Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father’s Day weekend everyone! This Sunday, the third Sunday in June, is celebrated as Father’s Day in the U.S. and over 60 other countries all around the world, including Nigeria, Pakistan, India, China, United Kingdom, Cuba, and Brazil.

In the USA, the first Father’s Day was technically held on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia. The one day holiday was created to honor the 210 fathers who had died in a mining disaster late in 1907. The day was not registered as a holiday though, and Sonora Dodd was credited for creating the holiday in Spokane, Washington two years later. Though it was regularly celebrated by many around the nation for many years after, it wasn’t proclaimed a national holiday until 1966 when Lydon B. Johnson designated the third Sunday of June as the holiday. It was then signed into law by Richard Nixon six years later in 1972, making it a permanent national holiday.

Though the languages and cultures are different, the holiday is celebrated similarly no matter where you are in the world. It is simply a day to honor the all of the Father’s out there and let them know that they are very much appreciated.

With Stanacard, getting in touch with your Father this weekend is easier than ever, no matter where he is in the world. Simply dial a local number to make an international call and reach your Father. Our rates are over 75% cheaper than Skype and we have absolutely NO hidden fees or charges – with Stanacard you pay for what you get. Sign up now for free and tell your friends – each one who signs up will earn you a $10 referral bonus!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Today we celebrate Cinco de Mayo throughout the United States and in many parts of Mexico. Contrary to popular belief, today is not Mexican Independence Day, or Grito de Dolores. Grito de Dolores is actually celebrated on September 16th annually, and is Mexico’s most celebrated and important national holiday.

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in a few areas, but primarily in the state of the Puebla, and there are also widespread celebrations in the US by Americans and Mexican-Americans. The day marks the Mexican Army’s underdog victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. On this day, a small Mexican army of about 4,000 defeated a highly-trained French army twice their size, signifying a great victory in the resistance.

In the US, the holiday has become more of a celebration of Mexican heritage, and of course, an excuse to go out and have a couple margaritas. The holiday is said to have been spread to America originally by Mexican’s living in California during the American Civil War. Since then, the event has become similar to a St. Patrick’s Day in America, where citizens of all ethnic backgrounds come together and celebrate. The holiday has even inspired events in many other places in the world, including numerous countries in Central America, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and even Malta.

We hope you all have a fun and safe Cinco de Mayo! Today is a great day for Mexican-Americans to call their friends and family and see if they are celebrating. With StanaCard, you can call abroad by just dialing a local number, and you can always count on us to bring you the lowest rates and best connection. Also, if you tell your friends about StanaCard, we will give you a $10 bonus for each friend who signs up, and we’ll give each of your friends the same bonus to welcome them to the service!

Rates Decrease to Pakistan! Now 58% Cheaper Than Skype!

Pakistan and the West Indies will meet in their first ever Twenty20 cricket match today, about a month after Pakistan eliminated the squad from the World Cup on route to the semifinals. Pakistan is still the favorite, but with many new faces on the teams, many consider the game to be completely up in the air. The Pakistan Cricket Board also announced last week that they were in early talks to develop an in-country Twenty20 league similar to the Indian Premier League, in order to attract foreign teams and players back to competition in the country.

In the midst of all this exciting cricket news, at StanaCard we have decided to decrease our rates to Pakistan! The new rates have decreased 15%, and are now well over 58% cheaper than other providers, including Skype. The price to call Pakistan is now just 5.99 cents a minute, and that’s even before our Pakistan bonus. With our bonus, you can pay as little as 4.28 cents a minute by receiving up to 40% of your calls FREE! With our 40% bonus and the new 15% rate decrease, we might as well be giving away minutes to Pakistan!

A $20 credit will now let you call Pakistan for up to 367 minutes! Not only are our rates far less expensive, but unlike Skype and most calling cards, we charge absolutely no connection fees. You pay only for what you use.

Also, be sure to get even more free bonuses by taking advantage of our unmatched referral program. Simply refer us to friends, their first purchase is doubled and you get up to $10 worth of bonus credit as soon as they make their first call with us. For more information, check out our blog.

