Tips for How to Keep in Touch While Traveling

Handwritten notes are a great way to stay in touch.

Traveling for a long duration of time can make your family and friends worried about your well being. Here are some tips for how to keep in touch with them while traveling.

My longest trip abroad was for just over two months in the summer of 2013. Whether you’re going abroad to travel, teach, or just visit, these tips should help you keep in touch.

Traveling today is much different than traveling twenty years ago. Imagine all the great technologies that don’t exist. There weren’t any computers send updates to Twitter or Instagram. There wasn’t a way to take your phone overseas without huge international fees. I’d be willing to bet that it was a whole other experience.

However, with the huge increase that technology has had on our daily lives, it makes keeping in touch back home a lot easier.

While traveling, I recommend setting up a travel blog or posting to an Instagram once a day just so people know you’re still alive. During my first trip, I actually queued posts to appear 6 times a day for 3 days. This way, when I would arrive back at a place with wifi, I would queue up what I saw earlier in the day to post automatically. If you haven’t seen our post on the best travel apps, check it out.

One thing I need to start doing is sending hand written post cards. I usually pick up a postcard or two to hang on my wall from places I’ve visited, but I’ve never sent any before.

If you don’t have an international cell phone (or use T-Mobile) with you but still have access to a computer, you have the entire internet at your fingertips. Anything from a Skype call to posting on other social media accounts should keep you in touch with family and friends while traveling.

With technology surrounding us, it is nice to have a day to leave your phone behind and get lost in a city’s alleyways.