Hi WWW,
I carry my laptop all over the globe with me,and have to access my e-mail while on the road in sevral countries, so perhaps I can help a little.
As Pilot-lite states most of the power supply's used on laptops are of the auto-sensing type, but this only a problem in the USA or where there is 110 volts 60 HZ around. Most other countries are 220 50 HZ.
As for internet access you will need an ISP,like you use now. I use compuserve as they have one of the best global access services using local in country numbers. You can access compuserve in most countries using a local number. The only problem here is that compuserve is not free, even in the UK, about £6 per month,with 5 free hours per month.
You will be charged for accessing compuserve outside of the UK about $3-4 hour using what they call a compuserve node. If you are using a third party node, it will be about $6 per month.
There are three compuserve nodes in Spain Barcelona,Madrid and Valencia, the rest use a nodes called Equant/Scitor, this would be the $6 per/mnth charge.
The nice thing about using local numbers is you tend to get a more reliable connection ie faster and cheaper than calling back to your ISP in the uk. Give compuserve a call they are really helpfull ( 0870.6000.800 )
As for the modem I have gone through a number of these and found the Psion 56k+Fax the best. This is using the PCMIA slot in my Tosh. An external one would work ok though.
One final word, the thing that drive's every one nuts, is the European telephone sockets, there seems to be no standard to how they wire these, especially in hotels ( which might not be a problem if you are living out there )most of the time I have to take the hotel phone sockets off the wall and re wire them. There is a company advertising world wide telephone travel adapters, but these are expensive. Perhaps you could go down to the local electrical/telephone shop in Spain or what ever and get one.
best of luck and have fun ....Hope all this helps ?