Traveling abroad soon? See how to avoid all roaming charges no matter where you go.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Readers!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Today I’m writing from about a block away from the largest and oldest celebration in the world, the one and only New York City St. Patty’s Parade. The NYC parade began in 1762, and has been held annually ever since. Today, over 2 million spectators lined the streets just outside this very office to watch the precession of close to 250,000 march up Fifth Avenue from 44th St. to 86th St., past the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 50th and the American Irish Historic Society 83rd. Though the parade in New York is the biggest and oldest in the world, it is far from the only celebration going on around the world.

Of course Ireland – the country that brought us this great holiday – is hosting its fair share of celebrations today, as the day has been an official public holiday since 1903. The biggest of these is taking place in the capital city, Dublin. The parade and festivities in Dublin attracts about 1 million people, and the city also hosts a five day festival each year. In the UK, Birmingham is the place to be for the celebrations, as they put on the third largest event in the world behind NYC and Dublin. London also hosts a parade on the weekend before or after the 17th in its famous Trafalgar Square, complete with dyed green fountains.

Surprisingly to many, large scale St. Patty’s Day celebrations don’t take place in just Ireland, the UK, and the US. There are also many events throughout Australia, culminating in a large parade in Sydney this coming Sunday. New Zealand is also known for its widespread celebration because of the large number of Irish emigrants in the 19th century.



The famous "green river" in Chicago.

Even countries you wouldn’t exactly associate with Ireland get in on the celebrations. Tokyo puts on a huge annual parade, though this year it has been postponed due to relief efforts for the earthquake and tsunami. The Irish Association of Korea throws an annual festival in Seoul, South Korea, and the small island of Monserrat aka “the Emerald Island of the Caribbean” is known as being the only other country besides Ireland to name the day a public holiday, due to its founding by Irish refugees from St. Kitts and Nevis. Buenos Aires, Argentina uses the day as an excuse to throw an all day and night beer-drinking street festival, commonly attracting over 50,000 people to Reconquista street, home to several Irish pubs.
So no matter where you are in the world, have fun this St. Patrick’s Day. And if you want to call home and talk to family and friends to see how they’re spending the holiday, be sure to use StanaCard for our low rates and SmartDial technology!

Great Resource for Expats and StanaCard Users

Last week while looking through a number of helpful expat resources to share with our readers I came across a fantastic website for expats all around the world. The site is called InterNations, and it was founded in 2007 by two expats who knew there needed to be an easier way to become knowledgeable about living in a new country. To maintain its trusted and secure reputation, the community is invite only, but anyone can request an invitation right on the homepage for a chance to be a part of the helpful expat community.

During the free sign-up process, you can choose your local community, and then your homepage will be filled with events, tips, forums, and guides based on your area. You can interact with fellow expats in your area about anything from where to eat to how to learn the language to where to work and live. Since the membership process is invite only, you know that you are always getting advice from actual individuals who are having similar experiences as you, not companies looking to exploit your unfamiliarity with the area.

You can then create a profile which is a bit of a cross between a Facebook and LinkedIn profile page, where you can make contacts and list your groups and the countries you have lived in among other bits of information. Also, though the service is web-based, you will often have chances to meet with other members of your area, as the local Ambassadors organize official events at least once every month where members from the community can meet in person.

As most of our readers and customers are expats, we think that you would certainly be interested in this service. Again, for more information please go to http://www.internations.org/, and when you become a member, be sure to spread the word about StanaCard and our great services!

Massive Earthquake Causes Detrimental Tsunami's in the Pacific

As most of us have now heard, Japan has experienced one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history today. The earthquake started at about 2:45 PM in Japan, or 5:45 UTC, and was recorded as an 8.9 magnitude on the moment magnitude scale. This is the largest recorded earthquake in Japanese history, and the seventh largest ever recorded in the world.

The quake hit about 81 miles (130 km) east of Sendai, Japan. The massive quake then triggered a series of tsunami warnings for not only Japan, but also Hawaii, Australia, the western South American coastline, and much of the northwest American coastline. The tsunami has not yet reached South America, but Hawaii and the western US coast were hit very mildly this morning, mostly just soaking the beaches and providing some memorable waves for brave surfers.

