{"id":19511,"date":"2022-09-07T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=19511"},"modified":"2022-09-05T22:55:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T02:55:57","slug":"keeping-in-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=19511","title":{"rendered":"Keeping In Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas<\/em> \u2013 The days of waiting months for the slow boat to round the Horn with the mail are gone. We have cell phones now, so the main obstacle to communicating with someone on another continent is the time difference.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are Time Converter websites, and Time Clock apps, if you can\u2019t do the math about the GMT + or -. No point in calling someone in the middle of their sleepy time. So know that first. I live in Arkansas, smack in the Central Time Zone along with Chicago, and Houston. When we get to Kenya, and Tanzania, we\u2019ll be on the same time as Moscow, and Madagascar. In Frankfurt, and Zurich, where we change planes, we\u2019ll be in sync with Rome, and when in Iceland, well, it\u2019s all too confusing, the way the powers-that-be have set it up with those crooked lines. Just Google it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And then there\u2019s the matter of Country Calling Codes. Yes, there is an International Telecommunication Union (the ITU) and member countries are assigned their own special number. The USA is #1. Remember that. Kenya is 254, Tanzania is 255, and Iceland is 354. You have to get through to the country before dialing the number of the place within the country. But oh, you have to dial OUT of the country you\u2019re in before you can even do that. That number is 011. So, calling from the US to our hotel in Nairobi is 011-254-732124000. Or let your Android app figure it out.<\/p>\n

Lastly, it\u2019s wise to know how to contact the U S Embassy in other countries, in case of some horrid disaster or unpredictable event when you can\u2019t get through to us at all. Like maybe another volcano erupting in Iceland, only this time really HUGE, like the Mt St Helen\u2019s blow-up in 1980 just as we were moving to Seattle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The US Department of State likes to look after its citizens when they travel; we\u2019re registered with our Embassy in each of the three countries we\u2019re visiting \u2013 they know when to expect us, are available to help us with any difficulties we may experience while there, and know how to get in touch with our family should the need arise.<\/p>\n