Departure in t-minus 7 days!! Wow!

This post is to share with you how to stay in contact with me while I’m abroad. I’ll be taking my iPhone 6 with me, but as when I studied abroad in Spain and lived in Egypt, I will not be upgrading with Verizon to an international plan (MUCH too expensive). Instead, I researched and found a great company called ChatSim. They understand the niche needed for international travelers that want to stay connected without breaking the bank. You can read about their company here, but the general gist is that you buy an international sim card from them, activate it online, and wherever you go ChatSim connects you to the best provider in whatever country you are in! Pretty cool, right?

The basic package (which I what I have) is texts and emojis only- no calling or data. There are a couple reasons for this. First, I suspect that with an influx of over 2 million people into Krakow, the wifi connectivity might not be great. Second, I want to be able to contact who I want, when I want, without worry. Our hostel does have free wifi, but I’m not going to rely on that as my only form of communication. I plan to insert the ChatSim sim card 1 full day before I depart to make sure everything is in working order. As of Saturday 7/23 I will be using the new number that ChatSim provides, so make sure you’ve followed my instructions by then 😉

As of this afternoon I have texted a number of you my “new” phone number that comes with the ChatSim card. All you need to do is go into your Contacts, find me, edit my information to include a new number (don’t delete my old one!), and then save! I’m trying to send it to everyone I talk to regularly, but let me know if you want it! 🙂

You will then go into your app store and download WhatsApp Messenger. It is a free app that allows texting all over the world. If you have an Apple device, click here. If you have an Android device, click here. Once you’ve installed WhatsApp, go into the app and follow the onscreen directions to verify your number and link your Contacts. Please send me a tester text message to make sure it is working. As I said before, the new international number goes live on Saturday! If you have any questions or need any help, just let me know! 🙂