The most detrimental of the tsunami’s hit the northeast coast of Japan, and so far there have been close to 300 deaths with another 400 confirmed missing, and the hardest hit areas still haven’t even been accessed by rescue workers yet. The waves in this region were up to 30 feet high and tore through Sendai and surrounding areas, causing a still unknown amount of damage to one of the largest cities in Japan.

Though the extent of damage is still unknown, it is clear that the country will certainly need all the help it can get in the wake of this tragedy. Thankfully, many countries leaders have already stepped-up and promised any help they could given in the recovery process, including the US, UK, China, Germany, South Korea and many others. The UN has also said that 30 search and rescue teams are on standby for whenever Japan needs them. Google has also launched a Person Finder site to assist those looking for family members and friends.

For those of you looking to help, there are many funds quickly being started, but the best way is to text RedCross to 90999 to make an automatic $10 donation which will appear on your next phone bill.

Young Expats Bring Their Partying Ways to the East

When many people think of expats to Eastern countries such as India, China, or Japan, they often think of older, upper-management business people. Because of the struggling economy in countries like the USA , UK, Italy, Spain, Greece and many others in the Western world, the average expat to the East is becoming quite different than most people think.

A recent article in The Times of India covered this transformation of the typical expat from an older, upper-management family man to a young, single, lower- or middle-management employee. Since jobs are becoming more and more non-existent for the recent graduate in the US and many countries across Europe, young workers are taking their degrees and heading to cities like Mumbai, where the economy is booming and there are a plethora of jobs. Unlike the expat of the past, these workers aren’t working for lucrative salaries with unbelievable benefits. Instead, they are taking regular salaries, often comparable with the locally born employees.

So what’s the benefit of traveling thousands of miles to a country with a completely foreign culture to you? Well, according to The Times of India, one thing that young expats love the most is the social life. Local clubs are finding it easier than ever to attract customers, as word of a deal or party can get out to hundreds of customers in a matter of minutes through the social networking websites that most of the young expats belong to. Once Facebook group administrator claimed that in Mumbai, about 4,000 expats are invited to parties at least once a month. Most expats say that their social life is far more active than it would be at home, because the foreign communities form social groups and seek entertainment at the local clubs quite often.

Bars and stores are even beginning to cater to these expats by offering local favorites such as home-country beers and foods. One grocery chain in India even offers Butterball turkeys for young American’s craving the turkey they grew up on around the holidays. With the thriving social life and availability of jobs, it’s not hard to see why young people are willing to travel across the world for work, especially with the lack of jobs in so many Western countries.

Plus, with StanaCard it is cheap and easy to stay in touch with family and friends back home when living abroad. You can use our service from one of our many countries with access numbers, or you can call to and from anywhere in the world with our SIP service. And why not make money by taking advantage of our referral bonus by telling friends in your international community about our service?

Happy 100th International Women's Day!

Happy International Women’s Day! Today marks the 100th anniversary of the annual celebration which first took place in Germany in 1911, and has been celebrated on March 8th every year since. Today, the day is celebrated as an official holiday in over 25 countries including China, Russia, Ukraine, and Cuba, and is widely observes in numerous others. In many countries it is celebrated like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, with men giving gifts to the women in their lives.

This year, events and tributes are schedules in over 100 countries. It is celebrated in much of Eastern Europe and Russia as a political even, as the day was originally started as a Socialist political event, but in many other regions the day is simply to celebrate women and their achievements and to bring attention to the struggles of women in many countries around the world.

In the US, President Obama has not only vowed to recognize March 8th as a holiday, but has also named all of March to be Women’s History Month. Also, last night Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the “100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges.” The event is a three week professional exchange program which will include 100 women from 92 countries around the world who she calls “pioneers” in business, academics, and government.

The Global Fund for Women has also released a list of Top 10 Wins for Women’s Movements of 2010, while Mashable has shown us how to support International Women’s Day using social media. For all of you with wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, or any other loved ones abroad today, make sure to get in touch, as it has never been easier with StanaCard’s local SmartDial numbers and super low rates. To see a full list of the events and locations around the world, click the graph below to redirect to the official site of 2011 International Women’s Day.

