Fourteen nights, roughly 1800 dollars including internal transport but not the flight in. My instinct is four cities because I might never come back, but a friend who travels a lot says I'll spend the whole trip in transit and remember none of it. I'm travelling alone, which I think changes the maths somehow. What would you do?
Whatever you pick, book the first three nights and leave the rest loose if the destination allows it. Alone you can change plans at zero social cost, which is genuinely the best thing about solo travel and the thing people give away by over-booking.
Compromise that's worked well for me: three places, but weight them 6 nights, 5 nights, 3 nights instead of splitting evenly. The short one goes last so you're not carrying the tired-of-packing feeling through the whole trip.
Ending on the short stop also means you can bail on it and go back to the place you loved. I've done that twice and never regretted it.
Price the internal transport before you decide anything. In some countries four cities is three cheap trains, in others it's four flights with baggage fees and two airport transfers each, and that difference alone can be 400 dollars of your budget.
Slight counterpoint since everyone's saying slow down: if this is a one-off and you know you want to see specific things in four specific places, see them. Being tired in a place you wanted to see beats being well rested and wondering. Just don't do it because a map looks efficient.
@carryon_only · 3w ago · 3 replies
Fewer places, and it's not close on that budget. Every move costs you a travel day, a booking fee, an arrival afternoon spent finding the supermarket, and usually a night of bad sleep. Four cities in fourteen nights is realistically eight usable days out of fourteen.
The solo angle makes it stronger, not weaker. Alone, the good part of a trip is the third day in a place — when the café guy recognises you, you know which tram goes where, and you've got a loose plan for the evening. You never get to day three if you're moving every three nights.
Two bases, one week each, day trips from both. That's what I'd book.
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@quietmargin · 3w ago
Also cheaper. Weekly rates on apartments are often 20-30% below the nightly rate, which on 1800 dollars is real money.
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@coworking_cass · 3w ago
The "eight usable days out of fourteen" framing killed the four city plan on the spot.
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