By: Hobie
Lunin
Staying in contact while on vacation
Several people have asked me how they can keep up
their e-mail correspondence when they go on vacation. Actually, this is a good idea, as you can keep up a running
commentary on your whereabouts and doings that will keep your friends up to
date on your activities. If you send a
copy to yourself at home, when you get back you will have a nice journal of
your trip.
More and more hotels now offer the opportunity to go
on-line free or for a small fee.
Sometimes, during busy hours they may restrict you to a fixed amount of
time.
At many airports I have visited in recent months
there have been computer kiosks for public use, some are free.
These will allow you to access your e-mail if you have
made some arrangements before hand. If
you are now using a web-based e-mail such as Yahoo or Hotmail, this is not a
problem. Some other services like
ATT.net want you to down load some additional software to accomplish this. So, unless you have already been accessing
your mail from other computers or know that you can do so, you must check with
your ISP. I know that AOL now has that
service. You must remember your user name
and password as you may have it set to be entered automatically at home but it
will be required for you to type it in when you are no the road.
If you do not have this service available to you
with your current ISP, my suggestion would be to get yourself an address at
Yahoo, which will cost you nothing, and you need no special software to access
if from any computer in the world.
There is no charge for this. It
will mean that you have to load up the Yahoo address book before you go, or
bring a list of e-mail addresses with you.
When you stop at a hotel, check out the lobby to see
what they offer. A recent trip to
Europe required a one Euro coin to operate the lobby computer for some nominal
length of time. A Euro is about an
American dollar recently. Find out if
there are any special instructions to go on-line especially if it may be
written in a language that is foreign to you.
This charge can be put on your bill most places. Try to be courteous if there are a number of
people waiting. If you are lost and
need directions, by all means get them, but if you are just surfing and there
are people waiting, come back later.
An alternate is an Internet or Cyber café. These are located in many large cities and
towns now. Ten cents (approx.) per
minute is a typical (and reasonable) rate.
Some have minimum fees but all seem to be reasonable, as there is plenty
of competition when the tourist season arrives.
It is a good idea to ask (if you speak the language,
and today almost everyone who has a business around the world speaks a little
English) what kind of connection they have (dial-up, cable or DSL) and whether
the time charges include waiting to be connected. As you probably know, broadband is faster than phone connections
and so you will spend less times sending the same mail at a place that has a
broadband connection. If you cannot
find this out, try it anyway, if it seems to take too long or is too expensive,
try another place.
Some of you get e-mail on your cell phone (I send
messages to my son that way). There is
an upper limit on the number of characters in a message, but you can send
several a day rather than one long one.
This kind of connection will be helpful if you are lost or have an
emergency.
If you do not want to bother with e-mail but would
like to get input from home indicating everything is OK, there is another
idea. This would be in instances were
someone in the family maintains their own web site. They can add a page to the site that does not have a link from
any other pages at the site. This in
fact becomes a private web page. Only
people who know that particular URL (Universal resource Locator) or web address
can only access it. They can post news
and photos on that page and you will be able to access that page from any
computer that goes on-line. Remember to
take the address (URL) of the page and be sure of it’s accuracy by locating the
age at home before you start out. Those
at home can post pictures or other news to let you know all is OK with out
having to send e-mail.
In addition you can have any news of your trip
posted on the at same web page so that others in your family can use that page
to find out where you are on any given day an how to contact you if need be.
Changes in plans can be communicated that way
especially if airplane arrangements have to be changed.
On the home front, make sure that those who are
going tomeet you at the airport know that they can use their computer to find
out the status of your flight. They can
get he expected arrival time and the number of the baggage carousel, a very
convenient place to meet arriving relatives and friends.
Be sure to tell those involved the web address of
the airline and verify for them that the above information can be found on that
site. Some Airlines are really using
their sites to the fullest extent while others are not.
Hobie Lunin is a teacher and consultant and can be
reached at mouseclix2@yahoo.com.
Previous articles appear at http://mouseclix.tripod.com