MISS PRISM,

You wrote regarding your "senior" friend who enjoyed her first trip to Britain:

"I was terrified that she would be disillusioned, but I think she got the England of her dreams. She probably just ignored the grotty bits."

So true. Nothing is perfect when traveling (which is true of everyday life, eh?) but she obviously had the right attitude and found what she was looking for.

I am scheming to get myself to Europe in 2015.

Yeah Pintxos!!

Even with a small child in school, you should have summers (3 months off), and holidays (Easter, Xmas, etc).

Like I mentioned you can travel very cheaply - depending on the country you chose as well. The Northern European countries like especially Norway will be extremely expensive and the large cities like Paris, etc will also be expensive. I've always thought England and the UK (although high for Americans) was a little cheaper than the continent. Public transportation is great in England. One year we even bicycled around and another year we mopeded! YOu can check out B&B's in England (they are everywhere and a fun way to get to know the locals) as they are generally cheaper.

As far as airline costs, you can get miles to use for free airfare from many Credit Cards (I know Chase has a great program - and no blackout dates). We are using our Chase miles for two free tickets this spring to Europe. :) Best of luck to you.

You also can check out alternative airlines like Norwegian Airlines (I flew there for about $600/rd/trip) in the off season this year. I don't fly as often as many do here on Fodor's so you might check out the Fodor's forum for airline / travel tips.

Which Chase cards are offering free airfare? We have Chase Sapphire. I used the bonus for a ticket to Washington, DC, a few years ago. Since then, we have not really had that many miles accumulated on the Sapphire card.

We had AMEX Delta for years until Delta capriciously increased the needed FF to deem the card useless. We now have a Capital One Venture card where you can apply the rewards points as you see fit and not be a slave to the ridiculous routes and points needed for a flight. My pin number is... just kidding.

I am always planning my next several trips to Europe for years to come! :)

dreaming of Euterpe and my European trips keeps me going. I have an inflammatory nerve disorder and just a few years ago I was in pain everyday and sometimes had to use a wheelchair. It has gradually gotten better, mostly from just listening to my own body and not the doctors. Haha. This past summer I went to France and was able to walk around Paris mostly like I wanted to. I had a few days where I was in a lot of pain and I know I could have done more but I focused on the positive. This next June I'm going to London and Paris again to fulfill my lifelong dream of studying French in France. I am always one that feels guilty for spending money on myself, but this time with my husband's encouragement I am going by myself and I couldn't be more excited! I fought so hard for many years to be able to do this last trip and my upcoming one and I'm so thankful.

You can do it. Question: with or without small child? The planning with small child in school requires a bit more work and you only have a small open window (usually the summer months).

We started taking trips to Europe (from the West Coast) with our son since he was 13 months old. On average, our trips are 2 - 3 weeks.

And at the beginning, I had a healthy load of billable hours to achieve. I simply did the math, then figured out how to achieve greater than the target we were hit with and still allow me a 3 week vacation. I found that by not taking the usual private attorney 2 hour lunches and instead work through lunch, and start work earlier than my colleagues, I could nail my billables with plenty of free time to travel. On the other hand, I could not do those long weekends in Aspen or Christmas in Hawaii that was so popular with my peers.

Didn't matter. I got what I wanted and they did what they wanted. Everyone was happy.