Telephoning home from Europe

We spent 2 weeks in France in August of 2009. Phone cards can be purchased at any local Post Office (this was about the only place we could find them). We bought a 15Euros card which lasted our entire trip with lots left over! I can't remember the per minute charge but it was very cheap.

If you have an netbook, small computer, ipod touch, ipad you can use Skype when connected over wifi in a hotel or coffee shop etc.. If you want to call a phone number you can buy a Skype credit for $10. I bought one 5 years ago and still have credit on that $10.

Be careful. On a trip to Europe in 2001, I bought a phone card at a post office. It turned out to be a local card, and we quickly used up the minutes with transatlantic long distance. I later got a prepaid card in this country, which gave me something like 5¢/min. However, I have discovered that with the time difference, there is at least 16 hours when one of us is sleeping or wants to be sleeping. If you include getting ready to sleep, getting ready to go to work, eating, it's even more time. I have found the simple email works better than calling. I send it when I can, and they answer it when they can.

We always use Skype on our laptop to call home at around 2 cents per minute. If you do not have a smart phone/ipad/laptop/netbook/etc., then a phone card will work, but you have to be careful to purchase one that works with the local phone system. If you travel around a lot, as you are indicating in your post, you may have to purchase a phone card in each country. Even within the same country you might find that a particular phone card does not work in all regions, or on all phones. Also, calling from a hotel room might not be free as they often charge a separate fee, or do not allow the use of phone cards, other than the ones they sell. Again, using Skype is a much better way to communicate even if you have to purchase time on the wireless network at a hotel.
We have seen many cases where people from the US buy a phone card here, that says it works anywhere in Europe, but they never were able to make it work while in Europe. Unless you get someone on the service here to recommend something that always works (doubtful), I would wait until you arrive and see what works there. Mona

Nancy, What I do in Germany and France on calling back here is to go to an internet cafe to use the phone in the booth. You pay the attendant afterwards,... that's the absolute cheapest way. Internet cafes in Germany are called Call Shops. You find them all over. The same applies to Paris. In Germany I also use phone cards where you the card into the public pay phone. No problem in buying those. I buy the 10 Euro card.

I always buy an international phone card when I arrive in a country. I get them in tobacco shops or Relay stores - ask at the counter for an international phone card. They are easy to use, and cost pennies a minute. Depending on what is available at the particular store, they may have "small" 7.50 Euro cards or "big" 15.00 Euro cards. The big card lasts me two weeks, even with fairly lengthy conversations. Be sure to confirm that it is an international card.

We do the same as Lisa (buy the calling card). Has always worked well except when we were in Sweden the last time. Our hotel would not let us use the card and we had a hard time finding any telephone booths to call from. In other countries it has not been a problem.

WOW! Thanks for all the great advice. Since we will not be traveling with computer, Ipod, etc. we will wait until we get there and put all your good advice to work! Thanks.

A Pin Card that can be purchsed at newstands and convenience stores is pretty cheap (especially if you use the one country cards). I've also used internet cafes and had some really good prices on calls home. I don't pack a computer. If you do, Skype is a good way to go.

You can wait and just buy your international calling card after you arrive...they're available in lots of places. You can also go online to a site like callingcards.com before you leave and buy one there. You can print it off from home, and you're all set. I've always just purchased them when needed in Europe, but this gives you another option. BTW, calling is cheap...like 2 cents per minute.