Archive: Cyber Cafés
More and more travelers are staying in touch with e-mail using cyber cafés. Does this work well? Any tips or pitfalls? Where are the handiest cyber cafés? Here's what you thought:
More on Rome Cyber Cafe
The cybercafe/Subway Joanne
M. is talking about in Rome is very easy to find. If you know where the
Triton fountain is, then head east from the fountain and the cybercafe
is on your right about 3 shops up. Across the street further on is a Blockbuster
Video with an extremely easy to spot sign. If you find this store you
should be able to spot the Subway/cybercafe. There are lots of terminals,
but many keyboards don't work properly, so be prepared to try one or two.
It was cheaper (1.70 Euro for an hour in early December) than other cafes
I had seen in Rome.
Kate
CA USA 01/06/04
Rome Cyber Cafe
I spent three days looking for the cyber cafe my hotel concierge told me
was very close by. I was staying at Rick's recommended Hotel Oceania in
Rome (very nice), a block or two from the Piazza della Repubblica. The cafe
is on Via Tritone, one block east of the corner McDonald's, then turn left.
Walk a long block on the left side of the street. No one told me the cafe
was in a "Subway" sandwich shop, but I found it accidentally. Great place!
Two euros an hour and at least 60-70 computers. Watch out for the confusing
European keyboards, though. Happy trails!
Joanne M.
lakewood, Co USA 12/12/03
Cologne, Bonn, Rothenburg, Mainz
Cologne: There are at least 4 internet shops within 2 blocks of the Cathedral.
The best priced (2 Euros/hr) is on Komödenstrasse (I believe this is the
shop the Sept 19th previous poster is referring to below). Walk away from
the Cathedral and you will see signs with pricing.
Bonn: There are several internet shops off the Hauptbahnhof along the pedestrian zone. The cheapest I found (2 Euros/hr) was to the right of the stairs to the S-bahn. The other shops were 2 or 3 Euros/half hour.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Hotel Roter Hahn is directly across from the
Medieval Crimes museum. It's set off from the street just slightly. Enter
through the "Reception" door. I believe the hours ar 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Rate is 3 Euros/half hour. Pricier than other cities, but at least it's
available in Rothenburg! Note: the terminal at the TI wasn't working properly.
It was less of a headache to pay for internet.
Zaida
CA USA 11/29/03
Free internet access at libraries
I checked my e-mail at the public library in Bath, England. It was free
for 30 minutes.
Shana
USA 11/22/03
Cyber Cafe in Venice
From in front of the Accademia, walk across the bridge. You are in a piazza.
Keep walking and enter the next piazza, which is very large and has restaurants
and stores around the periphery. Walk about 100 yards and on your left is
a cybercafe which is air conditioned (ah!) and not too expensive.
Alan Greenhalgh
Manalapan, NJ USA 11/07/03
Sending e-mail in France
Cybercafes are common in France, but they have French keyboards with their
computers. They are substantially different from American ones. Some places
have English keyboards. You can ask for an English one, but you can easily
wind up with a French keyboard that substitutes English for the French key
you have hit (you have to be a touch typist to do this) or may merely give
you an English language screen with with French keys. Have the attendant
set up the screen for you and actually see if you have English language
Yahoo or whatever. If it is in French, you could have trouble with the computer
reading your password. One computer drove me crazy doing this over and over,
but worked fine when the attendant got an English language screen for me.
H. Gintzler
Chicago, IL USA 10/10/03
Fishnet- Monterosso (Cinque Terre)
I just returned from Monterosso (Cinque Terre Italy) and I went to Fishnet.
Kate's closed! I had gone there every year for the past 4 years and had
always been welcome with a smile and all the help that Kate could give me.
I was very sad to see her space empty. However, the following day I saw
her in town leading a group of American women around and talked to her.
She said that she has her guide permit now and, seeing as she has a small
child, has decided to cut down on her hours and dedicate herself to just
doing tours of Monterosso and working with her husband and Sean Risatti.
I highly recommend her as she is very competent in information regarding
the Cinque Terre and , as far as I'm concerned, given 100% in helping people
out and sharing her insight. We'll miss Fishnet though! Good luck Kate!
Keep her website up by visiting www.fishnet.it!
Sharon Day
New York, NY USA 10/03/03
Cyber Cafe in Zagreb, Croatia,
I was in Zagreb, Croatia on 5 August 2003. Almost everything was closed
on this day, and outside it was about 100 degrees outside. But while wandering
along the Zagreb trolley car routes, I did find a shopping mall called the "Importanne", northeast of the central station, which had a cyber cafe open.
I didn't go inside although that would have been the wisest thing to do
at that time considering the outside temperature. Inside the mall is air
conditioned and of course very close to the tram routes. I would go back
to try that cyber cafe if I did have a chance to visit Zagreb again.
Josh Hanz
Foster City, ca USA 09/01/03
Easy Internet Cafe in Milan and Munich
The Easy Internet Cafe is moderately easy to use. I was in one in Milan's
Virgin Megastore near the Duomo, and another in Munich across the street
from the Hauptbahnhof (central station). You have to find a computer that
is free, after paying for a ticket at the vending machine that takes Euros,
and if you have time leftover the ticket has to be converted to a pass for
later usage. I did not do this, or rather, did not know how to do so, and
ended up paying a few Euros more for later usage. So please make sure you
know how to convert the simple tickets to passes for later use!!
Josh Hanz
Foster City, ca USA 09/01/03
Coffee Link in Brugges is a great place to have a cup of "joe" and
check email.
Tim & Hope
Edmonds, WA USA 08/28/03
There is an easyInternetcafe located at Bahnhofplatz 1, D 90335 in
Munich. The hours are 07:30 to 23:45. Hope this helps you.
Robin
Oh USA 08/23/03
Planning trip to Italy next month with fairly new Digital camera. Since
I have concern that I will have enough storage for pictures (can't "buy
more film") I purchased "Apacer Digital Storage Copier" .. allows me to
download the card to a CD-RW disc. Works on battery or charger (with converter).
Jan
Bradenton, FL USA 08/17/03
Italian cyber cafes
I just returned from a month in Italy and I learned a lot of lessons. Cyber
cafes can be affordable, but you must shop around. Don't go to cafes located
on busy tourist streets. In Lucca, I paid $4/30mins, when down the street
and around the corner, the cost was $1.50/30mins.
katie leigh
san diego, ca USA 07/21/03
Scotland
Check out the public library for free internet access. Get there early or
schedule some time for later in the day as it does fill up quickly. The
library opened at 10 and we were there right when it opened. I think we
got the last available computer. They do allow you to schedule time for
later, but I don't know how far in advance.
Matt
Federal Way, WA USA 07/15/03
Cyber Cafes and burning CDs
I found cyber cafes all right, but I began to doubt the wonder of it all.
I had to locate them and then discovered it takes time to write a decent
communication. I usually used the word processor on the machine and saved
the work on a floppy I had brought along. This saved me if the the net crashed
or I screwed up on Yahoo or Hotmail. All this time, of course, added up
in cost.
But what I want to address is what I had planned to help me with my digital camera and all the photos I was taking. I thought I could easily find a cyber cafe that I could upload my images onto their hard drive and then burn onto blank CDs I had brought along. This proved to be a major problem. I hadn't factored in the time it takes to find a place, be it an internet café or photo shop, to upload onto their computer & then burn CDs & the time consumed doing the task & the cost.
Most internet cafes exist to only surf the web, word processing or playing games. Most do not have the equipment to burn CDs or will not allow it to be used by customers due to fear of breaking the copy write law, even though I had just created the images. When I did find a place that would do it, to be safe I burned second back up CD just in case the original was lost or damaged in shipment. Additional time was taken in packaging and shipping the CD back home along with that cost.
Next vacation I plan to purchase a small compact portable hard drive
the size of a plam pilot that will store 20 to 60 Gig. That way I can
free up my memory cards anytime and anywhere I am.
Steve Wall
Chicago, IL USA 07/04/03
Free Internet in Amsterdam
Unless they have changed their policy, the main library in Amsterdam will
let you sign up for 30 minutes of free internet access.
Mary N
San Francisco, CA USA 07/01/03 EB, Scotland
Internet in Edinburgh
I found a great internet cafe (small snack/coffee bar as well) within easy
walking distance of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, and it's only 3 pence/minute.
The thing I liked about it the most was that it wasn't a coin-op, like all
the others were that I used on my last trip, which means you have to stock
up on 50 pence or larger pieces, and you use only what you need. Go west
on Princes Street, on the north sidewalk, cross Lothian, and keep going
for a few blocks. Wish I could remember the name, but there is also a small
convenience store next to it. If I remember correctly, it does have USB
ports and disc drives.
Amanda
STL, MO USA 06/14/03
EasyInternetCafe in Amsterdam
EasyInternetCafe on Reguliersbreestraat (at Rembrandtplein) is still convenient
and cheap. It's gotten a lot seedier since the first time I visited Amsterdam,
though. That was in Sept. 2001, and there was a nice front desk with a staff
serving great coffee, cakes, some sandwiches; they also sold the tickets
for internet access.
My next visit to A'dam was 6 months later, and the nice front desk staff had departed: no more coffee, etc. Now you buy the tix from a machine. No prob; just have coins, cuz bills don't work. Place wasn't as nice looking as before, but it wasn't awful.
I remember forgetting a small bag of stuff (just some moisturizer and such, plus some club and museum flyers). I ran back: the bag had been ransacked, but the toiletries were there; the flyers had been stolen. Huh? The guy at the next terminal was there when I left - I gave him a "look," which he ignored. Sheesh.
Anyway, in 2003 the place looks decidedly seedy. There are very Mafia
looking men in black suits acting as security, though they're frequently
outside smoking. The place is often dirty, with lots of fast food trash
on the floor. It's not unsafe, but be very careful of your belongings
(as you should be in all tourist areas of Amsterdam). I just wish the
easyEverything people would make this place as nice as it was in 2001.
It went from a nice, clean, safe place with some food into, well, what
it is now. More's the pity. The A'dam easyInternet was the first outside
of London. Too bad they don't care anymore.
Jobriath Salisbury
Richmond, VA USA 06/13/03
Free Internet in some Hotels
Some of the affordable hotels have free Internet access: specifically the
Hotel Casci in Florence. Rarely did I have to wait until someone else was
done. They also speak English and it's a great place to jettison your guidebooks.
Near Puerta del Sol in Madrid there are several internet cafes, my fav lets
you buy a chit for 2 hr that is good for up to 7 days. The exact name escapes
me as does the cost, but it was far less than most other places and gives
you 24 hr access (quite safe) and flexibility.
pc
Fair Oaks, CA USA 06/08/03
Internet access
Travelled in Nice and Paris during mid-March and found cyber cafes with
internet access readily available. Simply ask a young person on the street
where the neares cyber cafe is located and you might be surprised to learn
of one right around the corner.
Tony Ambrose
Louisville, KY USA 06/04/03
Reading your E-mail
Having seen a few comments about not being able to use their normal mail
in these comments. There is a way to get to any POP3 type mail system (for
the most part — some Corporate E-mail systems better not allow this, but
most ISP do permit) from any web browser and that is "Mail2Web" (www.mail2web.com).
This free service can securely get you to your mail. Some for the Cyber
Café systems do not support the security features need to access mail in
a secure way, so all the precautions would really apply at that point.
Steven
Berkeley, ca USA 06/01/03
UK internet access
I just returned from a trip to Great Britain and found convenient internet
access for 1 pound per session in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Waverley train
station, and in London at the Burger King in Picaddily Circus (right beneath
the famous neon signs).
Peggy
USA 04/25/03
Internet Access @ High Times in Haarlem
Internet access in Haarlem is a little spotty. At High Times, you must buy
a joint in addition to your internet access. The owner is quite a jerk as
well.
