The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home, Second Edition: Making a New Life Abroad (25 page)

Use the Internet to find out the weather in a location you’re thinking of visiting, check your stocks, read the latest news in the States, and fill in the gaps from the magazines you’re not getting. Yes, many magazines are actually online now, so you can avoid having them posted to you overseas. Just read the news on your computer.

Airline websites allow you to access current information on flights and prices. Many of them use their sites to post last-minute international fares at discount prices.

You can find destination information galore on the Internet as well—maybe even the house you’ll live in. We found a French
fermette
on the Internet, and it served well as our first base overseas until we got organized enough to find more permanent housing. You can check out countries and cities, train systems, hotels, museums, theaters, restaurants, security, health needs, and the list goes on.

The message boards offered by some internet providers enable you to connect or “meet” people with similar interests in the areas you are thinking of living or visiting. Not only is this interesting and informative, it can even lead to some surprising adventures. I “met” a woman who was in the midst of planning a move to Portugal. We talked on email for several months about the joys and perils involved in our respective moves. Eventually, we wrote, spoke on the phone, and later visited each other. In fact, my husband and I house-sat and dog-sat for Claire and Dick while they biked in Austria for several weeks. We made new friends and enjoyed living within a few miles of Algarve beaches, in a home complete with pool and maid—and I owed the experience all to the internet message boards where we first met.

Use online services to locate people living near the place you intend to visit. Then email them for specific information. While still in the States, we discovered a house to rent, but I was unfamiliar with that specific area of the Loire Valley in France. I looked up members in nearby cities in France and emailed
a half dozen with questions. Three of the people emailed back and were very nice, providing the answers as well as they could. When we arrived in France we met one of them, a young French gendarme living just a half-hour drive from where we settled. The coffee and conversation were both interesting, and I got extra tips on connecting to the Internet from my new location.

Be very polite when you email strangers. Remember, they are doing you a favor by replying. Excuse yourself for bothering them but explain that you are moving to their area, saw their name on an email list as living there, and very much would like their help. Then have specific questions—three or four at the max.

Avoid taking undue advantage. You want personal feedback on information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. Don’t waste anyone’s time by requesting basic travel information you could get from a book or travel agent. Save your questions for the nitty-gritty details that are important to you. If, for example, you can’t go anywhere without taking a tennis racket, you might ask if there are good tennis courts in the area. Or you could get information on the availability and average price for housing. This information isn’t found in the usual guidebooks.

If the local language is not English, try to write in the native language. If your skills aren’t up to it, find a friend who will write the email for you and translate the returning messages. Of course, if you find someone who’s eager to chat with an American to practice their English, you’re all set.

The handiest computer to carry with you is a portable notebook style equipped with a dual voltage adapter that handles either 110 or 220 volts AC. These compact computers are lightweight for travel and fit just about anywhere, which is very useful if you’re living in smaller accommodations overseas.

A regular desktop computer is less expensive than a notebook but bulkier. Some people who run away on a permanent basis purchase a desktop computer overseas. If you already have one and want to take it overseas, buy a transformer to convert the power. We did that with an IBM 486, which we used as a backup computer, and it worked fine.

However, I still like my trusty notebook computer. Even if you have a permanent base overseas as we do, the notebook is a pick-up-and-go solution that enables you to travel and still take your email with you. Once you’re accustomed to communicating this way, it’s hard to cut the (power) cord.

Once you’ve chosen the right computer, you’ll need an adapter plug to fit the electrical system for whatever country you’re in. For example, Mexico uses the same style, two-prong straight plug as in the United States, but most Western European countries use two round pins. You plug your computer into the adapter, then plug the adapter into the wall, or plug it into a surge suppressor, then the wall.

You can travel with a surge suppressor; some are smaller than usual for portability. One of mine is only a few inches long and fits conveniently into the notebook’s travel bag. It won’t survive a direct hit by lightning, I’m sure, but it does provide everyday protection from the surges and spikes that you can encounter overseas—or anywhere for that matter. As with all computer equipment, the products are constantly being updated, so when you’re ready to buy, talk to a computer pro to see what they suggest.

These days you can connect to the Internet in various ways. One piece of hardware your computer uses to connect to the phone line is the modem, which is likely to already be included in your computer; otherwise, you can have one added. Just be sure to buy a modem that’s error-correcting—most new ones are. Overseas phone connections are, alas, not always as good as those in the States. You’ll need the error correction to overcome the additional “noise” if you connect via a phone line.

