If you love to go for long-term trips abroad, then you will probably already be aware that these kinds of experiences do tend to pose more potential issues compared to short-term trips. One of the things that you are going to want to look into is the issue of how you can keep in touch with people back home when you are traveling. There are many people who might want to be in touch with you, personally and professionally, and it’s important that you are allowing them to do so. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples of how to do this.
Messaging Apps
One of the easiest ways to ensure you are keeping in touch with everyone is to have a messaging app – or a couple – on your phone. Most people are already using these, so you might not even need to think about this, but nonetheless it is worth making sure that you have at least one commonly used messaging app before you go abroad. If people know they can message you on WhatsApp, then that is probably going to make a huge difference to how easily they can keep in touch with you.
Video Calls
These days, it is easier than ever to keep in touch using video calls. The past year has proved just how good this technology can really be, and it’s something that you are probably going to want to make use of if you are traveling for a long time abroad. You can either take a laptop with you and use Zoom or something similar, or you can simply use your smartphone and Facetime with people, or whatever the alternative is for the phone you use. Video calls can be great for keeping in touch, because you can actually enjoy seeing people’s faces – and you will feel a lot more in touch as a result, compared to just messaging.
Social Media
When social media first came out, it was always posited as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. Although this turned out not to be the primary motivation of those companies, there is no doubt that you can still use these networks as a means of keeping in touch with people back home. When you are traveling, checking in on social media can give everyone in your life a good overview of what you are up to – and you can also message people privately through these apps too, giving more of the personal touch.
Blogging
In a similar fashion to using social media updates, you could consider starting a travel blog – or adding to one you might already have – as a way of providing updates to people who might be interested to know about what you are up to. Again, this is not really personal, but it can be good for letting everyone know where you are and so on – and in combination with other methods it can prove to be a handy means of staying in touch with people in your life.
Virtual Mail
It’s not just friends and family you might need to keep in touch with – if you are a manager or an owner of a business, you will also need to make sure that you are accessible to anyone wanting to contact the business. There are many ways they might do this, of course, but post is often going to be one of the main ones, and you need to make sure that you are able to read any mail you might receive while abroad.
How is that possible? Well, it’s actually quite simple: you just need to get a physical address online where you can view the mail online virtually. This is a great solution to this issue, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it can be to set it up and subsequently see any mail that someone might want to send you or your business.
Postcards
Finally, let’s not forget the humble postcard. Although they might not be the absolute favorite anymore, let’s be honest – we all still love receiving a postcard from time to time. If you are going to send postcards, make sure that you do it right, and really fill every inch on the back with updates as to what you have been doing! You will find that the people in your life really do appreciate this, and it can offer a great callback to a time when postcards were much more common.
