It’s more likely than not to be impossible to keep to the same day and time. Caseloads can be anywhere from 100-250 depending on the Jobcentre and how short staffed they are.

New claims come in, some come off the caseloads for whatever reason. Diaries aren’t just your work search reviews every week or every 2 weeks.

There’s work focused-interviews every three months for parents of 1 year olds, every month for parents of 2 year olds, every three months for claimants with LCW, then you get commitment reviews for changes of circumstances, Gateway Interventions which need a 60 minute slot and those payments are blocked until the self-employment is verified so they’re urgent.

We have work coaches who are also doing part UC diary and part Jobseekers Allowance diaries throughout the week.

Then you need to fit in an appointment to end a sanction, or someone needs flexible support funding for work clothes and travel costs pronto and they start their new job next week so it’s urgent.

We constantly get journal messages asking to change the appointment in the same week or even the same day, but vast majority of the time it’s all fully booked a week in advance, and there’s absolutely no where to rebook to.

So while it might look like jobcentres are taking liberties with how they book appointments, it’s actually very restrictive.

There’s a reason the good cause list exists though. You’d never (or should never) be asked to miss work to attend an appointment. It’s just a matter of informing the Jobcentre as soon as you’re aware. And if you’re working and earning but just not earning enough, your appointment should be every 8 weeks.

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Rt BE on all US carrier transatlantic out of JKF/EWR has consistently dipped below $300 rt for select western hubs in Europe for many years now, even before 2020. This has nothing to do with Europeans boycotting US travel.

Coming back in November certainly helps (which is one of the “dead” months).

You have to remember that flying planes has also gotten cheaper compared to 30 years ago - planes are much more fuel efficient, airlines have maximized premium cabins, etc. They aren’t making money on your tickets - but it’s offsetting flying a plane where they can sell premium tickets which make money (ie business travelers).

I booked a last minute to Madrid in Delta One for $2500 round trip.

Nothing new. Fares have been that low for years off and on. 

Ultra Low Cost Carriers

The recommended routes in 5. are actually wild for two weeks. In the first one, take the narrow-gauge trains in northern Spain as much as possible to make sure you spend your entire time traveling without actually visiting any place.

I'd like to add another three:

6. Check out local public transport options for your destination(s). No need to uber all the time, and 1-day or multi-day tickets might be not too expensive (e.g. 5-day ticket for Tallinn is 11 € +3 € for the travelcard it is loaded on to.)

7. Find the tourism website for the places you want to go to. Read through a bit and make note of the places and activities YOU FIND INTERESTING. Then you can build your own itinerary instead doing stuff just because ChatGPT told you so.

8. Before you travel, check with your bank and credit card issuers, if and how much they charge you for using their cards abroad.

I would try and avoid renting a car, if you are mainly staying in big cities, because parking is often difficult, expensive or non-existent. Public transport is far better.

Here is another one - don't stick to Western Europe only. Even you, trying to help, made that mistake.

Honestly, if it’s your first trip, don’t try to hit every country. Two or three places will feel way better than rushing through eight cities.

A lot of first-timers do London to Paris to Rome since they’re iconic and easy to connect. Another option is to stick to one region, like an Italy-only trip with Rome, Florence and Venice, or Amsterdam with Belgium and Paris if you want something a bit more relaxed.

Biggest tip is to slow down. Half the magic is just sitting at a café, wandering without a plan and finding those random spots you’ll remember forever.

I went to Europe last year and did 18 countries there. My favourite cities were definitely Budapest (the night Danube boat rides are amazing, St. Stephen's Basilica night organ recitals with the obersvatory tour, St stevens preserved hand is there and there is also amazing city history tours), Lucern (walking tours on get your guide are amazing, its a 40min ish train ride to Engelberg, definitely recommend going up Mt Titlus there, there is beauyiful views, ice cave and Trübsee Snow Park and sleeping, also paragliding nearby), Prague (walking tour for the city, the castles and Jewish Quatre are so amazing to see, the medieval night dinner and concerts are lot of fun, there is a magic bar called Illusion which was a lot of fun, UNESCO bone chapel i didnt go to but a lot of people find it fascinating, and beer tours). For more summery vibes Corfu in Greece is amazing and Dubrovnik in Croatia, both have good beaches, history and are stunning.

You could do the area of Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest (even Krakow) for a bit, which is quite budget-friendly (aside from Vienna) and still have time to go to a beach too.

Algarve Portugal, southern Spain and France are very nice that time of year and meet your criteria. Could throw in Morocco for a change up.

Sicily. The best time to go.

