In our two week trip we'll need to make one or two quick calls back to the USA to check in with family. Is the cheapest way to do this to buy calling cards from what ever country we're in? (We'll be in Germany, Austria, Switzerland). What types of places are they sold? What is the USA country code for international phone calls?

I'm not sure about the countries that you mentioned, but the cheapest way I called home when I was in London was to buy a calling card from a money change booth (where you would change traveller's checks for local currency). I bought one for 5 pounds. I assume that you can do the same in these countries. I don't think you have to buy one in each country. There is probably one card that will work in all of these countries (I would hope).<BR>

In Switzerland I bought a Swiss Telecarte which is used in public pay phones. The card is plastic and contains a microchip with the necessary information encoded thereon. As you talk, you can see the money leaving. There is always a phone at the local post office. You get to use a regular phone booth with closed doors.The international access code for the USA is 011. Then dial like any other long distance call e.g. 1-404-549-4569. (At least that is what I recall.)If I am wrong, someone will correct me. <BR>I cannot speak for Austria because I did not make a call from there.

I've just returned from a 12 day trip to The Netherlands and Belgium and called the U.S. several times using a phone card bought from little gift shops in the railway stations. I had to use a different one in Belgium than I used in Holland, but each costs about $5.00 US. The International code for the US (and Canada, too, strangely enough, although that's what the directions said) was 01. In fact, I always had to dial 001 - the first 0 to get an outside line...The last couple of times I called from a hotel room and just charged it to the room. It may depend on the hotel, but for two or three phone calls totaling perhaps 12 to 15 minutes, the cost was about $6.00.<BR>

Having used my AT&amp;T and my MCI calling cards when each was my long distance provider, I learned that they are definitely not the way to go when calling from Europe -- very expensive. My best deals have been simply dialing direct from my room in most hotels. Unless you're staying in a five star hotel, or a major US type chain, like a Hilton or Sheraton, you are most likely to get very low rates. Last summer I called from Switzerland to Florida, talked for about 45 minutes, and the bill was less than $5.00. I made shorter calls from several countries that were less than $1.00 each. I hate to buy a $5 phone card and possibly never use it, or only make one short call that wouldn't cost that much anyway -- or run out of time when I am making an important call on a phone card.

I don't know about ATT or Sprint, but MCI has a plan called International Weekends where you can use your calling card to call from Europe very inexpensively (from France $.17/min--.09 on weekends) for $3/month. We switch over a few days before we go and switch back to our old plan upon return. One caveat: make sure your current plan (or a similar one) is still available for switchback. If you are traveling in several countries, this would seem to be the most logical thing to do--or just call, like Patrick says, from your hotel.

Dear Traveler, We were in France in Feb. &amp; again in March. We called home each trip using pre-paid AT&amp;T calling cards. We bought them at Sam's Club - 1000 min. for $44. That is about 4.16 a min. Using them overseas takes about double the minutes but still a cheap call. They can be used in France, Germany, Italy, Britan, Ireland, Japan, Mexico and Israel. The neat thing is that if you donot use all your minutes over there, you can use them when you return home. We used them in our hotel rooms - one of which had rotary dial and no problem. With the rotary dial, we first called the service rep. number stateside and they connected us. They can also be used at a payphone but there is a slight charge for that. Just looked at the card - here is the conversion - 1000 stateside minutes = 500 international. hope this helps. Have a great trip. Marilyn

To call the US from Europe, dial 001 then the area code and number. 011 is for calling internationally from the US. In Germany you can buy a phone card for 12dm (about $5) or 50dm. The long distance rates that hotels charge can vary wildly, so be sure you know what you're getting into before you call from your room. Also, when using a phone card at a pay phone, I think they usually show you how much you have left as you talk, so you know before your card runs out.

I forgot to say that you can buy them at post offices and some magazine/newspaper shops.

Another option is VoiceNet. This is a<BR>calling card (not pre-paid). They have<BR>access numbers from most Western European countries. I'm not sure about rates, but I think less than $1.00 per minute. Within the US, it's about 17c. And there are no per-call service charges.<BR><BR>VoiceNet advertises in Kiplinger's magazine; that's how I found them.<BR>

For some reason this past January, we had so much difficulty using our pre-paid ATT calling card from Sam's in France. It takes four units of time to call one minute from most European countries. So we switched to the cards sold at the local Tabac. I have also used the calling card plan from MCI and found it very reasonable. WE used it from a private residence and pay phones. Having used Tabac cards, prepaid cards and calling cards, I am going back to the local ones purchased at the Tabac. I have to say that one good point for the calling plan that Sue mentioned is that for the plan fee, which I believe is about $3 a month, it is very inexpensive to make arrangements for your trip from home before you travel. Then cancel the plan when you return. For your few short calls that you intend to make, these will do just fine.

Thanks for correcting my error on dialing from Europe to the US. I got the numbers backwards. <BR>The telephones I used in Paris and in Switzerland had an LED display that showed me how much time was left on the card. While I talked, the value is constantly updated.<BR>So you should know at all times where you stand.<BR>When the money is gone, so are you!!<BR><BR>I was told by the night desk keeper at my hotel in Paris that telephone charges from the room were reasonable. I kept going out to try and reach someone.<BR>Each time I went, I left the key with the desk attendant, as is expected. He spoke excellent English (as would be expected of a JD from UCLA) and asked me what I was doing. I told him. And he said that the hotel did not mark up the telephone costs.<BR>I told him thank you and kept using my pre paid phone card, until it was gone. (Why was a law student working at a hotel desk at night and on weekends? He was completing a Ph. D. in international law at the Sarbonne and needed a weekend job. He was the best night/weekend clerk at a hotel I ever saw!! Somehow I don't think he will have much trouble finding a day job that pays more!!!)

Dear traveler,<BR>I do not think you can get "quick" and "cheapest" (as well as "easy") at the same time. The "cheapest" would be to use prepaid international card of some sort PROVIDED THAT YOU CAN MAY IT WORK by able to punch in that many digits properly. For "quick" calls, we just use a local phone card as many mentioned, although not "cheapest" it is quick and easy to use, only get charged in fraction of minutes increment (felt like about ~12sec increment in France.) They are definitely much much cheaper and easier to use than major US long distance carriers' calling cards advertised in travel books.