Plans

One of the most fun things about traveling is not the traveling at all but the planning. I didn't go anywhere this weekend, but I did book several flights and discuss plans for various trips. It's quite possible that the non-booked plans will fall through or be altered, but here's what I'm looking at for the next couple months:

Barcelona, Spain, March 5 - March 11 (mostly booked)
This is the first half of my spring break. Barcelona seems to be everybody's favorite city, so I want to devote a lot of time to it. This is the one time I'll be traveling by myself, which I think will be fun. Somebody also recommended taking a day trip during this time to some nearby town, but I can't remember the name of it or why it was recommended. We'll see.

Munich, Germany, March 11 - March 13 (mostly booked)
It's a bit of a hassle finding a cheap and direct way from Barcelona to Munich, but the plan is to meet up with Maeghan and Diane early on March 11 and stay for 3 days. Maeghan is going to be in Berlin the first half of her spring break, but I've seen Berlin already, so we're meeting up here.

Dublin, Ireland, March 14 - March 18 (booked)
We're planning on taking a train from Munich to Frankfurt late on the 13th, and then flying from Frankfurt to Dublin early on the 14th. Ireland was never high on my list of places to go while I was here, but it is going to be St. Patrick's Day, and a whole bunch of CTLS students are going, so I figure what the hey.

Paris, France, March 26 - March 29 (not booked)
This one is tentative, but it would be a good weekend for Maeghan and I, who appear to be among the few who have not yet seen Paris. Whether it's this weekend or not, we'll squeeze it in at some point for sure - you can't not see Paris, right?

Prague, Czech Republic & Krakow, Poland, April 2 - April 6 (not booked)
This is another tentative one, but Lisa and I both really want to see these two. The idea would be to fly into Prague late Thursday, have a full day Friday to see it, then take a night train from Prague to Krakow, which we would then see on Saturday, then take a day trip out on Sunday to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which we've been told are really worth visiting. That's a lot to squeeze in, so I dunno if it's gonna actually happen, but I hope so.

Istanbul, Turkey, April 8 - April 14 (booked)
This is the one I'm most excited about. Maeghan, Diane, Danielle, David and I are all taking this strip during the Easter Break, and we'll be getting to spend 5 full days there. We're also trying to do some research on whether there's anywhere close enough to take a day trip or something.

Scotland, April 16 - April 19 (not booked)
I've been to Edinburgh before, but I loved it and a lot of other people want to go, so maybe I'll be heading back. Danielle and I have also talked about how we want to go up to the Highlands, which are supposed to be really beautiful. These plans are very tentative, but for sure several people want to see Scotland and April seems to be the best time available to us.

And that's it. It might be the case that my exams are over soon enough that I can take another long trip in May before heading back to the States, in which case I'm contemplating either Greece or Morocco or Jordan+Israel+Egypt. Notably absent from this list is anywhere in Italy, which sucks, but I just don't think I'll be able to squeeze it in. Note also that there's a ton I haven't seen yet in London itself, so I'll have to get around to that as well.

Anyway, this is the itinerary at this point. If anybody has any recommendations for things to see in any of the above, let me know in the comments.