Keeping communication lines open when you are away on a trip is necessary. It makes it easy for your loved ones to share in your experience or notify proper authorities and know how to act on your behalf if something goes wrong. Sometimes, If they have been to the destination where you are headed, they can give you useful advice if you keep in touch.
There are three main ways to keep in touch when you travel:
- Send pictures – Whether you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, make sure you share pictures of your trip with friends and family. If you don’t want the pictures in public domain, you can specify and insist on privacy. For instance, let’s say you are traveling to Kaduna to visit Kajuru Castle or Fifth Chukker and your family is worried for your safety, You can send pictures when you are boarding a flight or train to get there, another when you arrive in Kaduna, and later on of the first sights you see when you get to your destination. That way they will have a visual idea what you are experiencing. You can even keep them updated throughout the trip by sending them pictures of your adventure till you leave that place.
- Talk on the phone – Decide on a time of the day when you will be free to receive and make audio or video calls. Let your loved ones hear the excitement or disappointment in your voice. It helps to share your experience with them. There are a lot of things pictures may not say, so create time to talk about those things. Always have multiple SIM Cards on you or have a phone with Dual SIM slots. That way if the reception on one network is down, there would be another line you can be reached on. An example would be someone traveling from Benin to Lagos, somewhere on the journey, MTN network may be out but with a phone that harbors an extra sim with either Airtel or Glo you can easily send an SMS or put a call through to let your host know when you will be arriving.
- Send Emails – Work or Business related matters, and extended family drama can be handled by emails. Unless your work is time sensitive, requiring an urgent response, an email would do. Sometimes addressing certain issues can upset you and ruin the fun of your holiday. With an email, you are not under any specific obligation to attend to them urgently. Keep annoying argumentative conversations for when you get back from your trip. True, there are possibilities of having a poor internet connection which might be a drag. If being unreachable via email would cost you dearly, look for a hotel or place where there is free functioning Wi-Fi; connect your device to that network and stay connected.
Time zone difference, bad Wi-Fi connections, the need to rest or too much activity are a few of the reasons people stay out of touch when they travel. Don’t take it for granted that you everything and everyone will be the way they were when you left for your trip. Endeavor to always keep in touch, don’t let out of sight be out of mind.