Adrienne
Athens, GA USA 04/19/03
Cybercafes in three towns
Easy Internet in London and Amsterdam are no longer 24 hours. The stores
by Victoria Station and Trafalgar Square (near Charing Cross Station) are
closing at 23:00, Oxford Street at 22:00. The Damrak (A'dam) store is also
22:00, I believe. There is also a huge, modern and relatively cheap store
with fast connections on Mariahilferstrasse in Vienna, about halfway between
Westbahnhof and the Hofburg, open until 01.00. but I can't remember the
name right now!
Chris Kerstetter
Renton, WA USA 04/15/03
Easy Internet, Rome
Easy Internet Café in Piazza Barberini, Rome, was great! Never had to wait
for a terminal. And best of all, they had a change machine, which came in
very handy because, for the first time in 30 years' travel, I was asked
for exact change a lot.
Tom
Durham, NC USA 03/29/03
Rome, Termini
While waiting for a train at Rome's Termini station, you can check your
email at the underground level of the train station. With your back to all
the buses and facing the main station entrance, walk left to the end and
take the escalator down one flight. It's probably not the cheapest place
(roughly 2 euros for 1/2 hour), but it's great if your hotel is near Termini;
there is always a computer available (at least in our experience); they
are open late, and the guy who works there speaks perfect English and is
very helpful.
USA 01/23/03
Rome Hotel with Internet
My November trip to Rome was great. I stayed at the Aberdeen Hotel and met
some great people on staff. Ellisio helped me with the computer to send
e-mail. It was convenient as I didn't have to leave the hotel to find a
internet cafe.
Jean Pollitt
Wichita, KS USA 01/10/03
EasyInternetCafe 24hrs/day in Barcelona and Madrid.
Barcelona: Near Metro stop Liceu, about the middle of the Ramblas, if you
walk toward the Columbus Monument, it's on your right side. Among various
options, the 2 Euros for 24 Hrs, and the 4 Euros for 7 days passes are the
best.
Madrid: There's one on the street named Mantera, between Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. If you walk from Gran Via toward Puerta del Sol (3 blocks), it's on your left side. Same prices and options as the one in Barcelona.
EasyInternetCafe website: http://www.easyeverything.com/ Stores locator
on right hand pane.
Le Pham
San Jose, CA USA 12/05/02
Polish Internet Access
Internet cafes in Poland are a great deal! It costs 4 zloty (about US$1)
for one hour. You can send plenty of emails, and check out CNN news and
sports scores - all for a buck or less (most cafes charge for every 15 minutes
of use). Lots of students use the computers at the internet cafes to play
computer games, so it is best to avoid them when school gets out. Krakow
seems to have an internet cafe on every street, while they are a bit more
few and far between in Warsaw - there is a good internet cafe near the University
— behind the KFC (ugh).
Paul
Boulder, CO USA 10/14/02
Paris - Internet Access in the Louvre
You can access the Internet in the TI below the Louvre (in the Carrousel
du Louvre - next to the upside down pyramid). They have several computers
on the 2nd floor. You buy a card for 15, 30, or 60 minutes. I bought 30
minutes & I'm pretty sure it cost 5 euros. It was fun to write home saying
that I was writing from the Louvre!
Karin
NC USA 10/03/02
Prague
I used the internet connections at Bohemia Bagels in Prague. They were quick
and trouble-free. Employees all speak english. They charge by the minute,
which totaled $3/hour on my first visit. Each of my subsequent 1/2 hour
visits were $1.50, so it wasn't a mistake!
Julie
Huntington Beach, CA USA 09/25/02
Cafe in Cologne
I thought I'd put the word in for a great little Internet cafe in Cologne,
located right by the Dom. The place is very clean and in addition to having
5-6 nice DSL-connected machines with flat panel monitors, it's got phone
access. The phone front of it is marked up with yellow and black signs touting
all the phone and phone card services.
I'm not sure of the exact street name but I can describe the location:
If you're on the entrance side of the Dom and there's the square with
the Dom hotel and the little seating area with the Roman arch, there's
a street leading in the direction away from the river. It's filled with
lots of tacky tourist shops and the cafe is a block or so away on the
left amidst all this. The rate is E 1.5 for 1/2 hour or like E 2.25 for
an hour. The proprietor is friendly and attentive.
Wendy Darling
Atlanta, GA USA 09/19/02
Internet cafe in Vienna
Having just returned from Austria, we loved the BigCity internet cafe in
Vienna, right off of Mariahilfer Strasse. It was right across the
street from the Hotel Quisisana. I think
we paid 2 Euro for 50 minutes.
Stephanie
Baltimore, MD USA 08/23/02
European Webmail Provider
I found that sometimes the trans-atlantic OC-192 fiber optic cables were
a little clogged, and access to my Hotmail email account was rather slow.
I found a free webmail provider (similar to Hotmail or Yahoo!) at www.gmx.net.
Unfortunately, they recently discontinued their English user interface,
but if your high-school German is up to snuff, then you can navigate your
way around fairly easily. Access to the GMX server (located in Germany)
was speedy from England to Turkey and Finland to Portugal.
Chris
Anchorage, AK USA 08/05/02
Internet café in Salzburg
Great inexpensive Internet café in Salzburg that will let you read floppies:
Internet Café, Mozartplatz 5, A-5020 Salzburg.
Bradley Nelson
Renton, WA USA 07/30/02
London Tower Records
I found while in London that Tower Records in Picadilly Circus had a good
amount of computers available (for a fee). I am drawing a blank on the exact
cost but it was a nice break from sightseeing. I was also able to listen
to a live band playing on the floor above.
Georgian
Merritt Island, FL USA 07/13/02
Madrid's Cyber Connections
9 Euros an hour (as of May 31, 2002) at the many internet terminals at Barajas
Airport seemed too expensive until we were leaving and had a few Euros that
we couldn't convert to US dollars. We gave some of those Euros to charity
and had a couple left for our last internet messages. If you're arriving
and are going directly to your hotel in center city Madrid, pass up the
airport internet terminals. You can get a half hour's internet connection
at one of the MANY cybercafes there for about 1 Euro and an hour for 1.50-2.00
Euros. Your hotel might even have a good rate, although that wasn't true
in our case. We used the local commercial cybercafes often and found them
clean, convenient, and inexpensive.
Dennis & Lila
Springfield, VA USA 06/11/02
Internet Cafes in Italy
My husband and I traveled around Italy for 2 weeks in April from Venice
to Sorrento and we always found an internet cafe. In Venice there is a 24
hour internet cafe in between the Accademia and St. Mark's, in Florence,
the Internet cafes we went to were open from 10am - 9 pm. In Rome, we went
to EasyEverything and in Sorrento the internet cafe was a local hole in
the wall place. Our favorite was in Venice, fast connection and they had
a bar in the cafe too, so we could have some drinks and email home at the
same time. WHOOHOO!
T.G.
Pleasanton, CA USA 06/03/02
Changing Keyboards
When travelling in other countries, visiting cybercafés can be a bit annoying
because you will find that many of the computers there don't have the West
European character set on them. However, it is possible at most cybercafés,
including the one where I am now, to switch character sets. Simply click
on "View" (or rather the icon that corresponds to that — third from the
left on this browser!), and then on "(D)". This will produce a list of available
character sets, everything from Chinese to to Cyrillic to various European
(ie Roman) character sets. The West European sets — Windows and ISO —
are usually the two right down near the bottom.
CJMoss
Hong Kong, China 06/01/02
England - Ireland Cyber Cafes
Cyber cafes during the time of the 9/11 helped us so much. My husband and
I had signed up for the Best of Ireland beginning on Sept. 15 in Dublin.
We had decided to arrive a few days early and tour Bath, England before
heading to Ireland. We left Oregon on the morning of Sept 10 and had been
in Bath for only a few short hours when my sister called the B&B and told
us about the attacks on America. Since I had worked for a "Wall Street"
company and had many friends in New York, I was very concerned. There were
only a few tv stations available so we went into town and found a cyber
cafe (the Coffee Republic). When the workers saw we were Americans, they
allowed us, along with others, to use the internet service for free to contact
friends and relatives back home. I am not usually a fan of the internet,
but having this access when we couldn't get through on the telephone was
a blessing. We did meet up with our Rick Steves tour in Dublin as scheduled
and, even though a few people weren't able to get there, we had a wonderful
trip. All along, most of our group was able to keep in touch with "home" which made this trip better.
Renee & Johan
Monroe, OR USA 05/29/02
www.cybercaptive.com
Go to www.cybercaptive.com for information on where you can get online anywhere
(USA and Internationally). My wife and I are going to Romania for two weeks
this summer and they show internet cafes for even that country. You can
also find out which cruise lines have internet access as well as how to
start your own internet cafe.
MD
Fort Worth, TX USA 05/07/02
Internet in England
I am currently at the public library in Bristol, England, where the Internet
is free. You get up to two hours and have to sign up. I was suprised that the Internet
was harder to access than I assumed in the UK (outside of London). Hostels usually have access but it
is expensive.
Jeff
Nomad,Europe, USA 05/07/02
Finding Internet Cafe in Paris
Ask the desk clerk or concierge at your hotel for directions to the nearest
internet cafe. He or she may know of a local internet cafe. They spring
up quickly, and this is one way to find them.
Tony
Lower Lake, CA USA 04/27/02
Cafe Orbital, Paris — internet plus wireless
The Orbital Cafe has QWERTY keyboards, good coffee, and a friendly student
crowd. It's just across from the Luxembourg Gardens. If you're lugging your
laptop and wireless card along, they have wireless access. Cafe Orbital,
13 rue de Médicis 75006, Paris. Métro Odéon - RER Luxembourg. Web address
— http://www.cafe.orbital.fr/us/
Tony
Lower Lake, CA USA 04/27/02
New Dublin Cybercafe
Dublin has a brand new CyberCafe on Dawson Street across from Waterstones
and near Grafton Street. It is the YE@H INTERNET. Spiffy computers in smoking
and non-smoking areas make for a pleasant experience. The adjacent bookstores
kept my husband occupied while I checked my e-mail.
Marilyn Brien
San Antonio, TX USA 04/06/02
Internet use
Three of us traveled through England, Scandinavia and Germany for over a
month and found that we could use the internet for free in most public libraries.
Often we were able to walk in and just sit down, but sometimes we had to
sign up for a time slot, usually an hour. College libraries also had internet
access, but some asked us for student cards, so we were excluded. The places
were quiet and interesting to wander through if you had to wait for a turn.
Marge Dieterich
Paradise, CA USA 03/16/02
Vienna internet cafe
There is a great little internet cafe located accross the street from a
recommended hotel (Zur Wiener Straatsoper). It is located 2 blocks from
the opera house.
Tracy
West Chicago, IL USA 03/14/02
Keeping an E-mail Journal
For those of you who aren't really into "journaling" your travel adventures
into a traditional paper journal, I suggest doing it through the e-mails
you write home. First off, you need a list of a few people to e-mail through
your e-mail account. When you do write them, save a copy of what you wrote
in "Drafts." That way, when you get home after your trip...you can reflect
on what you experienced with the letters you wrote when it was fresh in
your mind. 6 months after my trip I still love to read what I wrote. Above
all, if you're considering this trip and are hesitant...GO, just GO GO GO...you
will not regret it.
Bartolino
Portland, OR USA 03/13/02
Uploading Pictures
I went to Europe last September (departed on Sept, 15...a little nervous)
and I used many "Cyber-Cafes", known mostly as "Internet Points" over there.
They are all over the place (big cities) and are affordable. I too was interested
in uploading pics as I went, but found it very difficult. Not many of them
are receptive to this idea, plus many of them are PC based...(which doesn't
lend itself to USB ports). Forget about the idea of uploading to your camera's
specific transfer program. They will not let you install software on their
machines, period. Might I suggest buying a simple CF (compact flash, assuming
thats what you use) card reader with USB attachment. If by chance they do
have some USB port in the back of the computer, you can select the pics
you want to send. Beware of huge file size, cause you will be paying the
whole time it is transmitting. In N. Europe I highly recommend "Easy Everything" in the major cities.
