<p>Congratulations! I’m sure you will have an incredible experience.</p>
<p>My older daughter spent a month earlier in the year in India with a small group. Except for the one member of the group from India, no one had cell coverage. They used wifi at coffee houses and internet cafes. That allowed them to access email, Facebook and applications like Viber and Skype on their smart phones. </p>
<p>Study up on the area as much as you can. This means not just about what you’re going to see but also about pragmatic things like knowing what you can and cannot eat and drink. It’s also quite likely that no matter how careful you are that you’ll be ill at some point; being prepared for this will help.</p>
<p>Oh, and vaccines and such. Check into what you’ll need, and get started on getting your visa. The planning is part of the fun. :)</p>
<p>My son lived in Taiwan for 6 months after college. Skype (but there are logistics concerning time differences).</p>
<p>Other issues are their expectations and your willingness to have the trip impacted. Skype requires setting up and meeting time windows. Unless you do this on “your” time, you are going to struggle since this trip is a group trip. </p>
<p>Calculate the time differences between the US and India. Be candid with your parents. If communicating by skype means one end is having to get up in the middle of the night/crack of dawn, who is it going to be? You probably will be rooming with others. This may not be something you want to offer to do. </p>
<p>Another thing is the disconnect of calling, texting, skyping. My son after Taiwan has spent a month in Laos, weeks in Thailand and Malaysia, a month in Kenya and a month between Peru and Colombia. We addressed up front the hassle of being a traveler checking in by phone, email etc when out of the country. He did not bother to take a phone. I got an email every week or so.</p>
<p>I personally found this a pain when I was a traveler in NZ and recently in PR. Several places I stayed did not have internet connections and all this communication REALLY takes away from the travel experience.</p>
<p>You might want to go into this before you leave. Perhaps you can arrange a (very) few contacts so that they know you are OK. You might want to save the excitement of reliving the trip until you return. Mention you will have photos (if you are a camera person).</p>
<p>If you do have a phone, look into the Viber app.</p>
<p>Another option, since the chances are higher you’ll have Wifi/internet than you will a cell phone, is to have a blog and just post one thing daily to “show” mom / dad you are ok.</p>
<p>Great that you handled it so maturely and didn’t get swept in - you articulated that you wanted their support, but you weren’t asking them to decide.</p>
<p>Congratulations! Good to hear the trip is on.</p>
<p>Do you have ATT for cellphone service? If so, ask them to unlock your phone. This way you can switch our your SIM card for another SIM card when you get to India. That will give you in-country rates. Use Skype to talk to the folks back home - it has the added benefit of visuals so your parents can see that you’re okay.</p>