Cell phone

Buy a cheap Chinese "unlocked quadband" mobile phone, also known as a World Phone, on eBay and when you get to Turkey and Italy buy local SIM cards to use while you're there. The SIM itself is cheap, around €5, and then you buy as many minutes as you want to load into it, and you can 'refill' it as needed. Because it's quadband you can use it anywhere in the world, including the States, just by buying a local SIM card.

Gary, Depending on your anticiipated usage patterns, another option you might consider would be to buy a phone from one of the "travel phone" firms such as Roam Simple, Cellular Abroard, Call In Europe, Mobal or Telestial. They usually provide "post paid" calling plans (calls charged to a credit card) and rates which are consistent in most countries of western Europe. One point to note is that Turkey is usually placed in Zone 2, which has slightly higher rates than Zone 1 which includes the rest of Europe. One advantage of this approach is that you'll have a working phone as soon as you step off the plane, and won't have to take the time to look for a Cell phone shop and set up a plan with menus in a foreign language. Happy travels!

Skype from internet cafes?

If truly for emergencies then use your US phone. I bought a prepaid phone in Hungary last year. For as often as i use it (and i go back a couple times a year) i probably wasted my money. For emergencies a dollar phone call isnt going to kill me. For non emergencies i use the WiFi calling on my phone. Just make sure you stay where they have Wifi.

Agree with Lee's post. Simplest and cheapest solution: an unlocked quad band mobile phone with locally purchased prepaid SIM cards. No billing surprises. Good info. from RS on this website. Search "mobile phones".

Also agree with Lee. Two years ago we bought a used quadband, unlocked phone on line, which was inexpensive. Bought a US SIM card for use at home and to be sure the phone worked before we left home. Upon arrival in whichever country we buy a local SIM card either at the airport or in the first town we stay. We have checked into buying a SIM card on line in advance but the rates are more and/or you may get a phone number that is in a country other than the one you are visiting. We decided to just buy the SIM card upon arrival and it has worked well for us.

On our last trip we used two phone options. For calls home, we took an Ipod touch and loaded it with Skype, setting it up to call landlines requires a $10 deposit. You need wifi to use it but it's very simple, you dial as if you were in the United States. If you want to call a European number, you have to dial the international codes before the number. For calls in Europe, we bought a cheap cell phone. We got ours at a department store but there are multiple kiosks and phone stores. We found multiple options at 25 euro that included the phone, charger, SIM card, and 10 euro calling credit. I don't think you can beat that buying a phone here and hoping it both works AND is unlocked for use in Europe. For your trip, I'd pick up a cell phone at your first stop (ask the salesman to set up the phone for you and make a call before you leave the store). If you use up the value on the SIM card, replenish it only if you're still in your first country. If you have moved to your other country, pick up a local SIM card there to use for the rest of your trip. Each SIM card has it's own phone number, calls are cheap in the country you purchase it but roaming in other countries.