I had sent this message to Gail's private email express, but my experience might help another enthusiastic traveler. Hello Gail: Be careful with cellphone use abroad. Here is my sad tale. Last year, I rented a cellphone at the airport, right across from Hertz where I rented my car. The Hertz agent went with me because my car was not ready. I speak native German, so there were no misunderstandings. The week's rental fee was to be Euro 35. A deposit of Euro 300 would be charged to the contract should I fail to return the equipment. Each domestic call (within Germany) would be 79 cents/minute (Euro-cents, not US cents) and about Euro 1.17/minute for calls to other countries. I made exactly 10 calls within Germany and--having learned the hard way before--kept exact records of the numbers to which I made my calls and for how long they were. Before departing for the USA, I returned the equipment and had the agend initial the place where the equipment return was listed. I also insisted that she put the time of return on the contract next to her initials. As agreed, I would receive a bill for the calls and the week's rental in the US. Yes, the bill arrived, but it was in the amount of Euro 688!! They had charged me for a series of calls to countries which do not even have a country code, and would not acknowledge that these calls had been made from the phone after I had returned it and after my flight had left (I also scanned the boarding passes and sent them via email!) Tthey insisted that I had not returned the equipment. American Express was good and helpful. They credited my account and were willing to have me work on the problem since I speak German and could tell where in Frankfurt the accounting office was. I worked for months with the accountant. They submitted copies of the contract which conveniently left off the time of equipment return and agent's initials. I, on my side, scanned the contracts and sent them as email attachments to Frankfurt and to American Express headquarters for these problems in Florida. Another trick they had up their sleeve was that the cellphone rental place had one name, but the billing was done by another company. It was an ordeal and a half, but after six months or so the accountant over there credited my American Express credit card acct with all but roughly Euro 80 for rental and all 1o calls. You are going to use your own phone, so you will not run into something like this, but be careful all the same. Gisela Meckstroth, Reynoldsburg, OH PS I was born and raised in Germany, emigrated at age 22-1/2 in 1957, and I am not an inexperienced traveler (haved made about 3-4 extensive trips abroad (worldwide) for all those years since then).