DD Traveling to London- Best Way to Call Home

[Mimi Q]

17 yo DD is traveling to London for a week next month. I am trying to figure out the least expensive way for her to call us while she's there. Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

[rgf207]

If she is taking a computer, use skype. http://www.skype.com. It's free from PC to PC. I used to use this all the time when I traveled overseas for work.

 

[FireDancer]

I second Skype.

 

[PatsMom]

If not taking a computer, pre-paid phone cards are easy to use. When I went to France with my daughter's high school French class, some of the kids used those to call home.

I have to tell you that most of the kids in our group did not call home at all though. It was kind of understood that if there was a problem, the group leader would contact the parents. Other than that, just assume the kid is having a great time. With the time differences the kids did not want to be tied down to having to make phone calls at certain times. They had pretty full schedules.

My daughter and I called to say goodbye to my husband from the airport in Boston and then called him again when we returned!

If you decide to go with phone cards, they are readily available.

 

[Mimi Q]

She isn't taking her computer with her.

 

[AnnaS]

Does your daughter have a phone with the internet? That might be another option. When my son went to Italy (high school trip), we emailed each other a lot.


Just another thought.

 

[just4today]

She can get a pre-paid cheap phone from Carphone Warehouse, or O2, or any cellular store. They are usually about 14-15 pounds, including 10 pounds of pre-paid talk time. That would be enough to call home a few times.

 

[Nennie]

We went to London last year and rented UK capable cell phones through our current cellphone company (verizon) before we left. Verizon shipped the phones to us before we left, which included instructions on forwarding calls to our regular number to the UK phone.

Outgoing calls weren't too expensive, but the best part was that incoming calls were free! So if we needed to call home, we'd call and then have the person just call us back (they would only have to dial our local number).

It was definitely worth it, and was nice to have a cell phone while we were there for making calls within the UK as well.

 

[funhouse8]

We went to London last year and rented UK capable cell phones through our current cellphone company (verizon) before we left. Verizon shipped the phones to us before we left, which included instructions on forwarding calls to our regular number to the UK phone.

Outgoing calls weren't too expensive, but the best part was that incoming calls were free! So if we needed to call home, we'd call and then have the person just call us back (they would only have to dial our local number).

It was definitely worth it, and was nice to have a cell phone while we were there for making calls within the UK as well.

I also rented a phone from AAA. The outgoing calls costed money but if I used a calling call to call her the calls were free. I told her I will be calling her everyday at a certain time and she picked up each day. My DD was also 17 and went with friends to visit friends in college so no group leaders there. LOL

 

[Rora]

My mom and I travel to Europe over most Spring Breaks (she's a High School teacher and takes her students- we get to go for free! Yippee!) and we always use phone cards. We get them from warehouses like Costco or Sams and buy 2 for each of us.

They work really well for us as we make one phone call a day home to our husband/fiance.

OP- hope your daughter has a great time!!

 

[laurafergie]

When my two DDs went to Europe last spring, our cell phone carrier (Verizon) sent us an International capable phone to take to Europe, as their cell phones they owned were not international capable. I want to say it was $35 for the phone. You are "renting" this and then it was a really low rate for speaking. But texting was high - like .50 each, sent and received! This was the best solution for us.

 

[ElizK]

Is your wireless service through AT&T? You can buy an international SIM card.

 

[golfgal]

Check with your cell phone carrier to see if you can switch to an international plan for a few weeks. Personally I would not do anything and if she NEEDS to call home, have her buy a phone card THERE, not here. I would not expect a phone call if she is only going to be gone a week.

 

[golfgal]

Also, there are probably internet cafe's all over the place so she could probably find one to send an email if necessary.