Blooging from overseas

I've had a look about on the net and i can only find some information from a long time ago, so i was wondering if anyone can help...

when visiting other european contries, what would be the best (by best i mean cheapest ) way to access the internet to regularly update a blog to keep everyone back home informed as to how my trip is progressing?

I have been told that roaming charges on my iphone can rack up to £8/mb , therefore, obviously, using my phone (in the current uk-form it is in) is completely out of the question.

you can buy add-ons/bolt-ons from all the big names but it is something like £50/50mb, which isn't too bad .  However, i'll be away for approximately a month and will use more than this just by having my phone switched on and running background programmes, such as email and other automatically updated features.

it will be unrealistic to expect to be able to visit an internet cafe every few days, and ideally, as i'm a lonely ol' sole and will be soloing, it would be enjoyable to pass those lonely evenings in the tent blogging on the web (and no that's not a euphemism for anything untoward).

i considered taking a netbook and a dongle thingy-mi-jig, but again, i think it is the same problems, but this also adds the need to carry charging equipment.  The Iphone, however, can get all it's juice from my solar charger.

does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

what about buying a sim from each of the countries i will be going to?  will they work in my phone if i stick to the same network?  how can this be done from the comfort of my home in the uk?  i am with orange, so surely i just need to buy a sim (payg i guess) from each country i will visit, and buy a web bolt-on for the month, just as can be done here?

as i say, i have tried googling but it's not really helped that much.

 cheers if anyone has any gems of wisdom...

Your iPhone is almost certainly locked to your carrier, so you won't be able to swap the sim. Welcome to the locked in world of Steve Jobs.

If you are going to Europe, the Orange, T-Mobile we bolt ons aren't too bad and have the advantage of not letting you exceed the amount of data you have prepaid for.

Other alternatives are:

* Get your iPhone unlocked. Will invalidate your phone's warranty.
* Buy an unlocked phone and get SIM cards in the countries you visit.

Cheers gits (nice abb for you name don't you think )

My contract is with orange, I'll have to see what they can offer me wont I.

Just thought someone might know a way to oviod these expensive bolt on things.

Can I just point out that the lastest iPhone uses a microsim as such the chances of finding another PAYG network that uses these is just about NIL!

iPhones are crap.

Was in India recently.... swapped out my O2 sim for a local Airtel PAYG one and was paying 32 pence for 200mb. I believe that O2's partner network is Airtel YET O2 felt it impossible to offer 200mb of data for less than £600.

My advice is always try and use a local provider and if all else fails then in Europe your never that far away from an internet cafe... if you are then you'll pay through the nose.