Florida Guide > Miscellaneous
Keeping in Touch
Owners and sometimes guests who hire a villa for more than a week like to keep in touch with family and friends back home. This seems to be especially prevalent with new Grandparents.
As owners ourselves, we always in the past have spent four to six weeks at our villa but as soon as we became Grandparents for the first time, we dreaded being away from our new grandson for so long. We had been used to seeing him every week since the day he was born and the thought of missing that contact was just awful. (Especially for me, Grandma).
It is very easy to phone home from Florida as most villa owners allow free international telephone calls or if not, you can buy telephone cards from stores such as Walmart for about $10. Some management companies also sell them. Most people take their mobile telephones with them but that is rather an expensive way of calling to the UK from America so it is not advisable as you are not protected against vast expense as you are if you are in Europe.
If there is a computer or laptop in the villa that you can use you can always email your friends and family or upload photos on to social media website such as Facebook or Twitter.
However, there is a much better option and it is what we always do especially now that our Grandson is nearly 4 years old.
Skype.
If you take your own laptop or tablet your can open an account with Skype. Skype is a way of making free phone calls to anywhere in the world – free. BUT, the best bit is you can see and hear your friends or relatives using Skype. It uses the camera on your device you can see your (Grandson) or whomever you choose to call on the screen and at the top in a corner you can see how you look yourself, so you can make sure you have your whole face in the picture. This is the image your caller will see.
Skype is free to download and takes about 5 minutes to download and open an account. Once you have opened your account you have the option to test your picture and sound, to make sure it all works. You can even choose a photo of yourself so if your relatives or friends call you they can a photo of you. All this is achieved using your email account, it is just like emailing only you can have long conversations without it costing you a penny. Next just enter the email contact details into your phone book and when you want to call just click on the contact you want.
That’s it done. No more pining for a chat with your loved ones.
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