Call Egypt for 30% Less than Skype

After an extremely turbulent few weeks, another sign of normalcy has occurred in Egypt, as the first football match since the historic protests has been played in Egypt. The match saw Egyptian side Zamalek Knights face-off against the Kenyan Ulinzi Stars in the African Champions League. The Knights pulled out the win – a relatively quiet 1-0 victory despite their previous 4-0 win over Ulinzi in Nairobi last month.

As things begin to get back to normal and people recover from the protests, we have decided to do what we can by decreasing our rates to Egypt! The new rates have decreased as much as 23%, and are now up to 30% cheaper than other providers, including Skype. The price to call both landlines and mobile phones in Egypt is now 10.99 cents a minute.

A $5 credit will now let you call Egypt for up to 39 minutes! That is about 30% cheaper than Skype, and unlike Skype and most calling cards, we charge absolutely no connection fees. You pay only for what you use.

What’s even better than cheap minutes? Free minutes! Simply refer us to friends, their first purchase is doubled and you get up to $10 worth of bonus credit as soon as they make their first call with us. For more information, check out our referral site.

Traveling abroad soon? See how to avoid all roaming charges no matter where you go.

StanaCard Mentioned in Popular New York Times Blog

StanaCard is proud to announce that we recently received a mention from David H. Freedman in an article for his popular “You’re the Boss” blog for The New York Times online. The blog was a response to readers that had asked Freedman questions about how to stay connected overseas cheaply and easily. As all of our customers know, StanaCard is the answer.
Though the article was short and the mention was brief, we are thankful for any mention we get in the press, as we are eager to share our unbelievable service with the international community as we continue to grow and add more services, such as our upcoming apps for Android and iPhone and text messaging capabilities.

Freedman didn’t expand on what it was exactly that we do, but he did mention our international forwarding program, and the idea that we our company enables travelers to simply make local calls to reach back home, as long as they are in one of our 50 popular destinations, including the US, UK, Australia, Spain, Italy, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, France, and many more.

As Freedman points out, it can be difficult to find Wi-Fi connections in certain countries, and therefore difficult to use services like Skype, MagicJack, Google Voice, and T-Mobile’s UMA. Lucky, StanaCard offers not just Wi-Fi-based SIP calling features, but we also offer the simple local calling option using access numbers. This allows users to buy a cheap, easy-to-use phone in their destination country and then make local calls back home. With international forwarding, you can also have your home country cell phone forward to the international phone you buy, allowing people to call you for free while you only pay StanaCard’s industry-low rates.

Also, don’t forget to mention StanaCard to your friends, as a simple referral can earn you $10 of free talk time, or you can cash out the money through PayPal. When calling certain popular destinations, $10 can get you up to 495 minutes!

New Low Rates to Sudan

As peace begins to return to Sudan, the country has begun to embrace one of its former loves again – basketball. Sudan has produced its fair share of talented players, most notably Manute Bol and Luol Deng, a current star for the Chicago Bulls. Because of years of unrest in the area, the chances to play basketball have been virtually non-existent for most, but since Southern Sudan’s decision to secede in July 2011, players have been able to get back on the courts.

The New York Times recently wrote an article about this revival and the attention that it has drawn from pro and college scouts. Southern Sudanese are especially known for their height and athleticism, and they hope to be able to put together a national team to compete in the 2016 Olympics.

As peace continues to spread across the entire country, north and south, why not get in touch with a friend or family member living in Sudan? To make it a bit easier for our customers, we have decided to DECREASE our rates to Sudan! The new low rates are just 14.99 cents to call landlines and 15.99 cents to call mobiles!

A $5 credit will now let you call Sudan mobile phones for over 31 minutes! That is about 39% cheaper than Skype, and unlike Skype and most calling cards, we charge absolutely no connection fees. You pay only for what you use.

What’s even better than cheap minutes? Free minutes! Simply refer us to friends, their first purchase is doubled and you get an up to $10 worth of bonus credit as soon as they make their first call with us. For more information, check out our referral page.

