cell phone in Europe

No, not necessary. Does it cost anything to get a phone from your carrier? If not, why not do it just for the situations you describe?

Yes, they want to charge $24 for each of us. I think we will not do this. Thank you!

Patricia, No, they're not really necessary unless you consider "emergencies (like separation, etc.), alarm clocks and date checkers" to be essential for your travels. If you'd like the convenience of a Cellphone while travelling, unfortunately there is a cost for that. You might consider just getting one Cellphone from your carrier. That would cover most of your uses, but you can use other methods to address the "separation" issue. You didn't specify which carrier you're using, but if you're with Verizon and using one of their international phones, it will use your regular cell number. That means anyone calling you at any hour of the day and night will reach you in Europe, and you'll be paying for the incoming call. Happy travels!

We all traveled for years and years without cellphones. If I was traveling with a group, we made a plan for how to meet back up if we got separated. You can handle the alarm clock/date issue with a simple travel alarm, just like in the "olden days". If that is all you need your phone for, I would say you needn't worry about one for your trip, particularly if it is going to cost so much.

You can easily buy a cell phone in Europe for 25 euro (we found several options at that price in April) that give you about ten euro credit toward calls. It's better when you use the sim card that comes with the phone in one country, you're roaming when you go to the next country. You could easily get a phone at your first stop, then buy a new sim card, that will work fine in the phone, for the second country. If you choose that option, I think it's best to have the phone set up and ready to use, including a test call, before you leave the shop. That way you know it works.

Thanks for all the advice. We have decided we really don't need the cell phones while traveling. We will buy a travel alarm clock (which is what I used to use all the time) and I will wear my watch that has the date on it so we won't miss anything on our itinerary!

When your carrier says that your phone will not "work" in Europe, what they mean is that it will not get a cell signal, so you cannot make calls, send texts, or use data for Internet, e-mail, apps, and so on. However, anything that does not need data will still work. You can use the alarm clock, check the date, take pictures, play music, etc. I took my cell even when it didn't work in Europe, just for these functions. If you want to do this, put it in airplane mode, even though you can't get a signal, because the constant searching for a signal uses up the battery's charge much faster.

My experience has been that without a cell signal, the time on my phone isn't right. It stays on home time, so I have to calculate what time to set the alarm for to get it to ring at the proper time for me to get up (it's 11 pm in Spain, 4 pm at home (and on my phone), and I want to get up at 7 am in Spain, midnight at home...hmmm). A travel alarm is much better.

"My experience has been that without a cell signal, the time on my phone isn't right." That's true, but it's easy enough to change the time when you land and turn on the phone. The phones I've had (dumbphones, I might add, so newer and fancier phones should be even easier) don't just ask what time you want to set it to, but also indicate time zones and major cities. So, upon landing in Paris, you just select "Central European Time - Paris, Berlin, Rome" or something similar. Then, when you get back home and take the phone off airplane mode, it usually switches back to the correct time, or at least asks you if you want to resume syncing the phone's clock with the cell signal clock. If this will cause problems (my dyslexic mother would have serious trouble with this if I weren't there to help her - not a joke), then you would want to use a separate travel alarm (making sure it, too, is set to the correct time zone).

My point was that using a cellphone as an alarm clock can be much more complicated than just taking a little travel alarm.

Alternatively, if you still have a separate iPod, you can simply use the alarm feature on the device for your alarm clock.

Thanks, everyone for all your help, but I have already decided to bring a travel alarm clock with me and not mess with any other device, especially one that I will need to plug in.