Staying in contact while away!!

[warwicks]

Hi Everyone,

If you are anything like me when you are on long haul you end up with huge phone bills texting and calling the other half while drunk- or calling friends saying stupid things like "im on the beach, what are you doing!!"

Well I thought I would let you all know that I have found a great way to stay in contact with them all at home. The Tesco internet phone is £15 and you use your broadband connection to make calls- any internet phone- internet phone call is completely free and then it is about 2p a minute to call a landline at home or 10p a minute to call a mobile.

For people to call your internet phone while you are away is the normal cost of a UK landline call.

If the hotel you are staying in does not have an internet connection just make sure that your partner, loved one, dog sitter has an internet phone back in the UK and they can call your hotel in the US/ Caribbean/ Asia for between 2p- 10p a minute.

Hope you guys find this as useful as I have

[Gatwick07]

Sounds great! Might have to invest in one of those.

[SuperBoy]

Won't help if your on the beach.

[ozskipper]

Umm, try skype.... and its free!!

[SuperBoy]

Skype to skype is free. Skype to landline or mobile is charged, virtually free though,

[TightSlot]

Skype rocks!

Can't recommend Skype too highly - slick software and very cheap calls to landlines. I ring home at least once a day when away, often with video link. IMHO, every crew should have one. MSN is a useful backup, since some countries (esp. Middle Eastern) have blocked access to Skype servers.

What I'd love to know is why the assorted domestic disasters (broken teeth, arguments with neigbours, sick dogs, non-starting cars etc.) only seem to happen when I'm away and can do nothing about them?

[flyblue]

why the assorted domestic disasters (broken teeth, arguments with neigbours, sick dogs, non-starting cars etc.) only seem to happen when I'm away and can do nothing about them?

Murphy's laws

• If anything can go wrong, it will
  Corollary: It can
  MacGillicuddy's Corollary: At the most inopportune time
• If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong
• If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway
• If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop
  Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse
• If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something
• Nature always sides with the hidden flaw
  Corollary: The hidden flaw never stays hidden for long.
• Mother nature is a bitch.
• Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics
  Things get worse under pressure.
• The Murphy Philosophy
  Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.
• Quantization Revision of Murphy's Laws
  Everything goes wrong all at once.
• Murphy's Constant
  Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
• Addition to Murphy's Laws In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right ... something is wrong.

• More Laws
• Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
• It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
• Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
• Rule of Accuracy: When working toward the solution of a problem, it always helps if you know the answer.
  Corollary: Provided, of course, that you know there is a problem.
• Nothing is as easy as it looks.
• Everything takes longer than you think.
• Everything takes longer than it takes.
• Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
• Every solution breeds new problems.
• The legibility of a copy is inversely proportional to its importance.
• no matter how perfect things are made to appear, Murphy's law will take effect and screw it up

[angels]

Tightslot - Mme Bleu beat me to it.

I think you'll know it as sod's law though.....

[TightSlot]

Don't you just hate it when somebody else is just so... right

[warwicks]

Originally Posted by SuperBoy

Won't help if your on the beach.

There is a cordless phone that works upto 300m from its base

Skype to skype is free. Skype to landline or mobile is charged, virtually free though,

Like skype- Tesco internet phone to internet phone is free

[airborne_artist]

And because a Tesco phone has a UK local dial code eg 01234 xxxxxx, calls to it from BT landlines and from mobiles may well be free if they are using bundled minutes, or on one of the BT options that gives free calls to UK nos (BT option 2 is free at evgs and w/e, BT option 3 is free, always).

Skype In numbers are 056 XXXXX, which will not be free from any mobile or landline, ever.

So, take your Tesco phone, quick call saying "call me back", or an email, "call me at XX time", and it's free for both of you.

[Juud]

Originally Posted by TightSlot

....... the assorted domestic disasters (broken teeth, arguments with neigbours, sick dogs, non-starting cars etc.) only seem to happen when I'm away and can do nothing about them

Exactly the reason why I hardly ever call home when out flying. Knowing about all stuff that goes wrong upsets me, more so when there is zilch I can do to make things better. What´s the point?
Home has the number of Ops, the kids knew it by heart from a very young age, so when disaster really strikes, I´ll know soon enough.


Worst ever was husband calling me in Tokyo to tell me that our Au Pair had been caught trying to get our kids to go into neighbours´ houses and steal stuff..... and him (husband that is) about to leave on a business trip and what should he do?

[kmp1]

Yep Skype's the best....