Bartolino
Portland, OR USA 03/13/02
More Paris Cyberstations
I just now found a list of 19 cyber stations in Paris. It's at http://www.cybercaffes.com/city.asp?name=paris.
Lots of information.
Maurice Naughton
Flint, MI USA 12/06/01
Paris Cyber Stations
In the Fifth Arrondissement, very central, is Clickside 14, rue Domat, Metro:
Maubert-Mutualité, Mon-Fri 10 am to midnight, Sat-Sun 1-11pm. Convenient
hours, American (QWERTY) keyboards available. It's also in a great old stone-walled
sixteenth century vault.
Also in the fifth is the village web 1, 18 Rue de la bucherie, QWERTY available.
Cyberbeaubourg, 38 rue Quincampoix in the fourth is not far from the Pompidou
Center. Worth finding just because rue Quincampoix is a most quaint, narrow
old street.
In the first is Accessnet, 76 rue Rambuteau. I've lost my notes for this
one.
Near the Bastille in the 11th, is the Cyberzen Cafe, Monday to Saturady,
10 am to 10:30 pm. 85 rue Amelot- Metro: Saint-Sébastien Froissart
In Montmartre (18th)is the Village Web. (Another is at 18 rue de la Bucherie
in the 5th.) 6 rue Ravignan - Metro: Abbesses.
After a metro ride into the totally untouristed boonies of the 20th, look
for Cyber @ Planete, 52 rue des Pyrenees, Metro Maraichers.
If you go across the street from that one and turn left, there's a big cyber
stop at the corner with QWERTY keyboards, cheap printing, and good prices.
Sorry no name or address, but the directions above work.
The much-touted Easy Everything, France's largest, with 375 computers, never
closes. 31/37 boulevard de Sébastopol - Metro: Chatelet-Les Halles. It was
ok last spring, but not now. Now, you can't use your own floppy, you can't
up- or download, and you can't save files. If you're in Paris to play computer
games, you can do it cheaply here. If you want to send and receive e-mail,
there are better places.
The fifteen-minutes-for-free at the Toyota place on the Champs Elysees is
no bargain. Only five consoles, you can't sit down, the keyboards are film
cover pressure dots that sometimes need multiple presses to record a letter,
there's no floppy drive, and the keyboards are French, which is enough to
make a QWERTY keyboard user suicidal. And you'll have to wait in the bar
till your turn, where the drinks are expensive.
Maurice Naughton
Flint, MI USA 12/06/01
Edinburgh and London cafes
Hi all, I found a place on the royal mile in Edinburgh. Coming from the
B & B area, take south bridge to royal mile and take a right. A couple of
doors down is a sign that says internet access its a pound/30 min. Its downstairs
and has 20 computers. When i was there in Nov, there was no waiting.
In london right next door to the Tottenham Court Station, there is Virgin
internet access. Looking up and down the different streets you will notice
one of them has 2 burger kings right across the street from one another.
Next door to one of them is the door for Virgin megastore with the computers
on your right or upstairs. If you're there before noon, it's a pound an
hour. Otherwise, it's a pound for 30 min.
David
Houston, tx USA 12/03/01
CyberCafe in Brugges
I was in Brugges late in November. The cybercafe that Rick recommends was
closed (not permanently). I found a nice, clean, inexpensive place with
fast connections only a block and a half from Markt Square. It was called
Snooker Palace (it was in a snooker hall) and was at Noordzandstraat 4.
Here's the link: http://snookerpalace.telenet.be/
Todd M. Burr
Lusby, MD USA 12/02/01
Internet in Italy
Internet Train is a company I used in Florence (about 13 locations or so
there.) I think they are also in Venice. In Florence, the easiest Internet
Train is in the underground "mall level" of Santa Maria Novella Train Station.
I found a place called Planet Internet near the train station in Venice.
marcy
Denver, CO USA 11/12/01
Found great FREE internet access at the Museum fur Kommunikation in
Frankfurt. They had three computers. I logged onto Yahoo for my email then
checked my airline for flight update. I probably used the computer for about
30 minutes and no one said a thing!
debra
grants pass, or USA 11/03/01
Internet Cafe
Im in World Net in AciCastello Sicily right now...Its terrific...!!
Carol
Martinez, CA USA 10/29/01
Ireland and Scotland
We just returned from 3 weeks in Ireland and Scotland. We used a variety
of cyber cafes in Dingle and Dublin in Ireland, and they were fine. In Scotland,
what worked well and was cheaper was to use the e-mail at Tourist Information
offices in Edinburgh (on Princes Street) and in Inverness. They were both
just one pound for 20 minutes.
Marlene Eaton
Greenhills, OH USA 10/21/01
cybercafés
We found a good cybercafé on rue de l'Exposition in the 7th arrondissement
in Paris, near the rue Cler.
Marjorie
Longwood, FL USA 10/21/01
Amadeus Cafes
Amadeus cafes are pretty nice, and they're usually free. They're also usually
in pretty nice bookstores in good locations. I've found them in Munchen,
Berlin, and Vienna.
Megan
ID USA 10/15/01
Sept 11 in Switzerland
On Sept 11 we were in Wengen, Switzerland, when the WTC was hit. We went
down to Lauterbrunnen cyber place and quickly emailed all of our friends
to let them know we were OK and would not be coming home as scheduled. We
also left messages for our friends in N.Y. and would later learn that all
were safe. Thank goodness for cyber cafes!
Ed Swafford
Oakland, ca USA 10/11/01
Cyber cafes
I found a better solution than cyber cafes. It's called the Sharp TM-20
- a small e-mail device (somewhat larger than a calculator) that has a keyboard
you can type messages on at any time, store them, and then send at your
convenience over almost any phone by holding the device up to the receiver.
This device is around $100, and you pay monthly service (about $14 per month),
but you can phone an 800 number in the U.S. and Canada (free calls), and
a regular area code in the U.S. if you call from Europe. If you buy an international
phone card in the European country you're visiting, it costs very little
to send and receive e-mail over phones in your hotel or on a pay phone.
It's much more relaxing to e-mail your friends and family while sitting
on the train or in your hotel than to spend time looking for a cyber cafe.
Jan
MT USA 10/10/01
We found a great internet cafe in Berlin, not too far from
Alexanderplatz. It is called Easy Everything and the price was not too bad.
It changes depending on how busy they are. We had set up e mail accounts
through Hotmail before we left, so people could write us at that account
and let us know what was happening back home. I also made all of our hotel
and pension reservations through this account so I could access them from
an internet cafe. There is supposed to be an Easy Everything Cafe in Paris,
but we never found it.
We did find some smaller internet cafes in Vienna and Munich, but they seemed
to be really expensive. We were lucky to stumble upon the Easy Everything
Cafe in Berlin.
Kristine Daly
Redmond, WA USA 09/06/01
I can understand the
difficulty in accomodating laptops, etc. when using a dial-up modem, but
many cafes allegedly have hundreds of machines in their networks. I'm sure
they must all be plugged in to standard ethernet ports. I'm a "computer
guy" by trade, and without getting into the technical details I can say
that it's not that hard to leave a couple of empty ports for people to plug
in their own portables. (For you cafe owners out there, what you need is
called a DHCP server) BTW, I use a late-model Mac, so floppies are extinct
in my world. Anyone who thinks it's too hard to set up a DHCP server can
contact/hire me to do it for you, subsidizing my further travels to Europe.
Obbie Z
La Crosse, WI USA 08/29/01
Returned yesterday after 8 days in London. I visited EasyEverything to send & receive email messages to my young children at home with daddy. The Kensington
High Street location was great. Friendly staff and 1+ hour internet time
for only 1 pound ($1.44) the value can't be beat. With dozens and dozens
of screens, access was never a problem. I set up an email account on YAHOO
before I left home. Being able to pick up a messages from my kids mid-week
was a day brightener indeed. Will always connect via email on future travels.
Tracy
MN USA 08/22/01
Just a note on Copenhagen internet cafes. Completely invisible from the
street is the Net Point e cafe in the basement of the SAS Radisson hotel.
Very close to many of Rick's recommended hotels (I stayed at the Hotel Nebo),
railway station, etc. Wasn't very expensive, if memory serves.(and you don't
have to pay to use the toilets)
Lynn Maners
Tucson, Az. USA 08/16/01
Spain has lots of cybercafes all over the place. We were there all
of June 2001 and had NO trouble accessing them and they were accessible,
cheap and spoke English.It cost 300 pesetas a half hour-about $2. Canadian!!!
More and more are popping up. Try them.
Cynthia
Richards Landing, Ontario Canada 08/15/01
Just returned from a trip to Scandinavia. "Internet cafes" are not as ubiquitous
as I expected, and some are quite expensive to use. I found one in Copenhagen,
but the cost was prohibitive (equiv of $2 per minute). I found 2 in Oslo,
and the prices were very reasonable (30 NOK for 30 minutes, roughly just
under $4). But the biggest surprise to me is that these internet cafes are
few and far between and the hours can be inconvenient - most I saw did not
open until noon and had limited hours.
john russell
charlottesville, VA USA 08/11/01
The best emailing deal I found was in Rome, 2 doors away from the Hotel
Rimini, which is also a stone's throw from the entrance to the Termini Train
Station. It's a cyber cafe that's busy, but has lots of computers on several
floors. The cost was about $1.50 for emailing from 1 minute up to
1 hour.
M.R. Jones
Mexico, MO USA 07/31/01
Everybody knows you can set up a Hotmail or Yahoo e-mail account that
can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet. Additionally,
Yahoo provides a way to access your e-mail from your own ISP. There is no
need to tell friends and family of your temporary e-mail address. Just enter
in your pop mail server address and password (available from your ISP) from
the Yahoo Mail page and you can access your "regular e-mail from
anywhere. Comes in handy when traveling or even when I feel like checking
my home account from here at work.
literary critic
San Diego, CA USA 07/31/01
I spent 17 days in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Norway. Some of the
internet connections are not cheap, $3-4 for 15 or 20 minutes. IF you have
a lot of email, or want to surf the net/travel sites, I recommend the public
libraries. Most have several free net connections, and even if you need
to make an appt. (as in Helsinki), the wait is usually 20 min. or less,
for a half hour, so you can explore the library or grab a cup of coffee
nearby. Just sign up again for more free time. No lists in Stockholm, so
just linger near a PC until someone leaves, and ask the librarian where
they are, some are in lesser-used side rooms. And don't forget, you may
still call home for peanuts by buying a local telephone card at a newspaper/tobacco
kiosk/store or 7/11 (same place to buy bus and subway tickets). A national
telephone card for ~$4 may get you 2-3 3 min. calls to the US as well as
local calls, less than your using your US card or credit card. Your US-issued
cell phone probably won't work there.
Chuck Samples
San Diego, CA USA 07/30/01
Just spent three weeks in Greece with 5 days in Rome. Cybercafes were
everywhere, even in the smallest villages. My ISP's webmail did not work
from Europe, so I ended up setting up a Hotmail account on the fly- which
worked flawlessly. I should have done that as a backup before we left. Rates
were quite cheap- usually fifty cents to a dollar for the time to check
email and write new ones. I considered taking a Palm pilot and modem, but
was put off by the prospect of different telephone adapters, etc. Turns
out that every place we stayed had regular US-style RJ11 telephone plugs.
I might consider the Palm next trip, but the cybercafes were so easy, cheap,
and reliable it might not be worth the hassle.
Bob Rollins
Davis, CA USA 07/25/01
I've been enrolled (for free) with ekit.com to pick up & send email
and for long-distance phoning. Their site is always accessible and works
well. If you mention my account 80603678702 when signing up, you'll get
an extra $5 of phone credit and so will I! They are also part of the Hostelling
Int'l/American Youth Hostel service. That's how I originally joined up and
have been a happy camper ever since!