I did almost this exact time frame and style a couple years ago, hostels, mix of wandering + museums, cooking some meals, and chasing the last bit of beach weather

Route-wise, I’d say:

• Start in Greece or Croatia in early September if you’re serious about swimming. The water’s still warm, hostels aren’t too packed, and you’ll get that dreamy beach vibe without peak season prices. Split, Korčula, or even Milos were my favs.
• Then move westward: Montenegro or Albania then Italy (Puglia is great + cheaper than the north) from there Spain or Portugal and maybe end in France or the Netherlands mid-October once it cools down.

For your interests:

• Historical sites: Greece and Italy will spoil you. In Greece, the Acropolis Museum is surprisingly modern and thoughtful. Italy, of course, is packed with options.
• Wandering + chill : Highly recommend Ljubljana, Bologna, Porto, and Seville. Super walkable, photogenic, and not overrun by tourists.
• Day trips : If you end up in Lisbon, there's this food and wine tour I really liked, more of a relaxed walk through the city with local bites and wine, not super touristy. It felt more like hanging out with someone who knows the city well than some rushed tour. Found it on Guide to Europe, but there are a bunch of similar ones there if you're browsing around.
• Weather : You’ll be good for beaches until late Sept. By mid-October, swimming gets dicey unless you’re in southern Greece or Cyprus. Inland spots like Budapest or Prague can get chilly fast.

Post august crowds start thinning out in europe till a christmas/new year spike in december.

If you do not want crowds, do not go to italy or spain. Everywhere is extremely crowded throughput the year. Locals also have a lot of tourism fatigue so if you go offbeat there is a chance you run into some annoyed locals

Switzerland is amazing, france is pretty good, greece is also heaven round the year.

If this is your first europe trip i suggest sticking to poular countries rather than some obscure east europe country.

Spring, from late April to early June, or early September is truly a great time to visit. You’ll avoid the summer tourist crowds, enjoy pleasant weather, and the cities feel more alive overall, especially in Spain and Italy.

With 10 to 11 days, I suggest focusing on just two or three regions. You might start in Rome, then head to Florence or a Tuscan. From there, you can fly to Barcelona (amazing architecture there), or go south to Seville or Granada.

It might be tempting to add more places like the Alps or a trip to the French Riviera. However, with your time frame, that could lead to more stress than enjoyment unless you’re comfortable with a fast pace.

If you’re unsure about how to plan the trip or want to balance logistics, experiences, and downtime, feel free to reach out.

I did Switzerland and Austria in early spring for about 10 days. It was rainy and cloudy for the most part, but we had a good experience nonetheless. Switzerland was absolutely heavenly, everything about the country is great, but do note that it is a VERY expensive country, a normal restaurant meal for example,could easily cost you 10k INR. Zurich was surprisingly a very interesting city to visit, I really enjoyed my time there, really cool place.

Do note though that there's a lot more to do, activity wise in Switzerland in the European summer time though. In the winter/early spring you can only go skiing or snowshoeing pretty much which most of the other activities closed.

Austria was nice, but felt that perhaps only Innsbruck was really worth visiting (or maybe there was some travel fatigue which set in given that we did Austria in the latter half. Austria is a bit cheaper than Switzerland, but only by about 15% or so.

Okay been there sooo many times and across countries... My best time is March to May and october to November.

Yes, recently have been to Europe. And i think summers are the best time to visit Europe

If you want to see several cities across Europe I’d recommend you’d spend your days in 4 cities max. That way you have about 4 days in each city before you’re off to the next.

Personally (but I live in Europe) I like to spend a week in each city we visit so we can also day trip from there. For example: if you have four days in Edinburgh you will have time to explore the city. But seven days? You can see more of Scotland.

If you’re not sure when / if you get to visit again I’d make a list of priorities. If there’s a high chance you get to visit again I’d focus on one or two countries max.

As a fellow European I can recommend London, Edinburgh, Vienna, Lisbon and Porto. Those are my favorites anyway along with Rome and Prague. Zurich is pretty but it’s small and Switzerland is super expensive.

If you want four cities I’d pick Madrid, London, Edinburgh and Vienna. Madrid so you can see a bit of southern Europe. Vienna is an awesome Central European city with marvelous architecture. Edinburgh has lovely nature and its old town is to die for. London is just the biggest capital in Europe imo, so much to do.

Or simply focus on Spain/Portugal. You can’t go wrong with Madrid, Seville, Lisbon and Porto for example. It would mean less travel time

> I have to fly into and out of Madrid due to costs, but I was wondering if there was anywhere easily accessible that’s worth visiting while I’m out there?

... Most of the rest of Europe?

You have 3 weeks. You can't see everywhere, but that is plenty of time to visit a series of places.

Though Zurich is nice enough but not really a must-see in itself.

