Vodafone has announced that from 1 July (presumably under the new EU caps) that users will be able to get 25MB of data on their phone for only £4.99 in Europe.

This means you can check your emails, surf some sites and generally catch up without a massive charge (although a fiver is still quite a bit).

Plus, if you're taking your laptop over to the continent, you can get 50MB for £9.99
Obviously, that's not cheap, but if you only need to report in once or twice a week, you should be sorted.

Outside Europe, you're talking £14.99 for the 25MB on the phone, and £29.99 for the 50MB on the laptop. Not cheap by any stretch, but if you're pushed for connection (and are on an expenses account), you've got options.