StanaCard is 90% Cheaper than Skype to Call Iraq!

Simply because we want to thank our loyal customers for a great start to 2011, we have decided to DECREASE our rates to Iraq! The new rates have decreased as much as 37%, and many of them are now well over 85% cheaper than Skype and other companies!

The savings that come along with this new rate are unbelievable. If there’s ever a perfect time to tell friends about StanaCard and our ridiculously low rates, now would be it.

A $5 credit will now let you call Iraq for up to 104 minutes! That is almost 90% cheaper than Skype, and unlike Skype and most calling cards, we charge absolutely no connection fees. You pay only for what you use.

What’s even better than cheap minutes? Free minutes! Simply refer us to friends, their first purchase is doubled and you get up to $10 worth of bonus credit as soon as they make their first call with us. For more information, check out our referral page.

Traveling abroad soon? See how to avoid all roaming charges no matter where you go.

Radiohead Releases Their Eighth Album, The King of Limbs

For any of you Radiohead fans out there, today is a great day. Today, Radiohead digitally released their eighth album, entitled The King of Limbs. The album was originally planned to be released tomorrow, but the band surprised fans by releasing it a day early. You can purchase the album at http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/ – it is currently $9 for the MP3 format and $14 for the WAV. The band will release a physical CD in the UK on March 28, and a “newspaper edition” which contains two 10” vinyl records, a variety of artwork, and a digital download.

Radiohead has a history of doing things a bit differently. The band sold their previous album – In Rainbows – online for whatever price the customer wanted to pay for it. Fans worldwide are extremely excited for this album, as it is their first since October, 2007. Radiohead has an extremely loyal international following, due to their genius (check out #’s 8 and 9 of this list), accessibility to fans, giving nature, and truly unique music.

The band has been giving their trademark non-committal answers when asked about touring for the new album, but there have been rumors that they may make an appearance at Glastonbury. Radiohead’s most recent performance was in Los Angeles, where they played specifically to benefit Oxfam America’s work in Haiti. The concert was in a small theater that fit only 1,300 people, so Radiohead auctioned the tickets and fans paid an average of $440 for them, totaling 572,000 for Oxfam.

To check out some truly strange dancing by lead-man Thom Yorke in the first released single from the album, see below.

Getting Started With Your New StanaCard Account

Recently there seems to be a bit of confusion as to what exactly needs to be done to get started with your StanaCard account.

1. Make sure you have entered your numbers correctly.

A “Registered Number” is simply your phone number. The most common registered number is a personal cell phone number. You can also enter house numbers or friend’s numbers, but you cannot register work numbers. Please only enter a friend’s number if he will always be using your account, because we cannot remove registered numbers. You do not need to enter these like a number that you would call internationally, you just need to enter them like anyone in your current country would dial them. For example, for US numbers, you just need to enter the 3-digit area code, followed by the 7-digit number.

A “SmartDial Number” is a local number that we give you with your local area code. When you make a SmartDial, you will pick the area code that you want, and we will assign you a number. You will then enter the international number that you want to reach, making sure to enter it correctly. For more information on the correct way to enter a number, check out this helpful site: http://www.howtocallabroad.com/. After this, you will enter the name of the person whose number this is, and then you will have created a SmartDial.

You can add numerous SmartDial Numbers or Registered Numbers, and you can change any of the info in your account including your credit card, email, or password, which is why there is absolutely NO reason to create more than one account.

2. Now you need to purchase credit.

Once you have added the numbers successfully and correctly, you need to add credit to your account by clicking the blue “INCREASE YOUR CREDIT” button on the upper-left side of your main account page.

3. Time to make a call!

You now have numbers and credit…it’s time to make your first call. All you need to do to make your first call is take the phone with the number you have registered (cell or house phone) and dial any of the local SmartDial Numbers that you made. You must make this first call from your registered phone to a SmartDial Number.
Now that you have made this first call, your account is completely activated. You will now receive a PIN, which you can use to make calls from phones that you have not registered, or to make calls using a local access number to contacts that you did not make a SmartDial for. Your PIN code can be found on your account page, on the lower-left side, under the box which shows your Registered Numbers.

