Reach out and Touch Someone

Remember the old AT&T ad from the early eighties that sang "reach out and touch someone?" Of course we've come a long way since then, when it was a big deal to call grandma on the rotary phone, but it wasn't until we really started traveling in the past couple of years, that we realized how connected the global population has become. While we debated taking a phone on our 2005 trip (we were going for the least amount of weight to pack as possible), it soon became clear how necessary a phone is when traveling. We were in Shanghai, riding in a cab that would hopefully follow our friend Andrea's (she had her mom, baby and a big stroller so there was no way we could all fit into one cab) and somehow our cab driver dropped us off about two miles in the wrong direction from our rendezvous point. Fortunately we had a cellphone, and after we hailed another cab, we called Andrea and she told the driver-- in Chinese-- where to take us. Imagining that we would still be on the corner, lost in China if we didn't have that phone, we've become adamant about carrying one overseas.

Cabdrivers, apartment managers, friends we've made while on day tours, even our hotel driver in Bali have been able to find us on our cell, which has increased our freedom to ramble. Even Andy's parents have phoned us while we were being biked in a rickshaw in Lhasa! So it was with great interest that I read this story from Sunday's New York Times Magazine. Seems that we're not the only ones benefiting from our cell. All I want to know, is how can I get that guy's job?!

Andy is buying a SIM card for our cell in Vietnam. Most places we bought a SIM were like this place, small and in random locations.