Crikey, I can remember back to the early 1970's when it cost around £3.00 a minute to call Australia and the service was terrible. Crackly lines, long delays, and inflated phone bills. It was a nightmare trying to keep in touch with friends and families overseas. Thank goodness it's not like that anymore. In actual fact, most of us don’t think twice these days when we telephone long distance. There are so many cheap and free ways to keep in touch we're simply spoilt for choice.

But even so, there are still many folks out there who are not aware of these inexpensive and free options. IDD (or International direct dial), is simply person to person calling without the need to go through an operator. That's something else the new generations don't have to suffer. Sometimes it was painful just getting through to the international operators and quite often the call got terminated on connect. There are still a few countries that have an operator system, but they really are few and far between.

In some ways, because it's so cheap and easy to telephone long distance, it's taken some of the adventure out of traveling abroad, especially on long trips or backpacking tours of the world. One of the attractions was to be cut of from the rest of the world, but now everyone is traveling around with mobile phones in their luggage and is expected to call home from time to time just to check in.

When I'm overseas I simply carry a mobile that allows me to change the SIM card inside the phone. These can be purchased locally and often give you immediate access to the networks. It always a good idea to compare tariff and rates before buying, so it's important to know what you will be using your phone for, i.e. local calls or communication abroad. When I was in the UK last, I bought a phone card called Asia Direct, or something like that. It cost just £10 and I was chatting to various countries in South East Asia every day for a week and still I had credit to spare when I left England. It was absolutely incredible value for money.

Though it's now considered cheap to telephone long distance, it is still necessary to be mindful that some companies still charge extortionate rates for the service. Mainly hotels. In fact they probably make as much money on overseas calls as they do renting rooms! If you need to use hotel phones for any reason, make sure you check out the call charges in advance or you could be in for a nasty surprise on checkout!

I've listed below a few of the more popular ways to telephone long distance:

Mobile direct calling: Many special deals around these days, but check first. Also international Phone cards where you punch the details into your cell phone and dial a special number prior to connecting.

International call boxes: Found on high streets and outside stores in most major towns and cities. Many of these accept credit cards or special phone cards that can be bought locally.

The internet: (free or café rates) Skype or Yahoo chat are among the most popular at the time of writing, but both parties must be online and have the same software to communicate.

Skype Out: This is a great service. If means you can log onto any PC that has the Skype software and call any mobile or landline. You have to put Skype credit into your account but it really does cost peanuts to telephone long distance in this way. I paid for 10 euros and still have 6 left after 1 year, and I've used this service a lot.