How to Make International Calls on your Mobile Without Using Minutes

People who need to constantly make international phone calls have it tough. Not only do they have to find a reliable service with cheap rates and no hidden fees, but they also lose precious cell phone minutes on top of paying international call rates when they call from a cell phone. And let’s be honest, in this day and age, who doesn’t make most of their calls from a cell phone?

Luckily for you international callers, at StanaCard we are always on the lookout for ways to make our customers lives easier. The newest money saving tip that we have come up with applies directly to those making international calls on their cell phone.

Many of the most popular cellular providers today have some type of plan that allows you to call your top 5 or 10 contacts without using minutes. These plans, such as AT&T’s A-list plan, Verizon’s Friends and Family plan, or T-Mobiles old MyFaves plan that many people still have, allow you to enter any domestic cell or landline number as one of your top contacts.

If you are a StanaCard customer who frequently calls a certain SmartDial contact, you can add the SmartDial number as one of your favorite contacts, and make international calls from your cell phone without even using minutes! All you will have to pay are StanaCard’s low rates.

Your mobile company will not even realize that the number you are adding as a favorite is a number that forwards internationally. This is yet another feature that sets StanaCard about the rest when it comes to making international calls.

Rates Decrease All Over Europe!

Simply because we want to thank our loyal customers for a great start to 2011, we have decided to DECREASE our rates to over 17 mobile destinations in Europe! The new rates have decreased as much as 58%, and many of them are now well over 50% cheaper than Skype and other companies! The chart shows four of the biggest percentage decreases, but all of the countries dropped drastically, as the average drop is about 31%!

Location	Old Rate	% Decrease	New Rate
Austria Mobile	23.88¢	58%	9.99¢
Sweden Mobile	23.28¢	53%	10.99¢
Denmark Mobile	27.00¢	52%	12.99¢
Spain Mobile	21.48¢	49%	10.99¢

The savings with our new rates are outrageous. With many of these new rates, you will get twice as many minutes than what you used to. If there’s ever a perfect time to tell friends about StanaCard and our ridiculously low rates, now would be it.

A $5 credit will now let you call Austria mobile phones for up to 50 minutes! That is about 63% cheaper than Skype, and unlike Skype and most calling cards, we charge absolutely no connection fees. You pay only for what you use.

What’s even better than cheap minutes? Free minutes! Simply refer us to friends, their first purchase is doubled and you get an up to $10 worth of bonus credit as soon as they make their first call with us. For more information, check out our blog.

Traveling abroad soon? See how to avoid all roaming charges no matter where you go.

5 News Snippets From Around the World



Hewitt and Djokovic at
the Rally for Relief

Australia: As the flood relief effort swings into full effect, the Australian Open has begun in Melbourne. On Sunday, the day before the start of the Grand Slam tournament, many of the premier tennis players in the world devoted the day to the “Rally for Relief.” The athletes, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Australian’s Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur, organized and played in a series of casual exhibition matches to help raise money for the flood relief in Queensland. Queensland Energy Resources pledged to match the donations dollar-for-dollar, and the event raised over AU$1.8 million by the end of the night.

Pakistan: With the 2011 Cricket World Cup beginning in just a month, Pakistan has announced its final lineup for the World Cup squad. The biggest surprise was that the experienced batsmen Mohammad Yousuf did not made the 15-man roster. Though the captain has suspiciously not been named yet, many speculate that it will be all-rounder Shahid Afridi. Pakistan, the 1992 world champions, will play its first match against Kenya on February 23.

Kenya: The CEO of leading telecoms operator Safaricom announced today that he believes that the recent price wars in Kenya could threaten the entire telecoms industry as a whole. He was very critical of Bharti Airtel, an Indian service provider whose Kenyan unit is Safaricom’s top competitor. Safaricom, which controls over 70 percent of the market, says that Airtel’s decision to cut the tariffs from six shillings a minute to one shilling a minute in just months is irresponsible. He explains that these rates are unsustainable, and they are using what is called predatory pricing to try to gain market share. Since Kenya is not Airtel’s main unit, they can afford to price tariffs this low, but will most likely raise prices once they have a hold on the market.

