Hey!

[waritpig]

I will be making my first trip to Europe in May. I would like to leave May 26 and travel for around 20, 21 days. I'm flying solo and I have no idea where I want to go. I would definitely like to visit London, Paris, Prague, Amsterdam and really any place else. I need some ideas as to where I should fly into(I'm looking for a cheap flight out of NJ or NY).

I would love some help!

Thanksssss

[madamtrashheap]

Welcome to GFE, waritpig.

It's great to hear your are planning your first trip to Europe this May, it will be here before you know it!

If you are travelling only for 21 days, then you'll have to be selective when putting together your itinerary as you don't want to spend all your time travelling and not enough of it sightseeing. It's always tempting to try to see everything while you're there, but the good news is, once you're bitten by the travel bug you know you'll go back!

Of the places you've noted, here's a sample of the ideal number of days to spend in each:

London - 4 full days (allows one day for a day trip to Stonehenge/Bath or Oxford, as examples, if you are interested)
Paris - 4 full days
Prague - 3-4 full days (4 if doing a day trip to, eg, Kutna Hora)
Amsterdam - 2 full days

As you can see, that already takes care of around 14 days, leaving 7 days to play with. Without knowing your interests, it's difficult to suggest exactly what to add to your itinerary, but consider Berlin (3 days), Rome (4 days), Gimmelwald (3 days), Innsbruck and surrounds (2-3 days), Vienna (3 days), Venice (2), Madrid (3), Barcelona (2-3). These are just suggestions to get you thinking, by no means limit yourself to just these. The eventual itinerary order will depend on the cities you choose and then the best methods of transport between each (train or flights).

A few questions:
What are your interests?
What are your "must-sees"?
Do you have a specific budget?
Do you have a preferred type of accommodation?

As far as cheap flights out of NY or NJ, I'm not sure where the cheapest place to fly into would be out of your list, but also consider an "open-jaw" ticket, which would allow you to fly into one place and out of another without having to backtrack at any stage, thus making the most of your time in Europe.

[waritpig]

Hey thanks for the response!

I would like to stay in hostels and mainly see the "touristy" places like museums etc.

How do you book an "open-jaw" ticket ?

[madamtrashheap]

Booking an open-jaw ticket involves first deciding on your starting city. Then once you've worked out where else you want to visit, sort the order of your itinerary and that will give you your end point, from which you will fly out. Then check with airlines (online or through a travel agent if you don't feel confident) as to ticket prices. Open-jaw tickets are often a little more than same city return tickets, so check prices to see if they fit into your budget, but they are worth it when you have limited time.

If you prefer Hostels for accommodation, then you will need to plan your itinerary route and then target specific hostels in each city fairly soon in order to get the ones you want and which fit into your budget. The end of May is into the busy season so booking well ahead will ensure you don't miss the places you want to stay in.

If you wish to see the museums and main sights in each of the cities you've already listed, then the amount of time in each destination I noted in each city in my last Post will be good. Once you've had a think about the other places mentioned, put together a draft itinerary, with number of days in each place, and we'll be able to advise further on your plans.