Study/Work Abroad London & Italy Summer->Fall 06

[cekpet08]

I will be in London for an internship and a class at LSE Jun 14-Aug 13, then I have to be in Rome on Aug 17 for the orientation for my study abroad in Florence. Any ideas on where to go in between thats not too expensive or too far?

While I'm in London I can only travel on weekends, and I probably won't have half days on Fridays. So also wondering about any recommendations for nearby countries to visit, the rest I can take care of from Italy

Thanks!

[brooklyngirl]

You can take the Eurostar under the Channel to Paris and Brussels, which takes less than three hours. Always look at easyjet.com and ryanair.com for cheap flights to Ireland, or other nearby countries, although if you don't have too long, you might want to limit leaving the UK. Bath, Stonehenge, Durham, Scotland...all beautiful and right in the country. If you plan on doing a lot of travel within the UK make sure you get a Young Person's Railcard, because you'll probably want to do it all by train (www.nationalrail.co.uk) and then you get a discount.

The only thing to remember is that London is a major airport destination, so you would probably be able to get cheaper flights to Europe than you will from Italy. Then again, I haven't done any flying from Italy so I could be wrong.

If you only have a few days in between London and Rome, and you are only going to Rome for orientation and then up to Florence right away, you might as well take that chance to see Rome. You already have to go there anyway, and from a visitors standpoint it can be really overwhelming. TONS to see, so it is best to give yourself some time. If orientation is very long, however, I suggest going somewhere like Prague, Budapest or Tallinn in between. All are fairly inexpensive and much better to experience in the warm summer than the cold of winter.