Phone booths once dotted city and rural landscapes. The red British-type ones, sometimes standing isolated at a roadside, were especially friendly. See the disappearing British telephone box saga at ://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27455972/ Here, in Switzerland, we found some survivors of the beloved red type. Here is a red, French-door design phone both, just asking for a franc.
Phoning without an international cell phone (we don't bother) is useless, however. Too many coins, too many numbers to dial, time zone differences, cut-offs. Even phone cards only work in some places and the companies change and become incompatible, like relationships anywhere. Rick Steves lays out instructions, but who has the time. See ://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/9907/rick_steves_telephones_in_europe.shtml/
We use the internet as we find it - email home as proof of ongoing life and thrivery, outline general next steps, and remind about the watering.
Now we see that there are internet phone booths around, see ://studenttravel.about.com/od/findwifihotspots/qt/wifi_phone_boot.htm/. None revealed themselves, however. Internet street kiosks. Great idea.
An alternative is, in a pinch (your friend is waiting at her house and you can't find it in this new place), offer some francs to a nice person and ask if they could call her and get directions from where you are. We did that in Italy. People are helpful.
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