There is absolutely no doubt in my mind who contributed the tech genes to our sons Ed and Karl R. I am nearly helpless with making computers and phones do what I want. My husband Karl M is a master of communications and navigation tech.
I am lazy. I sign up for an AT&T plan that allows me to seamlessly use my phone for texting, email, data, and voice all over Europe. It works extremely well but it is expensive.
Karl M on the other hand pops the SIM card out of his phone and pops an Italian Vodafone SIM card into the phone as soon as we arrive. Karl’s Italian has gotten so good that the process of buying and installing the SIM is very fast now—just 5 minutes this year, a new personal best! The SIM comes with a ridiculously huge amount of data and local phone call minutes.
Installing and re-filling the Italian SIM can be a little tricky. The instructions come up in Italian, and sometimes weird things happen. For example, this time Microsoft Outlook did not recognize him with the Italian SIM. Karl could not get his email. Not to worry. Karl simply deleted his Exchange account on the phone and re-installed it. Bingo.
Each time before we visit Italy, Karl loads GPS tracks for the routes we will walk, maps, guidebooks, Italian dictionaries, schedules, tickets, and reservations onto our phones. These work offline so you do not need an internet connection to use them. This has been extremely helpful so far in Rome because our internet connection in our hotel is poor right now. Our host explained that there was a huge fire in the communications lines under the street in this Vatican neighborhood a few weeks ago and the repair is very slow.
One new trick Karl showed me this trip is how I can use his phone’s data by connecting to the personal hotspot on his phone. This helps me not to exceed my AT&T data allowance. If I exceed my allowance it is very expensive.
Karl uses What’s App to communicate with our teachers and fellow students at school in Siena, as well as hotels and hostels regarding our location and expected arrival time. We share photos with friends on Airdrop.
I don’t think I would know how to do any of this without Karl M. I really appreciate that he is so good with communications and navigation tech in ways that make our trips a lot easier.
ITALY, GERMANY, AND MORE! 
You underestimate your techie expertise, Leslie. How do I know? First, I understand about 1/3 of what you just explained. Second, it took me 35 minutes to be able to comment. Why so long? I forgot my password, and I switched devices between reading what you wrote and trying to reply.
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