Firstly, make sure your phone will work abroad. Call your network to make sure roaming has been activated

Frequent travellers should pop into an independent retailer such as The Carphone Warehouse to find a contract which best suits their needs

To avoid any charges altogether, switch your phone straight to voicemail and leave a message letting calling know when you will return. Your phone will still receive texts so you can keep in touch

Answering incoming calls still costs money as you pay the international charge. So keep calls brief. It doesn't cost anything to receive a text and it doesn't cost your friends anything extra to call you when you're abroad

Text instead of call. The maximum that networks can charge for a message sent to the UK from within Europe will be 9p from July 2009

Although the cost is being reduced significantly, operators can still charge 38p per minute for an outgoing call in Europe and more further afield so monitor your usage carefully

SIM4travel, is a SIM card which you insert into your current handset to make cheap calls from over 100 countries and receive calls for free in all major destinations. It's available at The Carphone Warehouse for £15.99

Using the Internet on your mobile can drastically increase your costs. Check data charges with your network before you go to avoid nasty surprises from checking social networking sites like facebook

Lots of changes to pricing are being implemented by mobile phone operators at the moment, so contact yours to find out the latest deals which you may need to 'opt in' to.

Don't forget your charger and plug adaptor. A spare memory stick is useful too so that you have room for taking lots of high quality holiday snaps on your mobile