An additional phone note.
SIM cards and large capacity data plans are cheap in Europe and available ALL over the place. They will pull out your SIM and put in theirs and you have European data access, including traffic navigation. $25 for 10G of data. My wife's son doesn't get a telephony plan (more expensive) but instead uses Voice Over IP (VOIP) apps for the voice communication he does over there. Plus, VOIP is higher quality. VOIP allows international phone access. I believe you can use it to call regular phone numbers, i.e. the person you call doesn't need to be using a VOIP app.
When he gets home he swaps his US SIM card back in and he is good to go. It is that easy.
If your iPad has broadband capability, you can get a SIM for it as well.
One note, your phone needs to be UNLOCKED, i.e. free to be moved onto another provider network. Most US phones are and some can be if you ask. Your own provider will try to sell you their VERY EXPENSIVE international data plan. You might be better off renting an unlocked phone when you get there. A quick check shows you could rent an iPhone 5 with 10G of data and telephony for 2 weeks for around $140.
Bon voyage!
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