Thank you Stan for the feedback!! We don't have the money to burn and there is a slight chance we will be making another short trip in December to Germany/Italy but other than that .. we don't travel for work or leisure abroad too often (only when the purse strings permit).
I'm questioning is it worth purchasing a new phone with sim card and such .. or just purchase the prepaid phone cards from the local walmart, sams club in the U.S. That may be beneficial to us but if someone had to reach us in case of an emergency .. that might be a bit tough since we are hotel hopping every 2 nights. I guess it really is a coin toss. Thank you for the help. I am going to have my husband review the thread and this site as I've officially put him in charge of the cell phone issue.