One of the best ways to keep in touch while travelling is to sign up for a free Internet email address that can be accessed from anywhere, for example YahooMail or Hotmail – accessible through www.yahoo.com and www.hotmail.com. Once you've set up an account, you can use these sites to pick up and send mail from any Internet café or hotel with Internet access. Most larger post offices also have Internet terminals, which are operated with a prepaid card (€7 for the first hour, €4 for each subsequent hour).A useful website is www.kropla.com which gives details of how to plug your laptop in when abroad, phone country codes around the world, and information about electrical systems in different countries. Although it's being elbowed out by the Internet, in post offices (and elsewhere) you'll still come across Minitel, a dinosaurial online information provider which allows access to directories, databases, chat lines, and the like. Most organizations have a code consisting of four digits usually followed by a keyword, which you can call up for information, to leave messages, make reservations and so forth. You dial the number on the phone, wait for a fax-type tone, then type the letters on the keyboard and, when you've finished, press Connexion/Fin. If you're at all computer-literate and can understand basic keyboard terms in French (retour – return, envoi – enter, etc), you shouldn't find it hard to use. Be warned that most services cost more than phone rates, though for directory enquiries (tel 3611) – its most useful function these days – the first three minutes are free.
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