Rosie Apodaca
Portland, OR USA 07/24/01
Unlike many others on this site, I found that searching for cybercafes
that were open a frustrating and time-consuming business, and that they
just weren't available in smaller towns. At a lot of hotels and hostels
which offered internet services, the charges were high and often the computers
didn't work. So I basically was "out of touch" during my travels. Of course
between excursions I would spend a day or two at my son's house in Germany,
at which time I could catch up. However, Deutsche Telekomm charges an arm
and a leg to use the internet in the daytime, so I had to reimburse my son
quite a bit of money. There isn't any such thing as unlimited domestic calls
as we have in the USA — all calls are charged by the minute. For those complaining
about internet use charges, that's why. Because of the per-minute phone charges it was cheaper
to type the message in Word and then either copy it or attach it to my EMail
than to try to write a long messag
Mary from Oregon
USA 07/23/01
Just came back from two weeks in London and Paris and used internet
cafes instead of taking my laptop for business. We sent about 8-10 business
emails from several cafes (easy everything, etc.) and our secretary rec'd
only two of them. I later rec'd notices of non-delivery but the addresses
were correct, so be careful and set up a system so you will know if your
messages are getting through.
Bill Nelson
Lake Arrowhead, CA USA 07/18/01
I used cybercafes all over France. One trick I learned is to try to
go when teens are in school. After school they fill up fast! The French
keyboard has a third row of letter over the numbers, to get to the all-important
@ use the alt key to the right of the space bar. Numbers require using
the "shift" key. Some of the letters aren't exactly the same as US "Qwerty"
boards, especially the left side of the keyboard. Hotmail worked really
well for me to keep in touch. The cafes are also great ways to meet people — especially
when you're trying to figure something out on the keyboard!
Constance Montague
Spokane, WA USA 07/04/01
In Switzerland, you can send a short email for 90 centimes (about 50
cents) from the keyboard in telephone booths if you have a Swiss telephone
card. All phone booths seem to have the keyboard. And in Vienna, there
are a couple of computer screens in the lobby of the Konzerthaus that
you can use to send emails for free.
Jonathan Lawson
San Diego, CA USA 06/27/01
In Paris, Le Jardin de l'Internet at 70 bd Saint Michel is fabulous. Much cheaper than Cafe Orbital on Rue Medicis, right around the corner. The rate recently was 10 francs for 15 minutes (minimum), 20 francs for 30 minutes, and 40 francs for an hour.
The people at Cafe Orbital were extremely friendly and it's a nicer environment if you want to drink a cafe while you check email, but the prices are considerably higher.
Nearest metro stop is Cuny-Sorbonne, then a few blocks' walk up St.
Germaine to Bd. St. Michel.
USA 06/14/01
Spent 33 days in Europe and stayed "connected" by using the internet
cafes everywhere. The only problem we encountered were the keyboards.
In some countries the 2nd line of our keyboard became their first line;
y's and z's were transfered; and they open and close on their time - not
ours, the consumer. But we saved a bundle by not calling home.
Adelle
Sherman, TX USA 06/09/01
My wife and I found a great cybercafe in Annecy, France, called L'emailerie
(web site www.emailerie.com). It has several locations. We used the one
near the Hotel de Ville, which was quiet and very nice with an English
keyboard and fast internet connection. They run a self-service internet
shop. Prices are reasonable.
Richard Taylor
Denver, CO USA 06/01/01
There is no @ sign
on Italian keybords. You make an @ sign by holding down two keys at the
same time which we don't have on American keyboards: "Alt Gr" and "çò".
Also, although you have access to search engines Yahoo and AOL here, e-mail
access through them from Rome has been spotty all week. But, hey, the
cappucinos are great!
mherz
Eugene, OR USA 05/26/01
Those traveling to Russia may be surprised (and relieved!) to hear that internet access is quite easy in the two major cities.
In Moscow, head to Manezh square (the underground mall next to Red Square) and to the TimeOnline internet cafe, open 24 hours a day. Time costs at minimum 66 cents/hour and at most $2/hour. The computers are well maintained and fast, and the staff speaks a number of languages, including English.
In St. Pete, I found a cheap internet cafe next to the Puppet Theater Hostel (though I wouldn't recommend the hostel). Time there is cheaper, ranging from $1-$1.66 per hour, and they also have a restaurant and bar. There is also access at a cafe on Nevsky Prospekt, though I don't know prices there.
In other cities, at least one internet place usually exists (generally
in combination with a computer store), and it is usually cheaper than
in the big cities. I saw cafes in Vladimir, Petrozavodsk, Sochi, and even
Sergiev Posad; the younger crowd generally speaks English and would be
more helpful at pointing you in the right direction than babushki.
Hilary
Duluth, MN USA 05/25/01
Many European keyboards have a third symbol on the numeral line and
characters that are specific to their language. Often to access the third
symbol (most importantly the @ symbol) use CONTROL and ALT at the same
time, then hit the key you would like.
M
OR USA 05/12/01
There is new cyber cafe in the Rue Cler area in Paris: Cyber World C@fe,
at 20 Rue de L'exposition, 75007 Paris. Reasonable rates. 7th district,
metro: Ecole Miltaire. Hours are noon to 10pm, 7 days a week. Their e-mail
address is dcyber20@hotmail.com, telephone 01 53 59 96 54.
Randy Mah
El Dorado Hills, Ca USA 04/24/01
Cyber cafes are the best way to keep in touch with the homefront while
you are traveling. When I was in Italy in Oct. 2000 I used E-kit, offered
through International Youth Hostels (it's for everyone — I am not a youth!).
I could use it for e-mail and for voice mail, and I also used the card
as an international phone card. The staff was very helpful when I ran
into problems with different types of phones, and I was always able to
make my connection one way or the other. Go to the web site for more information
(ekit.com). Happy travels with Rick!
Sandra H. Jolly
North Providence, RI United States of America 04/21/01
We found a great cyber cafe in Paris. The best part about it was that
it was FREE! It is on the Champs-Elysees at the Toyota showroom. You just
tell the hostess your name and she will put you on a computer (or short
waiting list). Each person gets 15 minutes' use. They have cars to browse
and a small bar/coffee bar. There was no pressure to buy anything. It
was a great place to meet other travelers, too! It was wonderful getting
to tell all my friends what I had been up to...and to confirm a ride home
from the airport!
Beth
San Ramon, CA USA 04/20/01
I used the TI below the Louvre in Paris to access and send e-mail via
a Yahoo account which I established before leaving the States. But I couldn't
figure out why my address book was blank when I got there. How to use
the @ symbol was also a mystery — it was one of THREE choices on the keypad,
and caps on or off did not do it. I would have been stymied if there had
not been a message from my husband waiting for me. Thank goodness for
the "reply to sender" option.
Shelley
Parkdale, OR USA 04/19/01
Looking for a cool way to e-mail everyone back home while you enjoy your
coffee in a Paris cybercafe? Check out www.travelpod.com. The Travelpod
folks will let you set up (for free) your own travelogue (with or without
photos) and you can either add entries while you're overseas or after
you come home or both! Then they'll send an automatic e-mail message to
your friends of choice. It's easy and a very nifty site. I'm going to
be using it when I drive around Europe for five weeks later this year.
Janice
Toronto, ON CAN 04/10/01
EasyEverything rocks! I just got back from three weeks in Europe and I used them in London, Paris and Rome. They are the cheapest around and they are very well run. Plus, in London I was able to check their website and find a location in Paris and in Rome so I was prepared when I arrived in those cities.
In Florence, Venice and Prague (cities that don't yet have EasyEverything)
I had to pay a lot more and did not have 24-hour access.
Paul M. Mucha
Cleveland, OH USA 04/08/01
My husband and I kept in daily contact with our son while we toured France
and Luxembourg. Cyber cafes are plentiful in Paris. We enjoy staying in the Latin Quarter
and there is a great cyber cafe across from Luxembourg Garden. We also
discovered that every post office in France has a computer with internet
access for public use in the lobby. You simply purchase a card at the
post office window that will give you 30 or 60 min. of internet access.
If I remember correctly, it cost approx $5 for 30 min.
cathy mallow
Peoria , il USA 03/09/01
I found the best internet cafe in Rome! It is on Via della Fosse di
Castello, very close to the Vatican and Castle St. Angelo. The people
were so helpful in getting me started. The receptionist, Brunella, a beautiful
young Romana, reccomended a good pizzeria, and gave me directions. And
Fabio, the owner, took me to the store around the corner to buy a hairdryer!
It was less than $5 an hour..and you feel like family!
Terry
gainesville, fl USA 03/04/01
I made my 1st trip to Europe this past October. Per the advice I'd seen here, I set up a free HotMail e-mail account before going. Besides being free, the computers I used on my travels to check and send e-mail already had HotMail set up as a "Favorites," so it made accessing the site real easy. This again proved true last month on a trip to Amsterdam.
The main advantage I've read with either Yahoo Mail or HotMail - besides being free - is that they are web-based, and as such, should be accessible through any internet search engine. It doesn't require you to attempt to gain access into your stateside provider.
I didn't encounter any problems with the keyboards being set up any differently in Norway, Denmark, or Holland than here.
If you have a lot of personal information on your current e-mail provider, setting up a 2nd account strictly to use for communicating from abroad could alleviate any fears of strangers getting access to personal information over a publicly shared computer.
I scanned my passport, and a list of my credit cards, with contact phone
numbers, and e-mailed them to myself at my HotMail account. That way if
I were to lose anything, I'd have a backup method of obtaining that information
to attempt replacements. This probably sounds contradictory to my earlier
statement, but I minimized any potential threat by using a personal coding
system for my credit card numbers.
Mike
Atlanta, GA USA 02/15/01
My daughter and I traveled in five countries and, try as we might, were
unable to once reach my husband back home via a cyber cafe. No one was
ever able, or willing, to help us navigate the various unfamiliar keyboards.
By the time we got to Spain we had given up and used the phone!
Tammy Laizure
Redding, CA USA 02/05/01
I was in Berlin again in December. The Burger King had a video-game-sized
kiosk with a computer, at 1 Mark ($0.45) for ten minutes. Ubiquitous,
ja?
Bry
"Ich bin ein Berliner", USA 02/03/01
As much as I love the concept of easy Everything, the conditions are
not up to snuff. With lots of computers squeezed in, it's got great conditions
for cold catching. I used the easy Everything on two trips this winter
and caught colds about two days later. I would highly recommend carrying
those little disinfectant towelettes and wiping the keyboard before and
after use, and washing your hands after using their machines. I'm not
a big one on super sanitation, but those terminals are in constant use
and not well maintained.
nmerati
seattle, wa USA 02/02/01
My husband and I traveled Europe for eight weeks in 1998. We used the
Internet every four to five days and generally spent $5 to $10 for an
hour.
In 2000, we traveled to Scotland. My, how two years changes things!
Suddenly, cyber cafes are everywhere, and we found one-hour Internet access
for a pound in Edinburgh (that's maybe $1.60). Internet access has gotten
much cheaper and easier to find. We use the Internet to send e-mails to
our family about what we're seeing, doing, etc. When we get back, we have
a travel diary from all the e-mails we sent.
Mindy Baxter
Dallas, TX USA 01/04/01
We traveled through Europe for two months and checked e-mail at least once a week. Because of the different keyboards, count on taking twice as long as you thought to send/respond to messages.
In smaller towns where cybercafes were harder to find, we had good luck
at the library (Pesaro, Italy), a bookstore (Lucerne, Switzerland), and
a chamber of commerce (Colmar, France). Rick was right — ask the young
kids — they know where this stuff is!
Susan Fitz
Portland, OR USA 11/06/00
I used e-mail during a recent trip through France. Almost every large city has Internet access through the post office. You buy an Internet credit card in various hourly increments and log on using the card.
Also, I accessed the Internet in several cyber cafes, especially in Italy. Generally in the cyber cafes you pay for the time used.
Most of my experience in accessing the Internet in Europe was positive.
The only problem I experienced was getting use to the European keyboards.
They are similar to American keyboards, but some of It took some time
to get use to the keyboard differences. It was exciting to be able to
receive comments/mail at the various stops on our trip.
