My Travels Through Spain

When people go on holiday, they don’t just forget about their family back at home. This is the case whether it’s a short weekend away or a longer-term travelling session. It might just be a case of a quick text to say that you’ve arrived, but sometimes, things can go wrong and you need to make lots of phonecalls home to sort things out.

Of course, for many people, everything goes without a hitch and it’s enough to send a quick postcard home. It’s usually the case that a ‘wish you were here’ will suffice, and most of the time, it actually arrives after the holidaymaker is home anyway. It’s always nice to receive a pretty postcard of a picturesque view, though, to be reminded that your relative is thinking about you.

The next step up is the holiday texter. You’re on your travels but you can’t bear to miss out on what’s going on at home. Maybe you need to text home to wish a family member a happy birthday, or you want to keep everyone informed about what’s going on. For example, if your son or daughter is off on their first ever holiday with their friends, it’s natural that they might want to keep you posted on what they’re doing each day. However, it’s easy to forget that texts from abroad can be costly, and you may get a nasty surprise when their phone bill arrives the next month.

Although nobody wants to think about it, sometimes the worst can happen abroad. Baggage can go missing, cards can be stolen or travel plans can go awry. Sometimes people end up with a bout of food poisoning or end up in A&E after an injury, and situations like this might require longer phonecalls. It’s not ideal to do this on your normal mobile contract, as making international calls can be extortionate.

This is why, before you go away, you should always buy an international SIM card. Tell your relatives your temporary ‘holiday number’ before you go, and let people know that you’ll be able to call them from that number if anything goes wrong. The benefit of an international SIM card is that it’s set up to work abroad instantly, and you don’t need to worry about being hit with a massive bill at the end of your holiday. You can prepay for the card so that you know exactly how much you have to spend, or set it to auto top up if you think you’ll need to make a lot of calls.

Going on holiday doesn’t mean that you have to cut yourself off from your family and friends at home. As long as you go prepared, you’ll be able to stay in touch without spending a fortune and without having to track down expensive internet cafes everywhere you go.