Despite the amazingly clear and knowledgeable posts, all the pros and cons of various cell phone strategies has my head spinning!

Im traveling to Spain and Morocco for 2 weeks with a friend (can't wait!). I definitely need/want two-way contact with my family (including two teenagers), back in California (in case of emergency).
My idea:
Purchase a $49 mobal world phone, for emergency contact.
Purchase a phone card when I arrive, for regular contact (what I usually do).
Does this sound reasonable?
Or...should I go the e-Bay unlocked GSM 900/1800 cell phone/SIM card route?
What about the back-home end?
Does it make sense to add on an international plan for cell phones and land phone for only 2 weeks? Should I set up the callback account?
Also, can I use the callback feature on a mobal world phone...or is my head spinning completely in the wrong direction on this one?
Thanks for any advice!

First plan sounds good enough.

OK, I was all set to buy a mobal phone for emergency contact only, until a friend offered to loan me her cell phone that she bought and used in France a couple of years ago. So...would this now make sense for me????:
1)Check to make sure the phone has 900/1800. If it does....
2)Buy a SIM card that will work in Spain and Morocco...or, I might have to buy two, one for Spain, one for Morocco.
3) I e-mailed united-mobile and they currently don't cover Morocco, so... any other suggestions for SIM cards that work in more than one place?
I'll only be in Morocco for 2 days, but again, if there's an emergency back home, I want someone to be able to reach me.

Go www.prepaidgsm.net and check out some of the isle of man cards which may work in Morocco as well as Spain.

If your primary concern is having your relatives being able to contact you in an emergency, then the Mobal phone seems best because you'll have a telephone number you can give to your relatives before you leave home. If you go the sim route in each country you visit, you will get a new telephone number with each sim card. That means that you'll have to call your relatives and give them the new number each time you change sim cards. Note, Mobal also has a more expensive phone that also works in North America and solves the problem of having to carry two phones with you. The phone calls, I believe, are abut $1.50 per minute, so casual telephone calls would not be economical.