Before you start your international travels, its important to know how to make an international collect call. You never know when you'll find yourself stranded, penniless or clueless about how to make a desperately needed call home. Whether you are calling from a street-corner payphone or a hotel lobby, you can make an international call from any land line anywhere in the world by dialing international operator assistance.

Have ready the name, telephone number, area code and country of the person you wish to call. However, be aware that most cell phone providers do not allow collect calls to be made to a cell phone.

Pick up the phone in whatever country you're in, wait for the dial tone and dial "0170."

Give the international operator the name, country and number of the person that you wish to call, and you will be connected.

Tip

Making an international collect call is quite expensive, at least $9 (U.S.) per call. So unless your friends and family are millionaires, you should reserve international collect calls for emergencies.

Before you leave the country, call your local telephone companies to ask if they have any international access numbers for making collect calls from the country that you will be visiting. Not all telephone companies will have them, but some will be able to give you a toll-free number that can connect you to a U.S. operator. This may be a cheaper option but requires planning.