This humorous story comes to you from the depths of my sisters frustration and despair.
I mentioned some time ago about how she won a trip to Australia. Well that trip is taking place in September. It is two weeks that her and her husband will be in Australia while her son is just starting kindergarten.
Despite the fact that everything will be ok when she is gone of course she wants to make sure to she can talk to her little boy each day. So she does what any person planning traveling internationally would do and she calls her cell phone carrier.
She calls me starting to get a little freaked out because she was told their phones were not capable of this feature. The woman on the other line was not all to helpful about what she could do otherwise. Keep in mind tech talk to my sister is like talking Greek. She can run a restaurant in her sleep but when it comes to computers, technology, and all that jazz…well that is what I’m for.
So I gave her some options about what I thought she could do and she went on her way. By Thursday morning she had already talked to her cell phone carrier once again and was getting ready to call them back. She was extremely frustrated and getting more worried by the minute that she was going to be out of touch from her little boy for almost two weeks if she didn’t find a solution.
Exasperated she called my mother to explain the whole situation (my mother is the one that will be watching her son). My mother listen to everything she said and calming then said, “Well….can you just call us from the hotel?”
My sister just sat there for a second like a deer in headlights and said, “You mean like from an actual phone?”
After all the frustration and freaking out not once had she (or I for that matter) thought about the fact that she would actually have a land line in her bedroom to make calls.
Why didn’t I think of that? Technology has changed our way of thinking that is for sure!
Crafty says
Someone should go to ClarkHoward.com and read what he says. He has all the ways you can communicate for almost any country in the world. She may be able to buy an international SIM card for her phone or something as simple as that. They also have a call in number to talk to volunteers that will help you with anything like that for consumers.
Colleen Shibley says
Thanks I’ve given her the site so she can go check it out!
jinna says
That is too funny!!!
Brenda H says
I was hoping you got through the to cell phone carrier not even thinking of a cell phone. With calling cards and such, it should be a reasonable price to stay in touch! Your Mom has a great mind!!
Colleen Shibley says
Right now her plan is a calling card to keep in touch but she really wants to be reachable at all times. She can buy a $50 international phone that charges like $2.50 a minute or something but she is not going to use it. It is basically going to be with her for emergencies.
The problem is the whole vacation is planned and somewhat of a group thing so they don’t always have a say over where they will be.
Brenda H says
I meant that I wasn’t even thinking of a landline. I can see that as a problem. I cannot imagine having a little one that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with at least once a day. Hope she has fun!!
Mike says
She can rent a cell phone once she gets there – check it out here: http://www.cellularabroad.com/australiaRcell.php
I am pretty sure there are others.
Having lived in Australia, I would be concerned about keeping her devices charged. Australian outlets are different in prong arrangement than American.They also deliver a different amount of electricity – If I remember correctly, it is 220 volts. You can buy converters to the different electrical outlets that condition so that reaches the device is 110 AC current.
September is a great time to go. It is Australian spring…
MSM
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heather c says
It’s like trying to get into your car when the key fob doesn’t work, right? lol
Cresanna says
If she can go to an internet kiosk (some hotels may have them), she could possibly video chat with him over Skype.
James Cox says
Sounds like a brain Fart to me
Liz says
Skype? It’s very inexpensive to call a phone number in the US. If Grandma has a computer and webcam, they can even videochat.
Karen Greenberg says
Technology sure has changed our thinking. My daughter lost her cell phone earlier this week, and I told her it was going to suck that she couldn’t go out because I wouldn’t be able to get in touch with her. I wonder what our parents did. Oh, that’s right, they had the phone numbers to our friends’ parents and called their houses if they needed us!