I'll echo the comment about language -- in any place that gets significant numbers of tourists, people will speak enough English for you to get around.
If you're not going to do everything together, bring unlocked GSM phones (they have to work on the 900 and 1800 MHz bands so some old AT&T and T-Mobile phones won't work) and buy local SIMs or buy cheap prepaid phones there - it makes coordinating your activities a lot easier. Using American phones overseas (if you even can; most Verizon and Sprint phones won't work in Europe) is ludicrously expensive.
Driving is probably OK if you want to see the countryside, but don't even think about driving in the cities. European cities, unlike many of our US cities, are walking territory; that's the best way to see them.
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If you're not going to do everything together, bring unlocked GSM phones (they have to work on the 900 and 1800 MHz bands so some old AT&T and T-Mobile phones won't work) and buy local SIMs or buy cheap prepaid phones there - it makes coordinating your activities a lot easier. Using American phones overseas (if you even can; most Verizon and Sprint phones won't work in Europe) is ludicrously expensive.
Driving is probably OK if you want to see the countryside, but don't even think about driving in the cities. European cities, unlike many of our US cities, are walking territory; that's the best way to see them.