keeping in touch with others in travel party...cell phones or other?

No Verizon won't work in Europe. Steve is right. Just get an unlocked quad-band cell phone and then buy a SIM card when you reach your destination.

do these companies have "stations" or stores set up in airports such as Munich?

For occaisonal seperations,, why not just agree on meeting times and places.. I think people have gone cell phone crazy,, what did one do on vacation 20 years ago,, really,, think about it.

Pat, I have to agree with you. At Christmas my husband and I, along with our kids, ages 17-21 (2 daughters, a boyfriend and a former exchange student), all traveled together without the use of cell phones. We found it wonderfully liberating to be without all kinds of electronic devices that consume so much of our daily lives. We agreed on the cities where we would meet up, and then when we were together, in the mornings each day we would designate a time and place to meet later on. It was so simple. We always had a back-up place to meet later, like where we were staying, in case anyone's plans fell through. We also left notes for one another, another seemingly forgotten skill. We could have spend hundreds of Euros on phone service, which many people strongly recommended, but for us it would have been a big waste of money. We have limited means and don't want to spend money on things that we can very easily do without. Careful spending choices make it much easier to take trips to Europe every year.

Steve , did you really feel the need to cling to people when travelling before,, funny , I never felt like that..guess I was braver then you.

Thanks all, I just want us to be able to stay in touch with each other if we split up and my son goes on a photo shoot, and girls go shopping. They'll be NO calls from home...I am fed up with texting and such, I need a vacation from that as much as anything else!!!

I agree with Steve. Cell phone communication is simply too useful to go back to another system. The additional peace of mind that it provides is well worth it. That being said, I have seen many people panic when this communication system doesn't work as it should, as we all know it does from time to time. For that reason, I plan to have old fashioned, "we'll meet at 3 p.m. at the north door" back up plans should cellular communication not work.

When I first went to Europe, I made plans with a friend who was going to already be there to meet at a certain block of time at a specific location. I insisted on a backup location at a later time in case one of us was delayed, which she thought was excessively cautious on my part. This was in pre-cell phone and email days, so if we missed each other, we'd have no good way to reconnect until we both were back home. Where did we meet? On the street where I was walking from the first rendezvous point to the next -- she was running late. I was never so glad to be cautious.

I agree with last post. Have a meet up point and a rally (backup) spot in case you don't connect as planned. A cafe, your hotel, etc make good rally spots. Set the tine for the rally spot an hour or more later than the meet up point.

Now that its been brought up, with cell phone or without, group should always agree on a meeting /rally point . Cell phones hit dead air, they break, the battery dies, they can even be stolen, etc.. one should have the foolproof plan in place ahead of time.

Like it or not technology is here to stay. Don't like it or feel the need, you can agree on a meeting place. Things happen I love having a phone.
I was in Italy and needed a ride from my hosts from the train station. Without a phone I would not been able to let them know when I would actually arrive!

that is a good point about still needing a backup, even with cells...I have had batteries die on me here when I needed to call for someone to pick me up, and had to walk a mile to find a phone I could call from.
That is another problem I have run into here. With cells so prominent these days, it is very hard to find a pay phone anywhere.

does anyone know if they are accessible in
europe still, or at least in the cities?

My group is going to purchase inexpensive phones from the same company while abroad. We can get prepaid plans that allow free or very inexpensive calls and texts to anyone within that network (TMN). The plan I'm looking at has free texts to other phones on the network and texts to the US for about 30 cents each, so I can send out quick updates to people back home inexpensively. The phone will be around $25. Since I'm going to be away for two months, it shouldn't be too great a cost. Certainly it's less expensive than my US provider's international roaming plans!