Depends what you mean by countries. It might help to think of places rather than countries. You can easily cover 4 countries if you mean spending 5 days (minus travel time) in 4 cities in different countries. Which would be a decent enough amount of time for you typical spot like London or Paris.

Have a look into the logistics and think about that when planning. What is 'only' a 1.5 hour flight might well cost you another 6 hours or more of check in/out, local transport, security, waiting, delay, etc.

Oh forgot that from Budapest, Vienna is on the way to Prague so you could take a stop there :) you could go to Innsbruck for some Alp views instead of Prague, or do day trip to Salzburg. From Prague you could also visit Dresden. Alternatively also from Vienna or Pargue a bit longer but train to Munich and then German Alps. There's generally a lot there you could visit with 2-4h train rides if you decided to go to Central Europe. Just wherever you'd end you'd have to look into flight back to Spain. 

Maybe fly to Milan if possible and go to Switzerland from there by bus! I will be doing this in a couple of months 

By all means go elsewhere in Europe, too, but don't miss out on southern Spain (Andalucia). Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba, for starters. Some of the best sights in Spain, great food, moderate costs, very easy to get around with high-speed rail. Do this in the latter part of your trip, in October, for better weather, as Andalucia can still be hot in September.

You can use Zurich for an arrival by air but no real need to stay there for your stay.

I travelled around Switzerland and found Zurich to be the least I engaged with. Smaller places like Montreux have a much nicer vibe so get a train to elsewhere. Prepare yourself for spending a lot of money though.

The place to be in switzerland is Interlaken (Shoutout also to Lucerne, Lauterbrunnen) to me its one of the most beautiful place in the world

Any specific reason to want to go to Zurich ? You have much more pleasant places around the country than this business city. People are going to Switzerland also for the mountains, the nature and the landscapes. Alps more than malls.

If you take a flight to Budapest you could then take a train to Prague and then visit mountains in Poland or Germany or Austria. I love those two cities, its beautiful architecture and slightly cheaper than west of Europe. And then you can explore some mountains sights which you mentioned you had in your dream. Another option, if you fly to Rome or Venice you can visit quite a bit of Italy by train as well like naples or Milan. You'd focus more on fewer countries but I love Rome and the food. Its for sure different vibe so you'd have to think what you prefer. 

Most schools in England don't break up till the last week of July.

September is still hot, but no more school holidays across Europe and not as hot as July either.

But if cost is an issue this would be the worst time as it's school holidays is all flights go up hugely.

Early July is still term time so no school holidays

And if you're not restricted to school holidays then September is far more pleasant time of year to go to Croatia than July.

July is now stupidly hot in most of Europe - sense many people are disincentivised naturally from going

We went to Dubrovnik at the end of October/early November last year and it was lovely.

Forecast was around 17 degrees peak with a bit of rain but it was about 21-24 most days and we barely got any rain.

Things were starting to close down and it was nice and quiet.

That last week in October a lot of restaurants start shutting but there were still a few places open.

We packed light coats and longer trousers etc and ended up finding a H&M to buy some clothes for the warmer weather. We were hoping it would be slightly cool for walking around all day but it was fucking roasting.

Edit: late October is probably a bit of a gamble and we got lucky. Late September/Early October is probably a safer bet and you'll miss the school holiday rush and it won't be too hot.

Because lots of people without kids assume it'll be cheaper just after the summer holidays so that pushes prices up. Not as many AFAIK do it in early July just before the holidays start.

You may also be getting into last minute discounts in July

The July flights are only a week away now, so the price may be cheaper as they’re trying to fill the seats

Have you been to South America or Asia yet? What kinds of things do you like to do?

I would go somewhere in the Asian continent. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines. All these countries promote cheap travel!

If you can find a cheap flight, southeast Asia can be really cheap. 1k can last a month or more

You have no idea what “travel benefits” means, do you?

Fly United to Milan, then get the direct flight to Tirana (Albania); if you go in August it costs ~$25. Summers in Albania are scorching, so I'd suggest heading north toward the Albanian Alps - there's gorgeous hiking, fabulous food, cheap drinks (beware the raki), and so many friendly people you'll be overwhelmed. I found the country to be extremely safe, even as a solo woman traveller.

If you've got more time, you can keep heading north into Montenegro and explore their beautiful national parks then check out the insane party scene in Kotor. They've also got beautiful beaches and even more great alcohol - though I found it was a bit pricier than Albania. You can fly United back from Podgorica (Montenegro capital).

June is noticeably less crowded than july

40 euros saving on the flight will be insignificant if the hotels are higher priced due to July demand. Run a test on the hotels you have been considering comparing the June versus July pricing. This is one of the situations where a nice spreadsheet is needed