Keeping In Touch

There are several apps that people use to keep in touch with family and friends while they are travelling, especially when overseas.  Skype and FaceTime are still very popular across the board from Boomers to Millennials (Gen Y).  Our (Gen X here) personal fave is whatsapp.  It's ideal to use to when connecting with family and friends as long as your phone is connected to an internet network.  We often seek out free wifi spots when we travel. It can be annoying at times (ie...spotty connection in Florence, Italy near the Duomo), but overall it's a great app with the added benefit of not costing anything to make an international call.  It's more of a matter of getting everyone on board.  The other caller must have the app, have you on their phone's contact list, and also connected to the internet. We've messaged our Dad several times to get the app to no avail.  So we often call our brother, who has the app, and have him deliver messages that we're OK!!

A new one we've gotten hip to is MarcoPolo.  The app is a video walkie-talkie that acts much like a voicemail in that you can leave short video messages.  Similar to whatsapp, both parties must also have the app, be in your contact list, and connected to the internet.  However, no actual phone call takes place.  One annoyance is that when you first set up, it automatically invites the top 40 people in your contact list.  So be careful to disable this feature if you don't want to potentially spam your contact list. Either case, it's better than texting and you can see your family or friend's face.  Marco...Polo...Where you at!!

What are other ways you keep in touch with family using today's technology?

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