Tackling the nuts and bolts

This morning I emailed "Brightroam," the company who provided the phone that we took so successfully to England, Wales, and Scotland. All you do is get the correct sim card for wherever you're planning on traveling, then buy some minutes before you go. They give you a USA phone number to bounce USA calls to them. You also have a European phone number, if I remember right. On our trip to Italy in 2006 we found ourselves at an extreme disadvantage not having any way to communicate with anyone. The phone is a real must-have. I also contacted the cruise company to see if they had any tips on what to bring and not bring, and if there was any place I could go and read feedback on other cruises. Still to do is making sure our GPS works in Italy.