Stay Connected with Family & Friends This Summer With Skype

This summer my husband received an opportunity to travel outside of the country. Roller Coasters were on his mind and Europe was his destination, my husband was going on a Theme Park Review European Roller Coaster Tour. I’ve never been away from my husband for more than 3 days and this 11 day trip was not only the longest time away, he was away in a foreign country with minimal ways to communicate.

Over the course of 11 days my husband traveled through Italy, Switzerland, France, and Germany. Each day he would be in a new place and the thought of trying to communicate with him while gone was becoming stressful.

I contacted our cell phone company and we were quickly informed that communication with my husband via cell phone in Europe was going to cost us .50 a text message and $2+ dollars a minute for voice. When he was going to be gone for 11 days this was not going to work.

Can you imagine a cell phone bill with those rates after 11 days? Ugh

Luckily Skype made things easier for us while he was gone. With Skype I could video chat with my husband for free or I could call his hotel room through my computer for 2.3 Cents per minute.

We tried to use video chat a few times while he was traveling, however Wi-Fi is not something that comes as easily over in Europe. Internet connection on his end was very jumpy and it was one of those things if more than 1 person was on the Wi-Fi at a time, the other person would get kicked off.

Remind you of the olden days with Dial Up internet and call waiting?

When video chat did not work I simply used Skype to dial into my husband’s hotel room. While this feature is not free like video chat, the rates were very reasonable. When I told my husband that I was calling his hotel room phone with my computer through Skype he was very surprised. The quality was amazing and it was just like talking to him on a cell phone.

Being away from my husband for 11 days made me really tired, anxious for him to come home, and lonely. Thankfully my good mommy friends made it a little easier by group video chatting with me and our little ones. These women are my rock when times are hard and even though they live all over the country, Skype brings them right to me as if they lived next door.

Now that my husband is home, it’s now time for me to leave. This week I’m heading to Chicago with an awesome group of bloggers to attend the Brands and Blogger Summit ‘12 on behalf of Verizon Wireless!

This is the first time away from my babies and while I’m very nervous to leave them, Skype will keep us connected and will still allow me to check in with my little ones.

As we travel from Europe to Chicago, Skype has become a big part of my family’s communication this summer.

How has Skype changed the way you communicate with your loved ones?

Connect with Skype

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I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Skype. I received Skype credits to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.