Re: cloud - you can't use it if you can't connect. I'd bring a USB stick (more more than one, if needed) and always back up new files to it. Then keep the stick in your pocket, or somewhere safe, and not with the laptop! ;-) I like to connect to my home linux box sometimes, or to the one in my office. Those machines can be my "cloud," too (but like Larry Ellison said, "cloud" is a funny word for a collection of big steel boxes). If you have a box that you ssh to, be sure that you will be allowed to do so from Italy. I use /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny to control access permission, and it is usually blocking almost anything outside the USA, so I have to change the settings when I'm leaving the country for a little while. Mike