I've had no trouble accessing my AOL e-mail account while in Europe. Simply type www.mail.aol.com to get directly to AOL mail. You'll need to type in your screen name and your password.

I've only used an internet cafe in France and we did not have a QWERTY keyboard. The non-QWERTY keyboard has a completely different configuration so it took some time to peck out even a short sentence. Since then we've always carried a laptop with us.

Thank you logos and ParisAmsterdam.

The non-QWERTY keyboard is confusing for sure. I always have access to friends computers when I have been in Italy so I get their help which is great. To date I have never taken my laptop anywhere, it has the 17" screen so it is rather large.

At home my problem is I forget to check my Gmail and until recently I never had it and so I feel terrible to find emails from a week ago that I haven't even read. I need to remember to check my Gmail daily.

I meant to mention MikeVee if you need to make phone calls home you can buy a phone card at the tobacco shops. They are inexpensive. My friends in Italy use them when they call me as the cost is so much lower than going through their regular phone service long distant charges. Just be sure to check with your hotel what if any charges they have if you use the phone in your hotel room to call the US using the Italian phone card.