Email Account

I haven't had that issue but I have a gmail account when I travel, although last summer I was able to access my local provider's site with no problem. I called my local provider before I left to be sure I could access it, but I wanted a backup plan anyway.

We've been able to access ours for a year and a half now. No probs.

The Italian keyboard is different from the US. I would guess that you entered a character that you did not intend. If you tried several computers that seem strange, but a possibility.

@MaryL: very astute suggestion! Most internet cafes in bigger cities will have a couple of terminals with American QWERTY keyboards. Look around - or ask - and it will make your life much easier when typing. I just about had a seizure from frustration the first time I tried typing on a French keyboard. Given that the error message indicated "operator error" it seems unlikely that there was a tech problem with the connection.

No and it's smart to set up either a Yahoo or Gmail account as a backup while traveling. My normal email address is an @mac one but when I travel I use a yahoo account.

FYI, the keyboards you find will have all the letters in the same places as an American QWERTY keyboard, but it's the punctuation that's in completely different places. The apostrophe for example is a combination keystroke, if memory serves. Happy travels.

Michael - Not exactly so. French keyboards use an AZERTY layout, Germans use QWERTZ. As far as punctuation marks go, its anybody's guess. The @ symbol could be on some random key and has to be accessed with the 'Alt Gr' key.

On my first trip to Italy years ago, I was using my cousin's computer (he is Italian and lives in Napoli) I tried for an hour to type in English and could not. My Italian cousin entered a few keystrokes, and his keyboard then acted like my american one. Since then I either use his, and he switches it, or bring my own.