Paul Claflin
McFarland, WI USA 11/06/00
We used EasyEverything in London and it was great until the server went down. We still had time left and couldn't use it in Paris. We were able to use some of the remaining portion before we left, but because we were there at a different time we had more time than we first started, it was actually quite comical.
In Paris it is a little harder to find internet cafes, but they are
there, you just have to ask. The EasyEverything that was at Blvd. de Sebastopol
is now somewhere on the Champs Elysees. Just a note, in France you have
to have an English keyboard as the French keyboard is different.
Terry Gray
Lomita, CA USA 11/03/00
If you're in Switzerland, and all you want to do is send an e-mail,
just head to the nearest Swisscom phone. They all have keyboards attached
that allow you to send a fax, SMS, or e-mail messages for an unbelievably
low fee (as of October, emails cost Frs.0.20, or about 12 cents).
Peter
Seattle, WA USA 10/26/00
Cyber Cafe in Stow-on-the-Wold: Tucan Internet Cafe. Prices are 1.25 pounds for 10 minutes (3.50 for 30 minutes). It is on the main square across from the church, and up 1 flight of stairs. The owner is a friendly woman named Becky. Open Monday thru Saturday 10 am to 6 pm. www.tucaninternet.co.uk.
London: I agree with an earlier comment about EasyEverything. A pound purchased various amounts of time during the day depending on how busy they were. The first time I went there a pound purchased 34 minutes, the second time just under 1 hour. They are open 24 hours a day. The store I went to had 500 computers. Just look for an orange screen that says "This PC Available." There is an Internet cafe at the Picadilly Circus Tube station in Tower Records. But EasyEverything is much better. Locations in London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Antwerp, Madrid, Munich and Brussels. www.easyeverything.com.
Paris: CyberCafe Latin is near Notre Dame. Walk up Pont Neuf a block or two away. Only a few computers. 35 francs bought 30 minutes. Other idea: I left a list of Internet cafes in the store named The Real McCoy in the Rue Cler neighborhood in Paris. Stop by there if you have trouble finding a cafe. (The Real McCoy sells American products like Betty Crocker mixes.)
I think it helps to do a little research ahead of time on the Internet Cafes.
I took a Palm computer and keyboard with me. It started many conversations with locals.
I e-mailed digital photos back home and friends and family loved it.
I needed a USB data cable between my camera and my laptop (to create floppy
disks to take to the internet cafe). Jessops in England was very helpful.
I called their mail order number and they checked inventory at stores
in cities where I would be traveling. www.jessops.com.
Kaye Thibault
Minneapolis, MN USA 09/29/00
My second trip to Europe was 5 weeks in 1999, starting in Vilnius, Lithuania. Since I learned about 30 words in the local language and no Russian, and the staff knew hardly any English and no German, I enjoyed finally arranging to use the hotel office computer more than actually using it.
Internet cafes are advertised on street-side signs and In Your Pocket Guide, but I thought the public library might be more fun — wrong! The library has a rule disallowing internet use from foreign travelers. (They have a page in English that says so.)
Later in Germany, while staying with penpals in Arnstadt, Thuringia, I got linked up with one of the few people in town who has an extensive computer setup at home. His family and my hosts were impressed that the keyboard could type English so fast!
Then on to Munich. I agree with the comments about the cafe on the south end of the Hauptbahnhof. Probably 25-30 computers, but I didn't try the food. Careful — charges are by the 15 minutes, so 18 minutes is the same as 30. But again, it was enjoyable talking Mo out of some "free" time back at Pension Seibel. I asked when my e-mailing would not interfere with business, and we chatted and drank coffee while I caught up on the news from back home.
Observation for future first-timers: it takes no time at all to get
used to the reversal of the Y and Z keys on the keyboard.
Don
Kent, WA USA 09/29/00
If you have access to a computer (without internet access) overseas, you can use it to write e-mail messages you will send later.
On our trip to Europe last year, we stayed with several friends. Each had a computer, but none had an internet connection. We wrote our letters in their homes (everyone participating in the process, it was fun) and saved them in text files on a floppy disk.
When we got to a cyber cafe, we copied the letters' text into the Yahoo Mail messages. (We asked the cybercafe personnel scan the disk before we used it.) This made our e-mail sessions much faster and cheaper.
Also, we stored our e-mail address list in a text file on the disk,
and cut and pasted it into the To: field. This sure beat using our Yahoo
Mail address utility, which ran really slow at times.
Paul
USA 09/19/00
In Bergen, Norway, there's a reasonably priced cyber cafe on the street
leading from the center of town to the funicular — it's about 2 blocks from
the funicular entrance on the landward side.
Cösmø
Baltimore, MD USA 09/19/00
My wife and I just returned from 2 weeks in Sweden and 1 week in London. We kept in touch via e-mail by using the the cyber cafe on the ground floor of the Kulturhuset in Stockholm. It cost 20SEK for 30 minutes.
Outside Stockholm we used the computer in the Bibliotek (library) in Falun (10 SEK for 30 minutes), Leksand (no charge for 30 minutes) and Vaxjo (no charge). So if you find yourself near a library on your travels check it out for e-mail access.
While in London we used the cyber cafe almosteverything.com across from
the Victoria station. Cost was 1 pound for 30-45 minutes.
Doug
Molalla, OR USA 09/18/00
I had a delightful 4 weeks in Turkey this May and June. To keep in
touch with my wife, who was wrapped up in her last quarter of college, I
used the cyber cafes. There are lots of them and the prices — 60 cents to
$1.25 per hour — were outstanding. I was not able to use Netscape e-mail
or Hotmail as there was frequently a slow connection that timed out before
the connection was completed. But my ISP at home is AOL and when I used
their e-mail, which you can access from the Internet (www.aol.com), I had
absolutely no problems. But, when tried to do the same thing in Germany,
I was unable to find any cybercCafes in the small villages along the Main
River.
Malcolm
Campbell, CA USA 09/16/00
I accidentally stumbled upon internet access on the third floor of Waterstone's
Bookstore in Glasgow, Scotland. There was a set price for an hour but when I told
the attendant I wanted only 20 minutes he just charged me for those minutes.
Judithe
Gallipolis, OH USA 09/06/00
Because of my work (evil software consultant), I had to check my e-mail frequently. I opted not to lug around my laptop for fear I would never leave my hotel room. Instead, I used searching for internet cafes as an excuse to get out and explore. Here are the Internet PCs or Cybernetico Cafes I found on ETBD's Best of Europe Tour (7/1 - 7/21/00):
- Amsterdam, Netherlands - there is a HUGE internet cafe near the Rijksmuseum. Has 100s - just ask, it's hard to miss.
- Rothenburg, Germany - Planet Internet, a few blocks from the main square. Has about a dozen PCs.
- Reutte, Austria - we politely asked the hotel owner if we could use his in the office. How can he say no to sweet American girls?!
- Venice, Italy - 24-Hour Cyber Cafe in the Campo Mosotrini - across the bridge from the Accademia. Has a few dozen plus mood lighting, music videos on big screen and lots of gaming PCs.
- Florence, Italy - Less than a block from the Ponte Vecchio.
- Rome, Italy - just a few blocks from the Hotel Oceania. There are flyers on hotel bulletin board or the hotel people can point the way.
- Cinque Terre, Italy - The Blue Marlin at Vernazza will NEVER get that one PC of theirs fixed! You're better off ordering some of that great Cinque Terre white wine. Never fear: there are two PCs at an internet cafe in Riomaggiore, halfway down the main street on your right. Long wait. Never got in. However, take the train to the last village, Monterosso. After you exit the station, take a left, go through the tunnel, go into the little village; there is an internet cafe - www.monterossonet.com - 4 PCs, lots of teenagers - just elbow them out of the way!
- Gimmelwald, Switzerland - Take the Murrenbahn up to the Murren station. There is one PC- a Surfboy. Bring lots of 5-swiss-franc coins.
- Paris, France - They are everywhere. But I went to my the Paris branch of my company - oh, sweet LANs!
Have fun & good luck. Thanks again Rick & ETBD Staff for the time of
my life!
Jenny A.
San Francisco, CA USA 08/31/00
Pretty decent website that is dedicated to this topic: www.cybercafe.com
They ask people who find new ones to please notify them so it can be added
to their website.
BJ
Hometown, CA USA 08/27/00
We didn't have a single problem finding a cyber cafe in Paris, Florence, Rome, Venice, or Munich. I did some online research before the trip to locate places, but this information was useless. Relying on Rick's books and just keeping our eyes open landed us at a cyber cafe in every city.
In Florence, there is a great cyber cafe near the Ponte Vecchio on the opposite side of the river from the Uffizi. In Rome, there's a great small cafe right off of St. Peter's square (opposite direction from the subway stop). In Paris & Venice, there are several different choices; we walked past several and picked one. Munich was the best - a real cybercafe right at the Munich train station. Food & great computers! Keep your eyes open in any of the cities above & you will definitely spot a cyber cafe.
We used a hotmail account which worked out great! We didn't store our
personal information (hard copies in our security wallets seemed best).
The account was also completely disconnected from any of our other accounts.
Plus, hotmail was readily accessible from everywhere and every cyber cafe
knew what it was. I would not advise anyone to use their personal e-mail
account nor would I even consider doing any secure transactions (banking,
etc). Cyber cafe computers are public computers and they should be treated
as such.
Kim
Irving, TX USA 08/14/00
I didn't have much luck with Internet communication while in Europe. When I was able to find a place with public PCs or had time to look (sightseeing was more fun!), the place was closed (especially in Spain during Semana Santa), or the computer was down, or (at the Albertine Hostel in Oslo) the credit-card-required-PC wouldn't accept either Visa or Mastercard.
A couple of times when I did get on, I kept getting the message (recognizable in any language), "This machine has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Not all places have the encrypted version of Netscape or Outlook required for PC banking, either (in case you were planning to use that feature to pay your bills or check your balance at home).
Fortunately I had a "home base" at my son's house in Germany and used
his PC. However, whether due to the distance or his internet service provider,
accessing encrypted sites in the US, such as my bank, took forever. With
Deutsche Telekom charging by the minute for phone lines, this got rather
expensive.
Mary from Oregon
USA 08/14/00
In Siracusa we used the internet access at Libreria Gabo on Corso Matteotti, very inexpensive and the staff was very relaxed and friendly. While my husband caught up on his e-mail I got to pick out some nice books as souvenirs.
There is also a very nice bar with internet access on Lipari, just downhill
from the archaeological museum. Only one terminal but the service was
speedy & friendly.
Teresa
New York, NY USA 08/04/00
We had no trouble checking our e-mail at cyber cafes in England, but
wanted to download the images from our digital camera. Click Cafe in Bath,
conveniently located on Broad Street, has a PC with attached compactflash
drive and zip drive attached. We easily transfered many images to our zip
disk. The cafe also has the smart media adapter.
Deb A
USA 07/18/00
Several recent postings here and elsewhere have suggested using the internet and e-mail to store back-up information that you may need when traveling. But my chief concern is the lack of security. I am never sure who is looking over my shoulder (either electronically or physically) in the cybercafes. This is what we did during a recent trip to Spain:
1. We established a new e-mail address at one of the free internet e-mail sites. We used hotmail.com but there are others. If somehow the new address is compromised then this address could be terminated without impacting our current e-mail account.
2. Important names and numbers (with credit card numbers in my own secret code) were sent as e-mail to the new address. Friends and family were in one file folder, business address in another, credit cards and debit card notification address and phone numbers in still another. Get e-mail addresses for your credit card companies and bank, too.
3. Finally, the passports, airline tickets, and some misc. items were scanned and forward in a separate e-mail. We even include information on hotels, restaurant, etc. that we want to visit in the event that our guide books disappear. Did not compress any files for fear of not being able to decompress the files at the other end.
We will continue to carry paper copies but the e-mail approach is a
convenient and comforting back-up.
