Thank you all for your help.

Today I received information from an ex-pat in Prague who says you cannot buy a stand-alone SIM there. For $49 you can get a phone and SIM. While the SIM will work in your GSM phone, the phone they force you to buy will ONLY accept the Czech SIM. So I guess for $49 you have a one-country SIM. Just proves Kafka rulez! All I want to do is call home, say I'm here, all's well.

Think I shall use the Cingular international roaming, which is about $1.50-$3.00 a min, not much different than what these buy-a-phone-and-a-sim-people want and they have $70 upfront fees and the numbers expire in 9 months yada, yada.

I'm sure I'm missing the whole point here, but for short visits to Europe 3-5 times a year it just doesn't seem worthwhile.