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When you're on the road enjoying yourself it is nice to stay in touch with those not so lucky as you.

eMail or Internet

Most towns that you visit will have an internet cafe, Telecentre, library or other access to the internet that will enable you to send and receive eMail.

This is an excellent and low cost (if you shop around) way of keeping up with news from home and keeping family and friends up to date with your travel. Time saving too if you type up the one message and send it simultaneously to many addresses.

It is a good idea to check with your ISP (Internet Service Providor) as to how to connect to your mail service when you're at a site away from home.  It's not difficult if you know how.  The likes of Hotmail are universally known and easily connected - although I find them somewhat slow.

Mobile Phone

A mobile phone can be useful for booking ahead, staying in touch with family, friends and fellow travellers but do remember that unless you have the very expensive satellite phone, most mobile phones only operate in populous areas. 

Telstra seem to be the service with the best coverage.  Unfortunately on our trip (around Australia) we had another "service providor" which turned out to be useless outside of the cities or major centres.

Some people travel with a portable computer with a "patch" to their mobile phone for eMail receival and transmittal.  I'm a "techy" myself but I didn't really see the need for that sophistication.

Good Old Fashioned Mail

Getting your mail sent on ahead to the Post Office works well enough but make sure that it is well addressed and that you give it plenty of time to get in ahead of your arrival. (Post Restante - i think?) We met several  people on the road who were forced to stay in a town extra days because their mail hadn't arrived.

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