Originally Posted by
JerseyVics
thanks for that suggestion
PS. the cheapest tickets to Eastern Europe I'm finding so far are over $400, typically over $500 actually. I paid $220 NYC to Madrid, round trip.
Because the traffic to Eastern Europe is far less than the traffic to Western Europe from US - hence the fares are much higher.
What you ought to explore is to fly to Western Europe then using LCCs to go to Eastern Europe - sure more flights involved but these are your options - either pay to have convenience (perceived only imo) or pay less but not much more inconvenient.
Train is an option as well.