Frank
Littleton, CO USA 06/18/00
In Prague, there is a cozy little internet cafe near the ETBD recommended
Pension Unitas. As you come out the front door of Unitas, turn right and
keep turning right about four times, i.e. go around to the other side of
the block. I don't remember the exact name, but it has the word "blue" in
it. Like "Cafe Blue" or "Blue Cafe" or something like that. Maybe ask at
the Unitas desk. By the way, I was pleased with the operation of Pension
Unitas. I booked my stay through their website and got a prompt and clear
confirmation in reply. All the staff speak passable English and were friendly
and helpful.
larry
Saskatoon, SK Canada 06/16/00
Found a very nice and well-equipped Internet cafe in Venice on the
left side of the Campo S. Stefano as you enter it from the Accademia bridge/vaporetto
stop. It's located through an easy to miss doorway at about the midpoint
of the Campo. It's advertised around the city. Very good rates on long-distance/international
calls as well.
John Malkin
Menlo Park, CA USA 06/16/00
Cyber Cafes in Italy and France are easy and not terribly expensive. I would especially recommend the internet place in Rome's Termini Station (on the shopping mall level — can be very hot in warm Rome weather) and a place called Cafe Orbital, just across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens. Both were excellent places to log on and make contact.
Another place that was decent was very convenient, but not well marked. In Florence, right across the street from the Accademia entrance, there is a Christian Bookstore that has a little internet alcove in the very back. Had I seen the sign, I'd have taken turns with my partner standing in line, and we both would have spent time online. Unfortunately, you really don't get a chance to see the sign until you've been waiting in line for awhile. But when we were done seeing David and the other incredible art in the museum, we headed back across the street and read/sent mail.
I had a great time sending regular missives to a good friend of mine
who has traveled a great deal. He said that it was like he was on the
trip, and while not as scenic as a postcard, even more informative and
immediate.
Steve Carpenter
Portland, OR USA 06/10/00
In Luxembourg city, I could only find two cyber cafes - one with one
computer and one with two. The keyboards were a bit different than North
America but still fairly easy to use. The best is in Place d'Armes (Sparkys
or Spunkys)-two computers and helpful staff. They are open from 8-8. Amsterdam
has lots of cyber cafes to choose from.
Re Carroll
Abbotsford, BC Canada, 06/09/00
Just returned from 30 day business trip in Munich and vicinity. Mike's Bikes in Munich (near Viktualenmarkt) is adding a new cyber cafe — I got a test-drive, and it is very nice and clean. The internet cafe off of the Marienplatz is dirty, smoky, unfriendly, and prone to rip off American tourists. I would avoid it.
The Internet Cafe SPIKA in Prague is very nice and cheap at Dlazdena
#4 — ask at the TI in the train station — they have a map to it. Prague,
by the way, is great — catch it before it turns too touristy.
USA 06/05/00
We just returned from a 30-day trip to Europe and kept in touch with
friends and family via the Net. Before we left, we set up a hotmail account
and created an address list within the account. In each European country
we visited, Internet access was plentiful. We documented our trip and everyone
got a kick out of it! When we returned home, we printed out all the e-mails
we had sent (we sent them to our home address, too) and used them in our
scrapbook. In fact, we never had to make phone calls since everyone knew
we were okay via our messages.
Tpny Derailer
Austin, TX USA 06/04/00
Digital cameras are fine if you have the models that save photos to
disk. Remove the disk, insert in host computer and attach to e-mails being
sent out. If you have a non-disk camera that must be connected via a serial
cable, MS PC's generally require a reboot to recognize a new device connected
via a serial cable. I would check with the staff before rebooting any device
or you might get ejected.
PC Tech
CA USA 05/19/00
In Munich, the Hertie is definitely the best deal at 3DM per half hour.
The bistro in the train station has upped its prices to DM 4.50 per 15 minutes!
Mark Adair
Belmont, MA USA 05/18/00
I found that, if you ask very nicely, your hotel will allow you to
use their computer to access the internet, as long as you do it after hours
and don't get in their way. And it's free.
barry
Overland Park, KS USA 05/17/00
I always make copies of credit cards, prescriptions, passport, airline tickets, hotel vouchers, rail pass, travelers checks, itinerary (with phone and e-mails) etc. and leave them with a relative. Then, if I need anything, I can e-mail a request for a fax ASAP. Much safer than e-mailing credit card numbers even to myself. When traveling overseas, I also arrange with my bank for an emergency funds transfer in case it becomes necessary. I also always leave my passport and most funds in the hotel safe and only carry a photocopy of my passport with me.
Cyber cafes are all over the place. Very nice ones near Duomo in Florence,
and on main drag in Taormina. And, it is fun to e-mail from someplace
exotic. Now if they had more e-mail postcards...
Kit Stewart
Sequim, WA USA 05/10/00
I am traveling in Italy right now, and am at the Internet Train in
Florence. It is great — about 5 dollars for a half hour, really fast connections,
and cool music playing in the background (not too loud though). And I know
I am a spoiled American, but I'm thrilled that they have the standard keyboards...in
all the other internet cafes I've hit in Italy, they have a different keyboard
layout, which makes typing fast impossible! Internet cafe is located about
4 blocks east of the Duomo, on a quiet side street.
Kathleen
Florence, italy 05/08/00
In April I visited the National Library in Reykjavik, Iceland (just
across the street from the Saga Hotel). I was able to use one of their computers
for e-mail, free. The librarian spoke English and was very helpful.
Elisabeth Evans
Harrisburg, PA USA 05/02/00
Every traveler knows that they should make copies of all important documents
in case they are stolen or lost. But what if the copies are also stolen
or lost? If you have access to your own e-mail account, then before you
leave home, make copies of everything you will need: lists of credit cards
and numbers to call; extra passport photos; passport; tickets; itinerary,
etc. Then attach these items to an e-mail message and e-mail them to yourself,
each with its own title, such as "Passport." Save the e-mails "as new," so that if you need these copies, and all seems lost, you can just go to
a cybercafe, access your own e-mail account, and print out the information.
(It wouldn't do you any good to simply have this information in your home
computer because you wouldn't be able to access it from abroad.)
Jenny Brain
Miami, FL USA 04/12/00
In Paris, I stayed at the Hostel Blue Planet near the Gare De Lyon,
which has an internet connected computer. It cost 10 francs per hour or
so. Cybercafes can also be found all over Amsterdam. I found myself sorta
dizzy in those places though!
Eric Shen
Potomac, MD USA 04/04/00
Give me ETBD or give me death. Last time I went to Talinn, a non-ETBD
guidebook told me that in lieu of a cybercafe, I should go to the library.
They have many internet-connected computers, and the price was right. So
eventually I was able to communicate to the cab driver where I wanted to
go (I think 'bibliotheque' did it). When I got there, I found out that in
order to use the computers, I had to get an Estonian library card. Totally
useless, but an interesting souvenir. Then, once I got to the room where
all the computers were, I realized that I'd never get to use them. They
are apparently all connected to the internet through 300 baud lines (at
least, they were that slow), and every kid from Talinn without a playstation
seemed to be waiting on them ahead of me. Next time, if ETBD doesn't recommend
it, I ain't goin!
Ashley Morris
Moscow, ID USA 03/30/00
We went to Greece and Turkey last summer with four kids (age 11-13)
and found that cyber cafes were wonderful! We used them as a reward for
good behavior and as (dare I admit it?) a babysitter while we were shopping
or enjoying a leisurely dinner. The kids loved keeping in touch with their
friends via AOL's instant messaging. The Wired Cafe on the Greek Island
of Paros and the Kismet Cafe in Kusadasi, Turkey, were our favorites. Both were inexpensive
and offered the fastest versions of AOL.
Susan
Odessa, FL USA 03/28/00
The free website www.mailstart.com allowed us to access our e-mail
from cybercafes in the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas Chile in February.
We're trying Europe in April.
Joanne Rankin
Oakland, ca USA 03/21/00
Just returned from two weeks traveling through northern Spain. In 100K+
size cities, we generally found cyber sites.
Sometimes in smaller cities too, but not all. Prices ranged from 2 cents/minute
at a site next to a college in Lugo, to 15 cents/minute in a communications
storefront across from Reina Sofia museum in Madrid. Excellent way to keep
in touch with family; forward copies to yourself as your travel journal!
Make sure your internet provider has a way to access e-mail from remote
locations.
Richard Foote
Cleveland, OH USA 03/18/00
When my husband and I traveled through Europe for a month, we kept
in touch with folks at home through cyber cafes. Almost every city has at
least one. Several cities had more than one. Two of our hotels allowed us
to send a message on their computer. It was such fun to be able to report
what we had done that day, and to hear back. Note: In some countries the
s and z are transposed. I learned to just type anyway and my new name became
joz.
Joy Bach
Kennewick, WA USA 03/16/00
I send our "e-reports" to one (reliable) person; he forwards to the
rest of the clan. This way I only need to remember one address. I'm intrigued
with the possibilities of onebox.com which allows the sending/receiving
of voicemail. It works here and should there...assuming the cyberkid behind
the counter will allow a smallish download and let me plug a microphone
into the soundcard.
Doug
WA USA 03/07/00
In the great little resort town of Cavalaire — about 10km west of St.
Tropez and 40 km. west of Cannes — Cybercafe La Galiote has some aging computers,
but at 5F a half hour (in 1998) it's a bargain. We are going back this summer
and renting a villa (less than $400/week for a 2 BR condo in a villa ovelooking
the beach). We will use the cyber cafe every day to keep in touch by e-mail.
They are very friendly and have karaoke every evening.
Ed Francell
Atlanta, GA USA 03/01/00
The cheap cyber cafe in London is called easyEverything. There is also one
near Trafalgar Square and the British Museum. Amazing deal. I spent 10 weeks
studying there and that is how we all kept in touch with home — it was far
cheaper than a phone call or a letter.
bkoplin
Salt Lake City, UT USA 01/16/00
Be on the lookout for unusual places for a cyber cafe:
In Regensburg, Germany we discovered that the department store had one! Makes sense since they already have all the equipment set up for demonstration.
In Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, we found the cyber cafe in a bar near the hostel and castle. Very inexpensive (about 1/10th of the cost charged in Prague) and we drank a beer (also cheap — $.55 !) while we wrote home.
In Switzerland: a bank lobby offered access for 20 minutes and 6FF.
Lloyd and Terry
USA 12/29/99
In Prague, there are people standing in the street
with signs that point to the cyber cafe! Perfect English was spoken by the
staff! In France, I asked the tourist office, and they quickly pointed out
the nearest ones. It must be getting so popular that they are ready with
the answer right at their fingertips.
Rene
Los Angeles, California, CA USA 11/05/99
I use Pocketmail to send and receive e-mail anywhere in the world.
The unit literally fits in a pocket or purse and transmits through the regular
handset of any telephone. Within the US it's an 800 number and even overseas
the call to send and receive is only a moment or so.
Larry Nielsen
Chicago, IL USA 10/20/99
Cyber cafes are the way to go. My wife and I e-mailed home and posted photos to our website (using our digital camera) every week. A few things to remember:
1. Set up your hotmail, visto, or yahoo web-based e-mail before leaving
and get used to the functionality.
2. Most computers we found had a En icon in the Windows taskbar that the
staff had set up for quickly converting to US keyboards — helpful if you're
a touch typist.
3. Prices ranged from $1-4/hr. Some allowed credit cards, all took cash.
4. Put all your e-mail addresses on a floppy disk or e-mail them to yourself.
5. Consider e-mailing yourself passport, credit card, or other info before
leaving — just in case.
6. We thought we'd be able to use libraries or universities, but no go — not
easy to find nor use ethically.
7. Ask at the train station or tourist office, or ask other Americans — almost
every city we were in had internet cafes of some kind.
8. The @ key was always Alt+Shift+Ctrl (if I remember correctly), but
you can always cut and paste it (as someone mentioned below).
Take advantage of the technology and spend the money — your friends will
love it (and be jealous), and if you send to your 'real' email address,
you'll have a nice travelogue when you get home.
