Thank you LT. I know she genuinely intended for contact to happen, she just didn't think it through and hoped for the best, which is in keeping with her personality. I did mention to her about data plans before she left but I have no idea whether she looked into it or couldn't get one. SMS texts usually aren't included though, or weren't in mine when I went abroad earlier in the year, albeit nowhere near as far.

T originally suggested a whatsapp call as that uses wifi. She has been using whatsapp I've noticed, but I can only imagine she doesn't have a good signal so is keeping her phone turned off most of the time. I have emailed her a few times so she would have access to that too but whatsapp would be easier.

I think she probably wrote the text to warn me her phone would be off a lot. I hope she didn't mean I can't text or call, but I like your idea to clarify that. My tendency is to just assume and get upset on my own rather than ask. Maybe I'll send a whatsapp msg and say something, not sure what yet. The other thing is, she is moving around a lot, so it may be that she's going somewhere soon where wifi will be very poor or nonexistent.

I do try not to text very much while she's away anyway, there's just something about knowing I can - and this year has been exceptionally awful for me, which T knows.

Thanks LT and for those of you who wrote supporting and understanding replies. I'm crying and it really means a lot.