Calling Home from Europe

In most of Western Europe you will be able to phone directly home in seconds. In Eastern Europe, some phone systems are more modern than others, and you may need to use an operator, or a direct phone service, if you can’t say “please reverse the charges” in Polish. Your guidebook should give the details, as most of the less modern countries are catching up in a hurry. In any country where there is a real problem direct dialing, go to a hotel and ask for help. It may be more expensive, up to twice as much as a regular call, but you will almost surely be able to get through.

To call home cheaply, pay for a call, or call collect only long enough to spit out your phone number for a call back (call at a cheap time for the folks at home to call you). In many countries, you can also buy cheap-rate phone cards. You just dial a given number (from any phone - private or public), type in the PIN given on the back of the card, and then call the number you need; calls to the US and Australia can cost as little as USD 0.05 per minute. The cards are on sale at shops (typically tobacconists), which generally have various posters up in the window advertising all the different cards and their rates.

To call home, you will need the international access code for that country, the country code (”1″ for the United States), and the area code and number, without another “1.” To call information in Oakland, California, from Warsaw, you would dial:00-1-510-555-1212