Dave Lloyd
San Jose, CA USA 10/15/99
In Italy we had a great time using cyber cafes. The only problem is
that the keyboards can be a bit different — it was interesting to have a
key for lira instead of dollars! The cafe we used in Florence was pretty
reasonably priced. Our hotel in Venice had a weird little computer with
a slide for your credit card. It was really expensive. I think we spent
20,000 lire for the first 5 minutes and it was so slow that it took that
much time just to get onto the internet. It would have been cheaper to call
home!
debbie
chicago, il USA 10/10/99
A increasing number of locations for using computers are in non-cafes. Try
video stores, health food stores, bookstores, restaurants, libraries, hotels,
and shopping centers. And see www.minitel.com for info on France's Minitel
system.
Harvey
Detroit, MI USA 09/16/99
Cyber cafes are the way to go! In Bilbao, Spain there are 5 internet
places — get the locations from the tourist office. A travel bookstore called
Libropolis has 6 computers that work at a relatively decent speed. I paid
250 pesetas for 30 minutes of internet time. I also found a computer in
the Barcelona train station that was like an arcade game — you put coins
in (about 30 pesetas for 1 minute) and it began to work. It wouldn't take
any coin smaller than a 100; it was extremely slow and took 2-3 minutes
just to get to the page I was going to. Avoid those machines if you can.
Rb
Atlanta, GA USA 09/11/99
The best cyber cafe we used was in London, across from the north side of
Victoria Station, called Easy Everything. Lots of workstations, fast connections,
helpful staff. Only a pound an hour, unlimited from midnight to 7 AM (and
even later).
John Steele
Long Beach, CA USA 09/05/99
The Net Gate, in Roma (2 locations) and Firenze is a real good deal: 10,000 lire for an hour and 20 minutes. They give you a membership card with screen name and password and you can use it in any of the cafes. They even printed color pictures for me at no charge. I used up the whole hour and 20 minutes and went to all three cafes when in Roma and Firenze. AOL 4.0 and many other programs installed and lots of stations.
Roma: P.zza Firenze 25 - tel 066893445
Roma: Via In Arcione 103, tel 0669922320
Firenze Via Sant'Egidio 10-18R tel 0552347967
Dave Bristol
Leesburg, FL USA 08/29/99
The cyber cafes were a great way to keep in touch with family and friends back home. We found cafes in Paris, Rome, Salzburg, Munich and Interlaken. In other locales, like Venice, we could not find one, but our hotel allowed us to use their pc. But don't expect to be able to use zip or jaz drives — the computers we found, at least, won't accommodate these.
I signed up with Netscape (any widespread browser with web-based email will do) so that I could pick up my e-mail from any computer. Make sure to preprogram your address book — it makes things much easier! Also, save your outgoing emails in a folder so you can read about your experiences when you return back home.
The computers at these cafes are not usually as sophisticated as what
you are probably using at home — they are only there for internet access
, not processing! And we had trouble with the different keyboards. Try
finding the @ symbol on a German keyboard!
Jill Jablonski
Dallas, TX USA 08/12/99
An easy way to have your bookmarks/favorites wherever you travel. Go
to www.mybookmarks.com and upload your list. Then you can retreive them
(using a password) from anywhere in the world!
Steve Dickey
Depoe Bay, OR USA 08/03/99
In Barcelona, the Sephora store on Placa de Catalunya has four computers — no charge — on first-come, first-served basis. If you get there shortly after the store opens, you usually can get on one right away. Need to use hotmail (see posting below).
In Paris, besides the ones listed in other postings here, the Forum
des Images in Les Halles includes 30 minutes of computer time with your
ticket good for a full day of watching films there. Also uses hotmail.com.
Mark Oreck
Lahaina, HI USA 07/29/99
If you are in Oslo or Copenhagen stop by the "Use It" tourist office.
They have free internet access. Both are centrally located and have helpful
staff, and should be getting new computers in the next few weeks. The only
catch is that you must sign up for access if people are waiting. Several
times I went in and found it empty so I took all the time I needed until
someone else showed up.
Chuck
Conyers, GA USA 07/25/99
We used cyber cafes in Dingle and Belfast while visiting Ireland last September.
The only problem encountered were extremely sloooooooww connections. This
made it necessary to remain "on the clock" longer than I ordinarily would
have expected.
K. Seaverns
Clearwater, FL USA 07/11/99
I used cyber cafes in Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne and Berlin, and I found
the experiences very enjoyable! First, it was always part of the fun to
grab a map and find the cafes in the first place! The staff were always
friendly and spoke English (probably becuase it seemed that most of the
internet users were American students...). My favorite was a cyber cafe
called "@" right by Centraal Station in Amsterdam - very funky, great place
to e-mail and drink Heineken! Although I prefer the actual cafes, many large
department stores had internet stations in their electronics departments
(like KaDeWe in Berlin). Quite convenient.
Yvonne
Las Vegas, NV USA 06/16/99
My brother and I recently spent a month in Copenhagen, Sweden and Norway.
We found cyber cafes everywhere we went - usually by either asking in a
video store or stopping a young person on the street. After the first day,
we became accustomed to the different keyboard and appreciated how friendly
and helpful were most people working in the cafes. We used the library in
Oslo once, but reservations were needed so we found cyber cafes were handier.
Occasionally you will find sticky keyboards, but that did not seem to be
the rule. So very convenient to pick up home mail via Yahoo and send daily
progress reports to friends and family! Be sure to send the reports to your
own address - when you return home, you'll have a log of the trip awaiting
you!
GMMagone
USA 06/10/99
Since I was going to be using cyber cafes during my trip, I sent myself
an email with important passport information, credit card account numbers
and phone numbers, bank card PIN numbers, emergency phone numbers, etc.
This way I did not have to carry around a piece of paper that could easily
be lost or worse - found! I also sent a copy to my parents just in case
I accidently deleted the email.
Christine M.
Gig Harbor, WA USA 06/05/99
During our recent vacation in England we found that most of the local
public libraries in the larger towns have access to the Net with free E-mail.
Didn't cost us anything to use their computer and so saved us a few pounds
here and there when we communicated with family and friends back in the
USA. Give it a try.
Al Minthorne
Stafford, VA USA 06/03/99
Be very careful when using the cyber cafes. I sent an e-mail message
to my family and friends from one in London. Somehow a file got attached
that had a virus in it. I would warn the people you are sending messages
to that they should not open any attached files. It caused my sister a lot
of trouble and I was very embarrassed about it. It really put a damper on
my trip to find that out when I got back.
Judy
USA 05/20/99
I was in Europe last fall during football season. Through the help of a
fun-loving cyber cafe owner in Narbonne, France, I was able to listen to
my home state (Arkansas Razorbacks) college football games LIVE! We found
a site that carried the games on the internet. It was a lot of fun trying
to explain American football to some of the other interested patrons.
Dave
Little Rock, AR USA 05/07/99
Here's a great list of cybercafes in Paris. It's easier to keep in touch with home at one instead of hauling an expensive laptop around.
Travel Café
2 rue d'Alleray Paris XVème
métro Vaugirard
apg@abcvoyage.com
ZoWeZo Net - Bar/Restaurant
37, rue Fontaine - 75009 Paris
Cyber Café Latino
13 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique 75005
Hours: du lundi au samedi 10 h 22 h
Email:webmaster@cybercafelatino.com
Café Orbital
13 rue de Médicis 75006
Métro: Odéon or RER: Luxembourg
Phone: + 33 1 43 25 76 77
Hours: Monday - Saturday 10h00- 22h00
Sunday 12h00-20h00
Web bar
32, rue de Picardie 75003
Métro: République or Temple
Phone: 01 42 72 66 55
Fax: 01 42 72 66 75
Hours: Every day 11.30am 'til 2am
Email: webbar@webbar.fr
Planet-Cyber cafe
173 rue de Vaugirard 15°arrondissement
Paris Métro: Pasteur
Hours: Monday - Friday 10h30 - 20h30
Saturdays and Sundays 11h30 - 20h30
Email: planet@starnet.fr
Cyber Restaurant
42 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008
P@ris WEB 3
Espace Internet, L'Emporium,
11 bd de Sébastopol, 75001
Tél.: 40.26.07.29
Fax: 40.26.46.58
Virgin Megastore
52, avenue des Champs Elysées, 75008
Métro : Franklin D. Roosevelt
tel : (33-1) 49-53-50-00
Omaha, NE USA 05/06/99
Try this site for up-to-date (more or less) cybercafes. http://www.netcafeguide.com/frames.html
Eileen
USA 05/02/99
a great cyber cafe in london is "cyberia." its adverts say they were the
first cyber cafe in the uk. as you come out of the goodge tube stop, turn
left. then turn left on tottenham STREET (not to be confused with tottenham
court road). continue for another block (actually, you can see the cafe
from the corner) and there's the cyber cafe! its by "pollack's toy museum," which is on all the london maps. cyberia is small, with 14 computers, and
great cappucino. they have aol access, too. it cost 1.50 every half hour,
and the keyboards aren't in a different position, as in italy! i recommend
this cafe to all who are in the neighborhood
veronica
Texas 04/01/99
A good cheap place to email in London was the Global Talk place outside
the South Kensington Tube Station on Thurloe Street. It was 3 pounds for
an hour. You could also call long distance there very cheaply. There are
Global Talks all over London but this one had about 15 pc's available. Very
convenient for keeping in touch.
Julie
Missouri City, TX USA 03/22/99
The most exciting aspect of sending e-mail from Europe is the different
keyboard arrangements. In Firenze, a fellow "e-mailer" leaned over and asked,
"Where's the @ key?" Sure enough, we looked all over and couldn't find it.
The quickest thing to do — because time equals money — is copy and paste the
@ symbol (or make sure you have a complete address book). Also, instead
of getting stressed out about the letters being arranged differently, just
type messages according to the QWERTY layout and let your friends and family
decipher the messages. It can be rather humorous! :->
Anna Swaim
Little Rock, AR USA 03/17/99
In Russia cyber cafes are hard to find. Connections are slow in some parts of the countries so use simple mail services without a lot of graphics. Hotmail was extremely slow, but Yahoo loaded up pretty fast. Ask about cyber cafes at a shop that sells computers; sometimes they can direct you or may have one you can use, but don't count on using theirs. Look for telephone offices, train stations, and even dating agencies for an internet computer.
In Moscow the most convenient cafe is at the Frunzenskaya Metro Station on the red line one station past the brown line. From the exit you go around the building to your left, up the stairs, turn left and about 2/3 of the way down that side of the building is the cafe for about $3 per hour.
In Bryansk, we found that the telephone company let us use their computer, without pay, as a guest. They were very helpful and friendly. (Most Russians like Americans, and I felt at home there.)
In Gomel, Belarus the train station has a computer they rent. You go in the station straight up the stairs to the right and all the way through the waiting room along the back wall. They speak little english but understand "internet".
In Vladivostok, Relcom-Pacific at 24 Okeansky Av. is the place to go.
There are about 5 cafes in Moscow that are reasonable and affiliated.
Two are in the Vdnkh park a short walk from the Metro station by the same
name. Look for the Arch and then the large central building #1 with the
long spire and star on top. Go in the front door, turn left then right
and go up the stairs and around the corner to your right. There is another
in a big exhibition building just to the right of building #1, about a
five-minute walk away, which is easy to find and a little bigger than
the one in Building #1.
Clyde Hyde
Centralia, WA USA 02/22/99
Don't want to put the cybercafes out of business, but there are often "free" alternatives to finding e-mail access. Public libraries are usually your
best place to look, but stores selling computers, post offices and especially
universities frequently provide opportunities to e-mail for nothing. Even
if you aren't on-line back home, you can still easily obtain a free cyber
address from which to send and receive mail by registering with either hotmail.com
or yahoo.com.
