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Travel Now by Ihla Crowley Drifter Sister Communicating While Abroad Last month I passed along some information about how you can use your own cell phone abroad. I also promised to go into a little more detail this month. So here goes.

To review: 1. If you are going to just use the phone for emergencies, or to call home once or twice while away, your carrier will add world class roaming at no extra charge. Calls will be 99¢ a minute, and you will be charged for incoming minutes as well. Just call your carrier a week or two before you leave to tell them where you are going and the dates of your trip. 2. If you will need to use your phone a lot, a cheaper way is to buy and install a prepaid sim card once you are in the destination country. You will get a local phone number – and much, much lower calling rates. For either of these options you will need a world-capable multiband phone such as many models offered by Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung. And it must be an ‘unlocked’ world phone. (Some cellphone operators sell ‘locked’ phones, that won’t work.) Check with your carrier to see if your phone qualifies, or, if you’re ready to buy a new one, make sure it qualifies. A third option is renting a phone. You can do this in most countries once you’re there, but it is preferable to do it before you leave, so you can give loved ones and business associates your number. This is not cheap – usually $40 to $50/week, and airtime fees are high – up to a dollar a minute (although incoming calls are usually free). Two good wireless rental companies are InTouch USA (800-872-7626; www.intouchglobal.com) and RoadPost (888-290-1606; www.roadpost.com). For Italy: Rentacell (877-736-8355; www.rentacell.com) will even deliver the phone to you for free. If this is still as clear as mud, all the above information – in more detail – can be found at www.driftersister.com where I have a little more room to elaborate. (Reference: Italy for Dummies, 3rd Edition, by Bruce Murphy and Alessandra de Rosa) Catch the wind… Taste the rain… And touch all of your tomorrows…

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