Long Distance Woes

So I've been trying to make some calls back home in Canada over the holidays since I'm home in the daytime which is the best time of day for the time difference between us. It hasn't been easy. In fact, it's been downright frustrating. I've been trying to call my family and a couple of friends. So far I've only caught 2 of 7 people. If I could just press one button on my phone and the calls would be dialed, I wouldn't be near as frustrated, but in order to call anyone in Canada, I must dial 35 digits to get there using my calling card. Make one mistake and you have to start at the beginning. Add to that the times the card glitches and they are telling me I cannot make calls to a certain number that I have spoken to before; or it tells me I've put in the wrong pin. So I type the pin in again, exactly the same correct way and it takes it. Then I get sorry, all circuits are busy; or I get  voicemail that they are not home but would love to hear a message from me; or my most frustrating - this customer does not accept calls from an unknown number which is what my number comes up as since I am using a calling card and calling from about 25,000kms away. Or the most frustrating - they're screening calls that they don't recognize, so I don't make the cut there either. I'm on dialing attempt 27 if I can be bothered trying again. Woe is me, I misses me family and friends back home.