much better than hearing
someone's voice rather than reading words. If you are worried about cost,
which you should since international calls can be costly, use OneSuite.com.
I did a little research and found they have the best international rates.
It ain't much advice but at least it is something. Train hard and make your
family proud. Good luck to you.

Kate

You might consider subscribing to Skype (www.skype.com) to make cheap
calls over the internet. It's cheapest when both sides use it so you
have to convince your family to also subscribe. If you have a laptop
then using a headset makes it very userfriendly.

3Hank

Jenny P said:

I will be headed to Austria to train for an upcoming competition. This
is my first time abroad. How do I keep in touch with my family since I
won't have a lot of time or money? They are my biggest support network
and I feel like I won't train as hard if I can't talk to them.

rsquared said:

True. That would be the easiest, IMO. I have not been to Austria, but
the internet cafe has been the easiest for me elsewhere in Europe.

If you have a cell phone provider that is not CDMA (Verizon), like
T-Mobile, I think you can swap chips by purchasing a prepaid cellular
overseas too.

I have never actually done this, but know people who have.

Yes, picking up a pre-pay SIM card would be the way to go, but still
relatively expensive since you'll be paying for network time even when
they call you. And as stated it depends on having an unlocked phone
that will take the SIM. Its often as cheap just to buy an pre-pay
phone.

Internet access will be cheap and easy in big towns and web cams,
email, blogs etc. are all good ways to keep in touch. Skype is also
good if you can get it all set-up at both ends.

You could set up a journal and write daily on what you are doing and
they can post responses. Unless they are already bloggers on the same
system you need to set-your journal to public, but can keep their
responses private. This is sorta what I dod, but I've been in the US so
long the family have stopped reading and posting ;-)

++Mark.
http://triman.livejournal.com

ps. Getting a pre-pay SIM in the US was easy, getting a contract phone
was a nightmare, would have been easier just to commit a few crimes and
join the illegal community... no wonder its so big...