International phone calls

Did you know each country has its own telephone “exit” code that has to be dialed before you can make an international call? Recording (and carrying with you) the exit code for each country you will be visiting can save a lot of time and stress if you need to quickly make a call to your home country. Having the country code is not enough…you also need the exit code for the country you are calling from before the call will go through.

This is not the same as calling long distance. This code is to get into the international system which allows your long distance phone number to work.

If you look at a telephone number on many European websites you will see a plus sign (+) before their number. That means you have to add the exit code for the country you are in before dialing the numbers on the website.

For example: I live in Canada. If I want to call Ireland I have to dial the exit code from Canada (011) and then the Irish country code (355), then the local number.

If I were in Ireland phoning home to Canada I would first dial the exit code from Ireland (00), then the Canadian country code (1), then the local number.

So…when recording phone numbers on your emergency contact list, remember to include a list of country exit codes.

If you are trying to contact a credit card company to cancel a card you are already under enough stress and do not need that added to by having your phone call not getting through.

There are many websites which list all the exit codes by country. I rather like the visual way the information is presented on the web site  http://www.dialingcode.com

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Happy travels!