3 prong to 2 prong adapters - different in each country?

Michelle, Some travellers use only the standard European two-pin Plug Adapter all over Europe, leaving the ground pin unconnected. While the appliance will still work without the ground connected, I always prefer to use a grounded Plug Adapter, as there's a reason the manufacturer designed the product with a grounded plug. The usual reason grounding is provided is for electrical safety. Since European outlets don't use polarized Plugs, I believe grounding is important. You may have noticed that North American plugs are usually polarized (one blade is wider than the other, so the plug can only be connected one way). Plug Adapters are not large, expensive or hard to travel with so I don't have a problem packing along a small selection. Given the countries you'll be visiting, I'd take: > Two Euro 2-pin Adapters (Magellans #EA351D) > One Denmark grounded Adapter (Magellans #EA23MKG) > One Germany grounded Adapter (Magellans #EA23MDG) > One Italy grounded Adapter (Magellans #EA23MIG) That should cover all the bases for the countries you'll be visiting. Happy travels!

I had to buy different adapters for Italy and Germany fot my 3 prong to 2 prong needs. I don't know about Denmark, as I have never been there. I chose to use these adapters for the reasons Ken gives.

I always travel with more than one different shape & size of adapter, not only because of the prongs, but because of the different size and depth of the outlets, even within the same country. I also have one of these that I ordered from China on e-Bay a couple of years ago (from a different merchant):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Plug-Travel-Adaptor-Surge-Protector-AC-Power-/180787759731?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a17ca4a73 I don't count on it being effective as a surge protector, but I find it very useful to use for my 3-prong netbook. One of the various plugs on it always seems to fit wherever I am.

I used the same adapter for my laptop (from the US) in Denmark that I use everyday in Germany, although the fit in the outlets wasn't quite perfect. I understand that some newer buildings in Italy use a configuration similar to Germany's (which is, more or less, the continental standard), but some of the older places use an Italy-specific three-prong outlet... and even among these, the sizes of the holes vary. I just returned from a week in the Italian Alps, and I had to use the three-prong adapter. I had no trouble finding them at a local grocery store.

If you want to take the risk of not having a grounded connection, the 3 prong US to 2 prong continental Europe adapter is the same one for all three of your countries. But, the 3 prong to 3 prong adapters, which will preserve the grounding, are different for each country (or can be, since, as Tom said, different buildings can have different outlets, and newer outlets take more than one kind of plug). If you want pictures besides the Magellan adapters Ken gave you, here's a page showing all the kinds of plugs: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm#plugs_c Type C is the two prong continental Europe plug, and will fit in various 3 prong outlets. But for Germany, you need a type F plug; for Denmark, a type K; and for Italy, a type L. As Tom said, since the type F plug is so common, outlets in many countries can use it. But with adapters being cheap, why take chances, either with not using grounding or not finding an outlet to fit your plugs? Bring the kind of assortment Ken suggests.