Ways to Keep in Touch When Living Abroad

By Chantal Panozzo

Flying home isn't always a solution

One of the hardest parts about living abroad is being far from friends and family. Mothers moan that they’ll never see their grandkids (never mind if they don’t even have grandkids). Fathers say that your mother misses you (after all, they would never admit missing you themselves). And you can barely keep up with all your family members, not to mention maintain your old friendships. So what’s an expat to do? Here are ways of keeping in touch that have worked for me.

One: Keep a blog

Many expats (i.e. moi) start blogs because they can no longer keep up with their email. A blog can be a great way to let friends and family know what you are up to. And if you don’t want the rest of the world to know it as well, it’s easy to password-protect your blog so only your intended audience reads it. To set up a blog, visit blogger.com or wordpress.com.

Two: Make time to talk

I try to call my family regularly. While we don’t set up actual times and dates, we usually talk about the same time each week. Often, local phone companies don’t offer competitive rates to foreign countries, but other methods, such as using calling cards or Skype, can make calling an affordable option for staying in touch. For calling cards, you’re already on the right site, For Skype, visit skype.com.

Three: Join a networking site

This goes without saying, since millions of people are already on Facebook. But if you want to know what your friends and family are up to and vice versa, Facebook can be a powerful tool. Just don’t expect it to take the place of personal visits, calls, and emails. Sometimes I find that being friends with someone on Facebook means I’ll actually forgo the personal updates for something much more generic.

Another way to stay in touch is to create your own custom social network by using Ning. www.facebook.com or www.ning.com.

How do you stay in touch while living abroad?

Chantal Panozzo is a writer in Switzerland who has written for a variety of publications on two continents. She’s the author of One Big Yodel, a blog about life in Switzerland and moving abroad, and also discusses living abroad as a freelancer at Writer Abroad.