Mike’s chance to not miss Prague or Budapest

I studied abroad in Florence at Lorenzo de’ Medici. Therefore, my ideal travel schedule will be based around the dates that I would be arriving and departing Florence if I were headed abroad in Spring.

When I studied abroad I traveled virtually every weekend and made it to virtually every place I had planned. I say virtually because I never make it to Prague or Budapest. Somehow, I managed to plan other cities in place of my only opportunities to get to either city Prague (stupid Milan). Every week I took an hour from my summer internship to kick sand in my own face, and read the Wikipedia page for both cities.

So you can get to both cities, and still have the illest semester, here is my idealized Spring 2012 travel schedule so you can see all of the great Europe cities and make sure you have time for Budapest and Prague.

P.S. I added in some notes throughout, and I even extended my flight back to the United States.

February 2nd – Interlaken, Switzerland
*I started off my semester abroad in Interlaken with Bus2alps. Hell yea it was the best start of the semester, so why not do it again.

February 9th – Amsterdam, Netherlands 
*Amsterdam is great anytime of year. Just be sure to book in advance.

February 17th – Day trip to Pisa
February 18th – Venice Carnevale Day Trip
*I recommend doing a day trip to Venice for Carnevale. I did a full weekend, which was 2/3 of a full weekend more than I needed. Plus, it leaves open a day for you to knock out a day trip to Pisa, and some museums in Florence.

February 23 – Morocco
March 1 – London
March 8 – Berlin
*All 3 of these places I missed while abroad, and having now been wish I got myself there! I skipped Morocco for Canary Islands, which were cool, but definitely was not as sick as Morocco. Berlin, well that was just another city I did not expect to be as incredible as it turned out to be, and London is London.

Spring Break –  The Eastern Loop (Prague, Budapest, Krakow and Munich)
*Why not knock out my two biggest regrets in one week (Prague and Budapest in case you skipped my intro), and Krakow which I dreamed to get to, but knew it was a pain from Florence. Oh, and adding in Munich’s Dark Beerfest never hurts.

March 29 – Barcelona
*Because you can’t not go to Barcelona (that sentence is a double negative is it not?)

April 5 – Greece Easter
*Best weekend of my semester abroad. Probably will be your’s too. At least if you are like me.

April 12 – Croatia
April 19 –  Amalfi Coast
*Two incredible beach destinations that I missed out on. I did see the Amalfi Coast, but it was a day trip drive down the coast. I mean come on, I missed Capri!

April 26 –  Munich Springfest
*And prost! When I studied abroad I stayed longer than intended in Munich, so if I could do it again, of course I would come back a second time, especially if it is for the Spring version of Oktoberfest.

May 2 - Siena & San Gimignano
May 3 – Cinque Terre 
*Last weekend in Florence, why leave. You can get in those weekend parties you missed all semester, shed a few tears like me, and still spend the day in two of Italy’s prime locations.

Post Semester Abroad - And if you are like me, you will extend your flight back to the United States. I spent a week in Palermo, Sicily, which was pretty legit. However, if I could do it over I would have extended it at least another 3 weeks. If you follow most of my schedule above, you will have left yourself some great destinations. If I were to extend my time abroad, I would then:

May 15th - 2 week trip starting in Athens (fly from Rome), and then head to Santorini, Ios, reconvene to the Pink Palace in Corfu, then hop back to Italy to visit the Amalfi Coast.

Just saying.