cell phones

As a college student, I lived for a time in Salzburg, Austria. This was in the Dark Ages, before cell phones. There were 40 of us on our trip, and we traveled independently in small and large groups every weekend (and sometimes during the week). No one got lost, and if we got separated for a time, we just returned to the hotel or hostel. Calling cards ARE adequate for calling home. People traveled just fine in the years before cell phones, and I'm sure your daughter and her friends will be OK without them, too.

Get cell phones. Using unlocked phones with pre-paid Italian and Spanish SIMS is a relatively inexpensive safety and security measure. With everyone in Europe using cell phones, the decrease in working public phones is happening as it is happening here.

For preplanned home-calling, Skype on their own computer where internet is free gives you the best price. Second best is pre-paid cards. But for safety and security especially if they get separated from each other or need to call home NOW, have them get cell phones. Best bet is used unlocked phones bought here or new ones bought there and local (Italian/Spanish) SIMs which give them a local number and free incoming calls.

If you have Skype or a way to call them free, then they an call you - you call back - and their airtime except for the minute to call you - is entirely free for them and cheap for you.

You can PM me for more info.

Although I've traveled before the age of cell phones, there are too many advantages to having one and too many disadvantages in not having one. What cell phone carrier do your daughter and her friends use? If AT&T or T-Mobile (both using GSM technology), and IF you have phones with the frequency bands needed in Europe, they could just take their phones, but use them for emergency only (calls being $1 or more a minute -- T-Mobile's rates beat AT&T by a bit in this regard). To communicate with each other they could just send text messages, but with the understanding that it will cost 80 cents or so for each message sent and received.

Taking or buying unlocked cell phones that would work with a local carrier is a better idea, but adds a layer of complication to the plan. There are lots of ways to cut costs as the previous post suggests, from using Skype or a call-back service or a prepaid calling card, but they all require more effort, too.

Personally, I wouldn't send a loved one anywhere these days without a cell.

I would not travel without my cell phone. But then again, be prepared for crazy bills too if you're using it a lot. My next bill is going to be nearly $400 because I was backpacking for nearly a month in Europe and used it too much. On the other hand, I backpacked without a cell phone in 2002 and did just fine.

Perhaps you could have a happy medium. Get them calling cards for regular phone calls home but have them bring their cell phones for emergencies or if they can't find someone. I was glad I had my cell phone, as I was meeting my sister, and she couldn't wait where we had planned and so she called me to let me know where she was. Next time though I will be bringing a calling card, as I talked way too much on my cell phone.

I would not send daughter with cell phone for purpose of calling the people with whom she is traveling. They should, with maybe a little advance preparation, be able to figure out how to find each other while traveling - i.e. always know independently where you are staying, where you are going, etc. While it is a very convenient thing to use cellphones to say "where are you - oh, I see you now", it is something I would put on the luxury end of things and therefore, I would not add it to the necessary items budget. And yes, I did send daughter & friends to Europe 4 years ago with no cellphone - girls who were VERY used to meeting up via cellphone - they stayed together for 3 1/2 weeks, no problem. They used email to let the folks back home know they were okay. Daughter is now going to Thailand/Cambodia for a few weeks and will not bring a cellphone.

On the other hand - if you ALREADY own a phone that can be used in Europe or if you have a desire to buy a phone for future European use, I can see using it as the "emergency call home" phone.

Let me state my point a bit differently: If a child is responsible enough to travel to Europe with her peers, I would hope she is responsible enough not to use an expensive cell phone to call her traveling companions to ask, "Hey, where are you - oh, now I see you."

Despite that, I would still not send a loved one anywhere without a cell phone if I had one to send. It might make the trip a little more unique -- "this is the way we used to be cut off from the world in the old days" -- but if we're going for a "retro" tour, let's not carry a lot of the other modern conveniences either.

The phone can stay off the whole trip and just be used as a backup for an emergency situation, but I'd still want them to have it. It is some of the cheapest insurance around.

I'd look at it this way: I'd tell my daughter I want to see how clever she is at keeping in touch with her friends without using the cell as a crutch. It will be a learning experience and a lesson in responsible behavior.

Paul said:
If AT&T or T-Mobile (both using GSM technology), and IF you have phones with the frequency bands needed in Europe, they could just take their phones, but use them for emergency only (calls being $1 or more a minute -- T-Mobile's rates beat AT&T by a bit in this regard). To communicate with each other they could just send text messages, but with the understanding that it will cost 80 cents or so for each message sent and received.

Both AT&T and T-Mobile in the past would unlock phones upon request at no cost if you had a contract with them in effect for at least 90 days.

As far as being responsible by not calling each other to ask where you were, then my wife and I are irresponsible 60+ agers. On the other hand, with a local Italian SIM card, it only cost 0.12€/minute for the caller and it was free for the one being called. A small price to pay for peace of mind and not irresponsible at all!