6 Ways to Keep in Contact from Abroad

When going abroad for a long trip or to stay and chill for a while, you may be worried about how you can keep in contact with family and friends you're separating from, perhaps for the first time. I wrote up this guide as a way to share what I currently do since it seems to be working pretty well. It assumes that you have regular internet access, though, so when you first get to your destination these things might not happen right away. Also, not going to cover the basics - you probably use Facebook and send email, for instance, so there's no point of putting those kinds of things in here. These are mainly ideas that I've found others didn't seem to know about when I told them. So here are those six ways!

1. Google Voice - Do yourself a favor and get it. Right now (though if you're already in a foreign country, you may need to download Hotspot Shield first to mask your non-U.S. IP address, which has the wonderful side effect of allowing you to view Hulu, Pandora, Netflix, and more). Stop reading this post and register for a new phone number via Google, because you won't regret it. I won't go into all the cool features that they break down on their site, but here's what you need to know: you register a new free telephone number which you can use to text and call people (yes, for free) from your computer (you can use an actual phone too of course, but not in foreign countries). When other people text that number you can check it online, and when they call it will ring in Gmail. If you're not there and they leave a voicemail, the message and text transcription will be saved online for you to view, download, email to others, etc. at any time.
   
   NOTE 5/3/10: I just set this up for a friend in Japan, and one thing I forgot to mention is that you need to (temporarily) link your new number to a US cellphone or landline number to activate it. Maybe find a friend overseas and give them the activation number, and then afterwards go into your settings and remove their phone number. Then you're good to go.
   
   What you may not know: One of the cool things about Google Voice is that you can get email notifications of texts, missed calls, and voicemails. In addition, you can change your email address from the standard Gmail to whatever you want - even your phone's email address. That's right, if your phone uses regular email (as cell phones in many countries seem to do, especially in Japan), then you can receive and send normal text messages, get notifications of missed calls and voicemails, and get voicemail transcripts from your friends and family back in the states. Did I mention that it's free?
   
   
2. Gmail - So now that you know you can make and receive free calls with Google Voice through Gmail, that site should be open pretty much all the time. I mean, if Gmail is your primary email, perhaps you're already going there fairly often. I suggest you take full advantage of Google's free services, which would include using the Gmail Chat sidebar as well. You've probably made up your mind by now about how you want to use instant messengers, but at this point you can't get more convenient than Google Chat, which also allows you to sign into AIM.
   
   What you may not know: Actually, you probably already know this if you've used the chat before, but there's also a video function. At this point, Skype seems to be becoming outdated faster than my English living over in the Japan hizzouse. So in summation, from Google we can make phone calls, send text messages, send emails, send instant messages, and have video chats, all from your browser without needing to download anything (with the exception of a possible video chat plug-in). Trust.. in.. Google. @_@
   
   
3. Skype - Yeah, I said it was becoming outdated, but there are still a few good uses left for this popular video chat program giant. For one, you probably have lots of friends already using it living in the U.S. or abroad. For two, on smart phones you can use convenient apps that at least let you audio chat, and possibly video chat if you have a front-facing camera.
   
   What you may not know:If you insist on using Skype to make phone calls to the U.S. (perhaps you've got some credit you're looking to use up), you can actually use your Google Voice number as caller I.D. Sure, you can call your Google Voice number first and dial out from there, but there's a shortcut. If you go to your Caller identification settings on the main website, with a few short text verifications and a 24 hour wait (ugh...), your Voice number will soon be displayed to phones in the states when calling out.
   
   
4. Blog - I'm not so great at this one, but I recommend keeping a blog while you're abroad. It's not only a great way to record your experiences while you're living them, it also, you know, reminds people that you're still alive. Traveling blogs are probably the best reason to have a blog to begin with, but once you have one you should be looking for fun things to write about. Writing blogs in conjunction with posting pictures and videos that you've taken works particularly well in my experience, both in helping you remember and in providing a kind of wide perspective for your travels.
   
   What you may not know: I use Blogger mainly because after some research I found that it was the most widely used blogging software, and therefore would probably have the best support for features and connecting to other popular web applications. But you can use whatever you want, I just can't be bothered to write about other sites. Oh yeah, and Blogger is technically owned by Google too, so score. If you subscribe to others' blogs from your Blogger profile, then those blogs will show up in Google Reader as an RSS feed.
   
   
5. Twitter - People give Twitter a bad rap sometimes, but it's a very easy way to make small blog-like posts on your adventures abroad. I originally got an account so that I could link it to my blog as a current-status type of thing, but I soon found that because it was so easy to post I would use it much more often than my actual blog. Right now I have mine synced to Facebook, but the cool thing about Twitter is that it keeps all of those status updates in an easy-to-reference timeline. Then you can go back and read about when you were drunk in the bamboo forest fighting off an army of ninjas and wild boar and just happened to have your phone on you at the time to mention it on Twitter.
   
   What you may not know: Like Google Voice, there's an easy way you can tweet from any phone that supports general email. The site Twitter Counter allows you to make an account (signing in using your Twitter account if you want) and create an email address that will be linked to your Twitter. Just send an email from your phone to that address and there's your tweet, which of course would update Facebook too if you so choose to link them. Another cool feature is the option to send pictures as attachments on your phone, which show up in your Twitter post as a link.
   
   UPDATE: In light of the events in Japan, I've made sure to link my Twitter to a number of sites just in case. So when I send an email to Twitter Counter, my status automatically shows up on:
   * Twitter
   * Facebook
   * Mixi (a Japan SNS)
   * Google Buzz
   * This blog
   * My Japanese blog
   
   
6. Postcards - With all of these great technological solutions, don't forget to send some of these out too soon after you arrive. And because of all the hassel these days of walking to the post office to send them, they'll probably mean more to the people you're sending them to than any of the above options.
   
   What you may not know: They still exist.

So there you have it. If you didn't learn anything new, then I think we'd have some interesting things to talk about! I researched most of this before I left for Japan, but for some things like calling using Google Voice from Gmail it was just released after I arrived.