catching the travel bug

I’ve decided that I want to get out of New York this summer. I like it here, of course, but I think I need to go somewhere else for a little while this summer, even if it’s just for a few days. It seems that ever since I returned from studying abroad, I’ve caught the travel bug.

I knew I wanted to study abroad before I went to college. I was so anxious to, in fact, that I wound up heading to Prague in the spring of my sophomore year, a little earlier than most usually do. I had never been to Europe before, so I was really excited to learn about all of the travel options I had, most of which were really affordable. Not only can you get from Prague to Vienna by bus for about $12.50 each way, but you can also get to Dresden, Germany (where Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five takes place) in just about two hours. From where I live now, it’s kind of hard to go to another country just for a day trip, so the prospect of being able to say I did that was pretty exciting.

Over the course of that semester, I went to a few different places in the Czech Republic, Budapest, Vienna, Dresden, Rome, Naples, and Krakow. That wasn’t enough for me once I got home though, and I found myself planning a trip to Israel this past January. (Note: If you qualify for Birthright Israel, I highly recommend it.)

Of course, now that I’ve realized how much I love to travel, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out where I want to go next. I definitely want to go back to Europe, because there was so much of it that I didn’t get to see in the four months that I was there, but I want to try and check out the rest of the world too.

I might not have time to leave the country this summer (even though I’d love to) so I’m thinking about planning a mini-road trip or visiting some friends. It’s not that I don’t love New York, but I want to see as much as I possibly can, too.

So tell me — what’s your favorite place to visit?