Travel Technology - Need Advice-Smartphone 4 countries

I will be in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and London over a two week vacation and I need to keep in touch with work and have an internet connection for Google maps, translate etc... I am with Verizon with a Droid here. What is the best way to go? Verizon's rental phone service? some other rental? buy a cheapie?

Also, is there any one carrier that can cover all these places at a reasonable cost?

Go with a gsm phone with prepaid minutes

This will help

http://goeurope.about.com/cs/stayingconnected/a/cell_phone_buy.htm

Which `droid?
In the interim I'd look for a cheap GSM smartphone and decent PAYG SIM.
Craigslist should yield the phone for ~$150 or less and PAYG SIMs can be had almost any where once you hit the ground.

I saw an ad for a british firm Tep that rents a hotspot mifi for use anywhere in Europe for like $10/day with 50 mb per day. Could I just turn off the phone section of my Droid Razr Max and use Skype to call anyone I need to call?

I have no idea how data intensive a voice skype call is.

That's $5/MB = Highway robbery. That will not get you far, if you plan on using skype on it.

I saw an ad for a british firm Tep that rents a hotspot mifi for use anywhere in Europe for like $10/day with 50 mb per day. Could I just turn off the phone section of my Droid Razr Max and use Skype to call anyone I need to call?

I have no idea how data intensive a voice skype call is.

I saw an ad for a british firm Tep that rents a hotspot mifi for use anywhere in Europe for like $10/day with 50 mb per day. Could I just turn off the phone section of my Droid Razr Max and use Skype to call anyone I need to call?

I have no idea how data intensive a voice skype call is.

Ouch seems a bit $$$
I was lazy and only checked 1 place BUT 3 (http://store.three.co.uk/SIM_Only/Voice_Pay_As_You_Go) offers:
3000 texts and 300 minutes plus all-you-can-eat data for just £15 ($23USD) So if you are in London more then 3 days a local PAYG SIM is cheaper.

You can get a unlocked mifi device fairly cheap and go that route across all 4 countries.

From Skypes support pages:

Skype-to-Skype: 50kbps or around 3MB for one minute of calling
Calls to landlines or mobile numbers: 6-20 kbps or around 1MB for one minute of calling
Video calls between two mobile devices: 500kbps or around 30MB for one minute of calling
Video calls between a mobile device and a computer: 600kbps or around 36MB for one minute of calling

Is there a similar service for these other countries?

Which Service? The mifi or just decent PAYG deals?
MiFi: Novatel Wireless MiFi 2372 runs about $60 on amazon
Germany: vodafone, T-Mobile, aldi talk, just so many everywhere.
Swiss: Orange
Austria: T-Mobile, Orange, bob, yesss