How to Keep in Touch While in Viet Nam

I strongly suggest researching your communication options in Viet Nam before you travel. If you have a few ideas and resources planned out before you leave, you will thank yourself when you’re in country and your mind is wrapped up in your new child. My husband and I called home from the hotel phone a few times and our parents called us, but that was ridiculously expensive. My main outlet and means for communication was my blog. We brought our laptop, so I was able to upload pictures in our room, then go downstairs into the hotel lobby, plug into their dsl line and post them to our blog. This helped ease the homesickness greatly for me.

• Set up a free blog before you go (one site to try is blogger). You can post updates from your hotel or the many (and very inexpensive) internet cafes around town. You may not be able to post pictures from the cafes, but your hotel will likely have computers and internet access that you can connect your camera to.

• Ask your agency about the phone and internet options at your hotel. This way you can be prepared to use an internet café if your hotel does not provide internet access, or if it is expensive.

• If you are bringing your laptop, you can download a program through Skype that lets you purchase minutes and talk to any phone number in the world on a headset connected to your computer. I would recommend setting everything up before you leave, so you have one less thing to think about while in country.

• International calling cards are wonderful to have, but not all will work from all phones. Some favorable recommendations that I received from my agency were Onesuite and Enjoy Pre Paid.
• If you or your spouse is staying home while the other travels and you will be speaking frequently, be sure to set up times for daily chats that fit in with both time zones. You will find a great time zone converter at this site.

• Another idea is to designate a contact person who will update your family and friends for you. By shooting off one email or making one phone call to them, your information will reach everyone interested. Be sure to provide your person with a list of names, phone numbers and/or email addresses of all the people you would like updated.

Related Links:
Viet Nam Packing Tips
Adoption Travel – Viet Nam Travel Factsheet

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