Call-back

In our experience a call-back service is the best answer.  It should be one that you are billed for later rather than a pre-paid one.

How call-back works: you phone a designated number, let it ring once and put down.  The service then calls you back automatically almost immediately.  When you answer, you are prompted to dial the subscriber number and you are put through.

Most call-back services are based in the USA, which means that you get the more favourable US rates instead of the higher rate that the hotel would charge you.

Call-back with a mobile phone

In order to avoid the bother of having to access the Internet in order to keep changing the call-back number, it is convenient to use the call-back in combination with a mobile phone.  That way the number stays constant even when you move between countries.

For this you need an “international” SIM card and a GSM phone.  The SIM card can be obtained from the same service provider as the call-back service, and they frequently also rent or sell suitable GSM-compatible phones.

The number is usually Estonian because Estonia has a very liberal phone system (and is the country that Skype came from).  Anyone phoning your number will pay the international call costs to Estonia.  You will also be able to receive SMS text messages from anywhere in the world, which the sender pays for.

Limitations

Check if the phone you intend using is compatible with your service provider.  For instance, we found that a Nokia 95 could not send SMSes with a United World Telecom SIM card.  The similar but older Nokia N70 is fully compatible, which we only found out by experiment after returning home.  As a result we could not send text messages whilst travelling across Europe.

We suggest that you select a service provider that states phone compatibility on their web site.  One such company is One SimCard, who have an exhaustive list of compatible GSM phones.  (If you are aware of others please feel free to register and add a comment.)

For travel within the US different arrangements will have to be made as it is a stronghold of the CDMA phone system.  Cheaper calls can be made with a mobile phone and direct dialling rather than call-back.

Dames Street Dublin - special event.

There are two reasons for this:

• You could miss out on something fun, and
• You might ruin your holiday by mis-timing

Most times it is something that is good that you will kick yourself for when you arrive back home and your friends ask you about it: “So how was Oktoberfest?” they may ask.  “We did not go anywhere near Bavaria when we were in Germany,” you may sadly reply.

Similarly, May Day celebrations in Moscow can be quite interesting because of the massed display of military might.  If you visit some other attraction on the day, you could be disappointed.

Other experiences may not be so much fun.  China’s New Year celebrations can be very impressive and festive indeed – these are the clever people that invented gunpowder after all, and they use an awful lot of it at displays during that time.  However, if you are planning a long-distance railway journey across China at the wrong time, it may be very unpleasant indeed.

Many thousands of Chinese citizens cram into the trains at the start to the Chinese New Year, in order to return to their villages of origin.  Congestion on public transport is bad.  Furthermore, it is not unheard of for them to wear adult incontinence nappies because the pressure on the lavatories is severe and it can take 30 hours to get home.  Think of being stuck in public transport at close range with used incontinence nappies, with perhaps 80% more people in the train than usual and the mind forms an unpleasant picture.

There may be other disruptions.  Some arise at short notice, so you may need to be adaptable (because it may be too late to defer your holiday).  In Paris, for instance, it has become almost customary to strike in spring or autumn.  You may need to scan local newspapers even if you cannot read the language!  The word to look for is grève.  Depending on whose turn it is you may expect certain forms of transport not to be functioning, or farmers may decide to turn the Champs-Elysees into a farm, as they did in 2010.  Very clever, even pretty and a charming way to protest, but even if you have your own transport that will make it really difficult to get around!

— Contributed.