Rwanda's young players have already
made history by reaching the semi-finals

Rwanda/Ivory Coast: Rwanda and Ivory Coast will meet in the semifinals of the U-17 African Cup of Nations tomorrow, fighting for a spot to play Burkina Faso in the finals on Saturday. Being the host nation, Rwanda will have the home field advantage and the staunch support of their countrymen. This is just Rwanda’s second time participating in the senior AFCON, and no one expected them to make it this far. They have automatically qualified for the U-17 World Cup along with the three other semi-finalists.

India: West Indies Cricket legend Brian Lara recently put his support behind the Indian cricket team, stating that he believes they are the favorites to win the 2011 World Cup. Lara stated, “With the World Cup being held in Asia, India are definitely the favorites.” India haven’t won the Cup since 1983, and are coming off a disgraceful first round exit in 2007, but they have played extremely well leading up to the main event.

Need to find out what’s been going on in your home country? Remember to use StanaCard for the lowest rates available and the best referral program in the industry.

European Freeze Shuts Down Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Holiday travelers in Europe have run into some serious problems this week, as flights are down in many of the continents busiest airports, and there is currently no end in sight.  Even many trains – which seem like the safer alternative in winter weather – have been cancelled across Europe.

Only a few flights managed to make it off the ground at London-Heathrow, and over a third of flights in other travel hubs like Frankfurt and Paris have been grounded.  Perhaps the city hit the worst by the freeze is Brussels, whose airport has cancelled every flight until at least Wednesday because they were not prepared with de-icing liquid.  European train companies with services between UK, France, and Belgium have also canceled or delayed several of their scheduled services. 

Paris has just gotten another round of snowfall, shutting down their bus system, slowing down traffic, and worst of all for many young Parisian’s, forcing Lady Gaga to cancel her show at Bercy Stadium.  Berlin had to shut down their commuter trains and many of their roads, while Dutch authorities decided to enforce a 50 km/h speed limit on many of their highways.  Italian airports at Pisa and Florence just reopened today after being shut down all weekend. 

Need a better idea of how bad things are?  In Moscow – one of the coldest and snowiest places in the world, where over 9,000 snowploughs clean the streets – numerous city roads have been shut down by authorities until further notice.   

This string of unseasonably cold weather has been hitting Europe since late fall, and as we’ve mentioned before, this has caused an influx in holiday travel reservations, especially out of the UK.  Unfortunately, it appears for now that many of these hopeful holiday travelers literally cannot escape the freeze, as the Met Office in Britain has warned of even more snow and ice in the coming week.  Temperatures got as low as -19.6 degrees Celsius in the UK, and radar only shows more snow and below zero temperatures. 

Have any relatives who may be stranded in European transit hubs?  Looks like they’re going to have plenty of free time on their hands, so why not give them a call?  With Stanacard’s call forwarding technology, you can simply dial their local number and pay absolutely nothing, and they will only pay our service’s super-low rates.  So go ahead and spread the holiday cheer, but whatever you do, do not complain about how badly you want a “White Christmas.”

By @StanaMark

Trinidad and Tobago Rate Decrease!

StanaCard has lowered their rate by 46% to Trinidad and Tobago. The new rate is 3.9¢

Now spend more time calling the Land of the Humming Bird or maybe call your loved ones to find out about all the Carnival preparations, whatever the reason you can now call home for over 2 ½ hours with just $5.  Think about it, for the price of two hotdogs and a soda you can now call home and talk for over 2 ½ hours.  How awesome is that?

What’s even more awesome is calling home for FREE! Taking advantage of our referral program gives our customers an opportunity to receive up to 10$ for each friend they bring in.  Do you have a big family? Get referring and you could be making calls to that big family for free.  Are you a broke student and need a little extra cash?  Well you can now refer your friends and receive your bonus credit in CASH.  That’s right real money in your pocket.  Click Here to Start

                                                                                     

Happy Calling,

The Stanacard Team