Bill Levine
Los Angeles, CA USA 02/15/99
Finding Cyber-Cafes was not as easy as we thought. In Paris, we asked at the Hotel Leveque, and they directed us to Rue Amelot (in the Bastille District). We wandered up and down the street, until my husband found what he thought was a travel agent that might be able to help. The windows were covered with international flags...travel agent, right? He sent me in (since I speak some French), and I was shocked to walk right into a French porno shop (although I think the owner was more shocked and embarassed than I was to see a young American woman walk through the door). That was a different kind of back-door experience than I was planning on.
We finally found the cafe )at 85 Rue Amelot), and it was great, they
spoke English, and were happy to have American guests. We also found cafes
in Munich at the Train station and at the Deutches Museum.
Marci Sontag
Evergreen, CO USA 01/30/99
In the lovely town of Caernarfon, Wales is a cyber cafe. Kept us in touch
with home and is just a skip from the castle where the Prince of Wales knelt
before the Queen Mother.
B Absher
Ennice, NC USA 01/28/99
In October, I visited the @CyberOffice cyber cafe in Florence, at 4/r Via San Gallo near the Accademia Museum (actually there was no "cafe" for drinks - just computers). It seemed to have pretty good connections and helpful staff. I had visited 2 other places in Florence and they were pathetically slow.
For a list of hundreds of cyber cafes in Europe, visit http://eyesite.implenet.com/eurocybercafes/
Before you leave on your trip, if you have your own personal web site,
set up a web page of bookmarks you think you'll want access to on your
trip. When you do get Intenet access in Europe, you'll only need to remember
the URL for your own page of bookmarks, instead of having to take a long
list of them. Also, rather than having to type all those URLs for your
bookmarks, you'll only need to click on the links. The down side is that
it can get expensive if the cyber cafes you choose have slow connections.
Jim
Boulder, CO USA 01/24/99
Whenever I need to find an internet cafe I always stop by the local
torist office. Without fail they point out two or three locations on the
city map.
Jay Croft
Torrance , CA USA 01/24/99
We used cyber cafes throughout our 5 week trip to Europe. We used hotmail.com
to write back home and update our friends and families. We set up the address
book on hotmail before we left home and we included ourselves. Everyone
enjoyed getting them and it was a lot of fun for us to read and keep them
also. We found the cafes in even the smallest of towns (even in Cinque Terre.) "Let's Go Europ" has listings for each city and this is how we found most
of them but a couple of times we just walked by one or our hotel would have
free use.
Amanda
Mpls, MN USA 01/19/99
In Paris, visit Cyberia cyber cafe in the Georges Pompidou Center.
I believe it's on the 2nd or third level.
Sue Seidel
Mobile, AL USA 01/16/99
Cybercafes are still up and coming in Europe, especially in Italy.
They can be found, but the connections are often slow and can get expensive,
including the time getting used to a foreign keyboard. On the upside, I
would suggest getting a free, internet-based e-mail account such as snap.com
or hotmail.com, for it is a wonderful way of keeping in touch, but I would
still not depend on it for too many other functions such as sending digital
images. I recently was staying in Rome, where there are only 5 working cybercafes,
and the best one has plenty of computers and good rates, but very slow lines.
So, use them, but don't depend on them....yet. European phone systems and
companies are beginning to grow...
Kathryn Rogers Merlino
Charlottesville, VA USA 01/15/99
I signed up for a yahoo e mail account so that i can recieve e mail anywhere
in the world.In October I was in Europe for 2 weeks and checked my e-mail
every other day, even solving and returning business e-mails. My kids thought
it was cool to get e's from the old man in Europe. So get yahoo or some
other service you can contact from anywhere.
Bob Napieralski
Grand Rapids, mi USA 01/09/99
I had no problem finding a cyber cafe in the UK. Even in a relatively
small community such as Lake Windermere (in the Lake District) had a decent
cyber cafe. The connections were incredibly fast, I thought, and you had
a meter timing you. It was about five pounds for an hour...a little steep,
but for what I got, it was worth it.
Scott Pierson
Vermillion, SD USA 12/29/98
Cyber Cafes are great! On our last trip it was fun to keep in touch and even do business over the web. We went to one cybercafe in Avignon that was especially accommodating , ( Cyberdrome,68 Rue Guillaume Puy )the staff had a US style keyboard. European keyboards are different. It was also a fun rainy day hangout for my 10 year old daughter as she played familiar games.
Before leaving I subscribed to a free web based e-mail service. I mailed myself e-mail that contained all my e-mail addresses, frequent web URLs as well as graphic files of passports and tickets. I saved these messages to a folder on my free web mailer account. That way after logging on I had a ready reference guide at my fingertips.
It's important that when you leave to set your mail forwarding option
to your "travel address " and to make sure your mail doesn't stay on your
home server. Otherwise you have to download the same messages over and
over and that starts to take some time. That way mail keeps coming to
your usual account but is forwarded to your travel address. There are
plenty of Web Cybercafe Directories so a quick search of the cities to
be visited should give you some addresses.
Joe Halasey
Kilauea, HI USA 12/28/98
I used cybercafes on my last two trips to Europe. Last year they were a bit harder to find. A lot of them go in and out of business or are just a kiosk with a couple of people who know nothing about how it works. Often when you ask a TI if they know of any, they either don't or they draw these huge circles on a map and say that they are somewhere around here. All this aside, when you do find one they are a great way to communicate, cheaper than phone calls, and allow you to get mail from home.
With forign keyboards you can often change them to work like US keyboards. On a Macintosh you would go to the Keyboard control panel and pick US English. On Windows you can use a special key sequence to change the keyboard. Ask at the cybercafe and they will often help you.
Here are a couple of cybercafe's I liked:
Toledo, Spain: Discad - I found this place after missing my train. I followed the flyers they had set up everywhere. Only a couple of computers here but none were occupied. From the Zocodover, go through the passageway leading to Calle de Cervantes, go about two blocks and turn a diagonal right and it is about half a block down.
Nice, France: 3WO World Wide Web Office - Exit the train station, turn left, and walk until you get to Avenue Jean Medacin. Continue forward on the street that continues a few feet to the right (Rue Assalit). It is a half block further at 32 Rue Assalit. 1/2 hr 30F, 1hr 50F. There is another place I passed by later that is nearly straight out from the train station a few blocks (I think Rue Paganini?).
Barcelona, Spain: There is a series of kiosks outside the TI in Plaza Catalunya.
Chamonix, France: I can't remember the name of this place...Planet something?
It's actually a sporting goods store with a computer that they hook up
to AOL. Better than nothing. Located on Rue Docteur Paccard, I think,
or maybe further down when the road turns into Avenue Ravanel le Rouge.
Rick Rohan
Houston, TX USA 12/20/98
In Paris, the Galeries Lafayette department store has an "Internet"
Corner" in its electronics floor. You pay by the hour just like a cyber
cafe. It's near the Opera district. Chaussee d' Antin La Fayette station
on Metro lines 7 and 9. Rick mentions this store in his book so while you
are visiting you can also check your e-mail or plan the rest of the trip
on the web!
Wendy & Manabu Tokunaga
San Francisco, CA USA 12/20/98
Prior to leaving the states, I found a list of cafes in every city
we planned to visit at www.netcafeguide.com. I was able to send and receive
mail with no trouble. I kept in touch with home, and my friends and family
enjoyed a live travelogue for 3 weeks. Some complained later that they would
have liked more picture postcards. Internet fees vary, but I was usually
able to connect for $5- $8 per hour.
Ed Harris
Orlando, FL USA 11/30/98
York, UK, has a great cybercafe called Impressions Gallery. Helpful
folks, low rates, your own address, great mostly veggie food, fine exhibits.
I look forward to returning this summer.
Barbara Blumenthal
Indianapolis, IN USA 11/30/98
There is a great Internet Cafe in Riga, Latvia. Go about 5 blocks straight
down the street behind the large Freedom Monument, where the fresh flowers
are laid daily to celebrate the freedom from Russia and those lost in the
struggle. It is a couple blocks off the main street to the right. Ask around.
Nice goodies, coffee, and helpful Latvians.
Sue Stephenson
Athens,, Ga. USA 11/30/98
If you are looking for an internet café in Umbria, Central Italy, there is a good one in Perugia. The people who work there speak english and are very helpful setting you up. The tourist information office (across the famous fontana maggiore south side of piazza 4 novembre) will give you a terrific map to the place. From there the cafés walking distance is about 10 minutes. So far we've been using them for the past two summers. Viva la communitá di internet!
Everything closes in Perugia for lunch and siesta at 1:00 sharp and
reopens at about 3:30-4:00.
C. Levato
Glen Ellyn, IL USA 11/29/98
We spend a month in GB doing the backdoor thing and had a wonderful time. We kept in touch with home via phone and Cyber Cafes. Only one big problem with that, most of the ones listed were out of business when we arrived at our destination.
The Cyber Cafe in Stoke on Trent (really 6 little cities rather than
one big one) was one of the nicest we visited. They had a great space,
quite a few computers available, and were the most helpful of any site
we visited. (Even allowed us to use our own laptop.) In London we used
Whitely's. Whitely's is a shopping mall that makes you think your back
home. Nothing new there and we would not have visited except for the cyber
cafe on the second floor. They had about 10 computers and there was a
wait, but a coffee stand was just next to the area and it was fun to people
watch while we waited to get on line. We could not use our laptop, but,
as we were just checking mail, it was a bit cheaper to use. 5 pounds for
30 minutes use. I know that is steep, but for connection to our world,
cheap at any cost.
Suzanne Meyer
Chattanooga, Tn USA 11/29/98
If you're going to be carrying your laptop with you in Europe you should pick up a set of phone jack adaptors. My boyfriend picked one up for $ 60 USD the last time he was in the States and it makes our lives easier when we travel. We just pull out the jacks we need before we leave and off we go. Often it is difficult (sometimes impossible) to find adaptors once you get somewhere. He has also been known to fiddle around with the wires by undoing the phone jack at the hotel to make the connection work but it's one of those don't try this at home kids thing. He's been in IT for years and knows what he's doing.
The adaptor set was found in Newark at the duty free area! I'll wager
you could find them in any large US airport or get it from a speciality
place.
Lenore (American gal in London)
London, UK 11/29/98
While in Amsterdam a few months ago I found the greatest way to connect to the internet. The Dutch have internet connections on the street like phone booths. All you need is a phone card and off you go. I saw them on the street in A-dam and I used one in the airport. The connection is a bit slow but it is nice to have when you need it!
Also check out CNN's e-mail service. Basic e-mail is free but other
services are offered at low cost. I've been using Hotmail here in Europe
and it is very slow once America wakes up! A true pain and I wasn't able
to use Outlook Express, now I can for $ 2 USD per month. What more could
you ask of an international e-mail service!
Lenore (American gal in London)
London, USA 11/29/98
There is a good Cyber Cafe called Cyberia in Edinburgh and although
it's not as professional as some others it's still pretty good. You can
surf the net and also check your email for about two pounds an hour. The
food's good too.
Andrew
Plover, WI USA 11/29/98
I've used cybercafes in the UK, Ireland and Switzerland, and on our most recent visit I didn't even take my laptop.
I usually don't have much trouble finding them in well-populated cities,
but there's what appears to be a fairly thorough list on the net at:
http://www.hipposoftware.com/eurocybercafes/cybercaf.html
Steve Yelvington
MN USA 11/28/98
Of greater interest to me is identifying the places
you might stay that are computer friendly. In June I traveled through Belgium,
Luxemburg, Switzerland, France and Germany. Every hotel has its own phone
system, not to mention each country's different phone plugs. I did not bring
an acoustic coupler or a digital to analog converter. As a result, I was
only able to get on line with my laptop in Brugge, Belgium. When I was able
to get on, it was enormous fun because I had brought along a digital camera
and was able to send back e-postcards of beautiful sights and personal events
(like soaking my feet in a bidet). Despite the ever more common laptop-in-the-backpack
travel style, no travel writer seems to cater to us itinerent geeks. Pity.
Come on, Rick, you're one of us.
Joe Martinec
Austin, TX USA 11/28/98