Staying in touch has never been so easy. In fact, with today’s technology, it’s very hard not to stay in touch. There are four main applications I use to stay in touch with those at home. These all require WiFi, and although you may think it is hard to connect to decent WiFi, you’d be surprised how bloody good it is in Vietnam & Asia in general. And they don’t charge you for every MB of data you use either. It’s just included in the price!
Video Calling
The most popular being Skype; however I was never that fond of Skype, rather opting for Google Hangouts pretty much 99% of the time. It works pretty darn good so why change something if it ain’t broken eh!
The introduction of video calling means you can obviously see and speak with someone as if they are in the room with you. It really is spectacular. When my brother moved to Canada he would ring my mother every week (and still does!) and could chat for a couple of hours. And it’s like he’s in the room with us. It’s pretty cool. In fact I almost forgot the last time I did actually see him in the flesh because I felt he wasn’t even that far away with him sitting, propped up on the kitchen table every week, although located thousands of miles away. An option I do sometimes use but rarely to be honest. Which brings me to the next app.
Viber
I think Viber is one of the best inventions ever! Like EVER! Before I left I didn’t find much use for it, rather the usual group chat amongst your friends, however it wasn’t until my brother (yes, the one in Canada) got set up with Viber did I realise how beneficial it is. Texting someone abroad for free, with connection to WiFi of course. But who doesn’t have WiFi these days or at least data on their phone. If my mother has a smart phone with 3G then surely the rest of you do! Although I am the one who made her do it, but in fairness, she has not looked back since!!
Probably the lesser used option, but definitely an essential. Rarely would I use this to contact family as it seems a bit too formal but is certainly better than snail mail!
Ah Facebook, where would we be without you! Well I guess, using one of the other social media platforms. But it’s still bloody popular so I ain’t throwin’ in the towel yet. Plus I now have my very own ‘Personal Blog’ page at; A Spoonful of Travel which I love updating with photos and other details of travels to date, so why would I?
I have all of the above applications on my phone, an iPhone 5S and I go between this and my laptop. Although I don’t have Viber on my laptop, I don’t even know if that’s possible?! Sometimes I just like typing on the keyboard anyway as I am that bit quicker on it.
Never has it been easier to stay in touch with family and friends as it is nowadays with everything in the palm on your hands, so there’s no excuse, really….ahem!
Thanks a million for reading and I'd be delighted if you would share it with your friends, it may very well come in handy to your very own followers!