An Emigrant’s Guide to Staying in Touch

Moving abroad can be exciting but sometimes a bit lonely. You have the chance to be in a new place, with new people, doing new things but at times you miss the familiar places, you feel like being with your family and your old friends and doing the stuff that you love doing together. It is equally hard if you are the one at home when somebody you love emigrated to some other country, maybe even on a different time zone.

However, you do not have to be alone. Social media is a great tool for keeping in touch and sharing moments. Also, social media is never asleep. You can say “I miss you” and even if they are asleep, half way around the world, your text will be the best way for loved ones to wake up. And if you are a little more creative, you can audio record your message, send a video or draw it. You could then take it a step further and go on Couple and create a private timeline, an intimate, secret space for you and your significant other to share thoughts, events, photos and so many special moments.

Even if you have a cold, there’s no need to feel sad. Just Skype your mother and she will walk you through her secret soup recipe. You will feel better in no time. Or if you want to talk to many friends at once, Hangouts is one option. You can start a conference with many people, for free, then add filters, draw on the screen, add silly hats, symbols, bow ties and other fun stuff.

If you are on the go you can share it via WhatsApp and never worry about your friends not seeing that beautiful sunrise that you are about to see. You can create a group and share your day while you all have a beer even though you are in different cities. Probably, the best way to stay in touch is to always stay in touch. For example, if you are living in Australia and your family is in the UK you can video conference them in the morning and they will tell you all about their past day. During the day you can drop them a text that they will read at breakfast and that you will be able to discuss at the end of your day, when they are in their lunch break. Or, if you are just across the Atlantic you are in even bigger luck because you can practically talk almost all day long. With a time difference of five (UK-East Coast) to eight hours (UK-West Coast) you can synchronize your lifestyles so that you never miss a moment.

No matter where you are, who you are missing or what you want to share, there is an app that will bring you together for day-to-day sharing of small things and live streaming.

When you want to do something special, you can always write a letter. With the advance of technology written letters are more uncommon than ever. But the power of the hand written word is not dead and surely it is as elegant as ever. There is nothing more personal and thoughtful than beautiful stationery bought for that special person in your life who will be so surprised to find in the mail box an actual letter. The emotion of opening a hand-written note from a loved one can only be equaled by the emotion of writing it and both sender and receiver will feel the special connection between them, carried by this piece of paper. And in these times of instant messaging, when letters are more uncommon than ever, there is nothing more special than a personal hand-written letter.

Life’s exciting times should not be shadowed by distance and time zones. Life’s greatest moments should be shared with our loved ones no matter how scattered around the globe they are. Both software and the written letter are amazing tools, always at our disposal for us to use when building our lives.

Useful Communication Apps

Skype

WhatsApp

Couple

Hangouts

Facebook