Hi

Got a ?? for those that travel overseas.

My parents are going to Germany for 3 weeks and are wanting to call back and check in occasionally.

What would be the least expensive way to do this?

They have cell phones with verizon.

Or could buy calling cards..

If you were to buy calling cards here, would they work in reverse to call from Germany to the US??

TIA Josie

My friend who lives with me, who is German, said that the cheapest way is a land line. She said they pay .01 a minute. If you are in a hotel and need to call to the US, she said the cell phone is very expensive.

She said a calling card would be the cheapest way, in her opinion. Hopefully someone else has better options!

I would say either use a blackberry or similar device that can be used internationaly or buy a phone card there. My parents usually just email us though. You can get computer access at the hotel or cafe's and email for free. You can even use a Voip if you are computer savy.

Are you bringing a laptop? You can use Skype....

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I second Skype, if they're taking a laptop. DD spent a month in Japan, and we didn't spend anything to talk using Skype.

I have used Cheap Prepaid International Calling Cards and Discount Long Distance Phone Service - OneSuite for years calling to Germany and I think you can now use them to call from Germany as well. It has worked well for us.

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We had a friend who went to Venezuela and they couldn't use their cell phones there, but ours would, we had Verizon. So we switched phones for the 2 weeks. They called home a LOT, they had 2 small kids and their phone bill was under $140 I believe.

If you choose to use Verizon, call them and let them know you are going to be out of the country and for how long. And make sure it will work there too, like i said the Nextels through Sprint wouldn't work. It might not be the cheapest way to call home, but it might be something they are already comfortable doing, kwim?

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