Rather than enduring a slow phone connection, you may choose a provider that offers high-speed Internet service such as a cable or DSL connection. Both of these connections function by plugging an Ethernet cable into the appropriate port on your computer. Again, most computers come with this hardware included.

Wireless services offer a new form of flexibility in connecting to the Internet, since many cafés, hotels, marinas, and other facilities now offer a wireless connection. Your computer will automatically sense when you’re in range of a wireless network, and you can connect without having to plug any cables into your computer. As with modems, many new computers already include the hardware and programs required for wireless operation; you can purchase a wireless adapter if your computer isn’t properly outfitted.

The United States uses one type of phone plug, called an RJ11, which connects your phone—or in this case, your computer modem—to the wall outlet. In other countries, the phone plug is configured differently, so you’ll need an adapter for the phone plug, just as you need an adapter for the electrical plug. You can find these at specialty suppliers, and even on the Internet itself.

Walkabout Travel Gear is one retailer that has all the above equipment, complete with helpful personnel to answer your questions on using it. Call them toll-free at (800) 852-7085. Their website is
www.walkabouttravelgear.com
. As noted earlier, it includes a section with everything you ever wanted to know about electricity around the world, complete with a listing of which countries have which voltage and which adapter plugs work where. Indispensable!

In North America electricity is delivered at 110 volts and 60 hertz (Hz) (60 cycles per second). In Europe it’s delivered at 220 volts and 50 Hz. A transformer will adapt the voltage but not the cycles. A computer can handle the difference in cycles, but a printer can’t. This is probably why you won’t find a printer that can be set to work on both 110/220 voltage, as does a notebook computer. It wouldn’t help with the cycles.

If you want to print from your notebook computer in a country where the cycles per second, or hertz, differs, then buy a printer at your destination. I found mine in France, and though it was a bit nerve-racking setting it up with French instructions, having set up printers in the States enabled me to manage with intermediate French and a dictionary. In many cases now the information is printed in several languages, chief among them English, making the whole process even simpler.

Today’s small computers and the related communication equipment make running away easier than ever. Unfortunately for us escapees, it’s not easy to purchase the right equipment for an overseas adventure. It took me months, lots of shoe leather, and a sore dialing finger to find out the preceding information. When you go to purchase a computer or modem in the States, most computer salespeople—and I use the term loosely—have never used a
computer overseas and don’t know anyone who has, yet will still pretend to be all-knowing. So shop around and ask lots of questions. Take this book with you and tell the salesperson that you intend to use the equipment for overseas connection. Then tell them again.

An internet service provider (ISP) provides software to help you connect your modem to a server. The large services have a long reach overseas, as they provide local phone numbers you can dial from many countries abroad. By taking a major ISP and your email address with you from the States, you’re assured that your correspondents will already know your address and you’ll have access to member services as well as the Web.

Before signing up with an ISP, find out if they have connecting points (
nodes
in computerese) near where you’ll be overseas. Small local providers won’t offer access around the world unless you dial into their phone lines long-distance, which is not exactly cost-efficient.

Ask what the ISP charges overseas. Even if they advertise a low price for unlimited service in the States, their overseas providers using the same name may operate independently, and you can be hit by costly surcharges. That may be OK for the occasional trip, but it’s unacceptable if you’re living in one location long-term.

When I first moved, I thought I’d merely sign on to AOL overseas, but the surcharges added an additional $45 to $50 every month to the “unlimited”
service I’d had in the States. Learn from my mistake. If you’re going to be settling somewhere abroad, ask before you leave the States what the policy and charges will be on overseas connections.

You can sign on with an internet service provider at your location overseas in order to gain internet access. While house-sitting in Mexico for a month I took a laptop computer and signed up with a provider in the Lake Chapala area that was recommended by some local expats. The service worked well on the phone line, and I was able to access my U.S.-based service provider via the internet to check my email.

If you take a laptop but plan to go online only occasionally, you don’t necessarily need to sign a contract with an internet provider. You can often find wireless connections at a library, hotel, or coffee shop.

Find virtually any information required for running away in the virtual world of the Web. The list of helpful internet sites extends
ad infinitum
; the following are particularly relevant to adventures overseas.