Giving Out Your Contact Information Abroad

You will meet a lot of people during your stay abroad, even if you are staying only one week.

Locals will frequently ask for your contact information, so that they can "stay in touch" with you after you return home.

In our experience, these requests are genuine and
innocent, and even if you give them your information, you will never hear from 99% of them.

One way to manage this situation is to carry business (calling) cards that you can give out, that have your name, email address, country and telephone number.

You can get 250 free customizable business cards with Vista Print which ships worldwide.

Strongly consider creating a new email address (like Yahoo or Gmail) to be used only during your trip. Before you leave home, forward all emails from your regular email account to this one. The reason is security: Because you will most likely be using Internet cafes' public computers, you want to avoid password snatchers gaining access to your regular email account.

If you do not wish to give out your real phone number, consider signing up for a virtual phone number with a company like eVoice. They give you a US-based personal phone number that people can call and leave you voicemail. The voicemails are sent to you automatically as email attachments. Best part: It's free.

Many locals, especially children, will be very excited to have a calling card from a foreigner. Remember though: If someone gives you their contact information and you promise to contact them – follow-through and do it.