A little about me: I'm a 23 yr old guy, recent college grad working full time in the suburbs of Chicago... where I grew up. I've got a week off of work for vacation the beginning of December that I want to do something with besides sit around here.

My options that I've come up with:

*Europe: Round trip tickets from Chicago - Zurich - Istanbul - Frankfort - Chicago are $550. I would spend 22 hours in Zurich, 4 days in Istanbul and 20 hours in Frankfort. I don't have a real desire to go to Istanbul, but on the other hand, I went to Brussels in February (which wasn't also on the top of my list) and still had a blast.

+ Cheap euro-trip getting to see 3 countries
+Warmer weather
+ I can use miles earned from the trip to pay for half of my airfare for the Boston Marathon in the spring making the price really only 400

-I've read a lot about scams for solo travelers in Istanbul
-Foreign language barrier
-Not sure on pubic transportation from ZRH and FRA to the downtown centers and if 20 hours is enough to do much of anything after getting through customs and needing to go back through security


* Fly to Denver for $130 RT. I was born in CO and haven't been back since I was 6 months old. I'm not much of a skier or snowboarder, but it would be fun to hang out for a day or two in Denver, then take the bus to Boulder and go hiking and camping. Also could try XC skiing or something like that.

+Mountains sound pretty cool
+Colorado is on the list of placed I'd like to live
+I"m sure it's going to be pretty regardless
+Cheap to get there

-No hostels in Boulder -- will need to rely on Couch Surfing (which shouldn't be bad due to CU)
-I may need to check gear if I'm hiking as it probably would be allowed to fly with me on carry on
-Limited public transportation
-Possibly really cold?


*Take the bus to Chattanooga TN. Round trip bus tickets are around $60. I have a friend who lives in Nashville I can stay with for a night. After, I would take a bus to Chattanooga and hit the trails for 3 days of backpacking. Never been backpacking before but it would be a good experience along the smoky mountains. There is also an alumni I know that lives in Chattanooga that invited me to stay for a day or two.

+I can stay with friends
+Weather will probably be in the 50's in December
+I get to buy hiking gear!
+Nashville is also on my list of possible future places I want to move (along with Boulder, Seattle & Portland)
+Lots of public transportation to get from city to city

- Safe. I went to TN in June for a road trip, although we partied and didn't do any hiking or exploring
- No prior backpacking experience. Would need to learn on my own and fast
- 10+ hours on the bus.
- No backup plan if the weather turns sour.

You could fly somewhere warmer (i.e. Arizona) and hike there. So less cold and relatively cheap to get there.

How about adding some more european cities to see via train?

I really enjoy Istanbul. Had no issues the second time I went when I was a woman alone. Your other plans sound fun too. It really depends what you want to do. Cappadocia was beautiful easy hiking if you decide to spend more time in Turkey rather than a different part of Europe. Low season now.

Don't know about Zurich, but public transit connections from Frankfurt Airport to the city center are easy, frequent, and fast. The airport has its own train station, which has both regular train and S-bahn service (which is sort of a cross between commuter rail and subway).

Regarding weather, it might be really cold in Frankfurt OR Colorado. Tennessee isn't much for snow, but they do get sleet, which is IMO often nastier.

If you can handle Spirit Airlines, you can find flights to St. Thomas for under $200... if you wanted warm.

I'm in Zurich at the moment and got the S-Bahn from the airport. Only takes about 20 minutes and then I walked to the hotel. Having said that there are other European cities I'd rather spend 24 hours in based on what I've seen so far. Could you not include Rome/Budapest/Prague instead of Zurich? Frankfurt similarly didn't strike me as a place that there is much to do. I'd also, with bias, suggest my home city of London!

You could fly to Vegas, spend the weekend there and then go hiking in AZ (not far). Cheap (depends), fun and only a short flight from Chicago.

Istanbul is beautiful, half oriental, half european. A great place to spend a few days. Agree with above though that Zurich could be exchanged for almost any other European city for a quick stopover if you can choose. Vienna? Rome? Milan? Prague? Any of these would be more interesting IMO.

Two thoughts:
20-22 hours isn't really "being"/"seeing" anywhere.
Istanbul, IMO, is a far more interesting place than Vienna and especially Frankfurt.

The train to downtown is in the lower level of the airport. Easy.

Lots of good info here.

And by all means try one of those Turkish baths and a barber shop.

Romelle

Come to Montreal. Parts of this city are like Europe in a cultural, architectural and lifestyle sense but about a 121 minute flight from ORD.

See if that fare bucket has some better routings to Turkey and spend as much of an entire week there as you can. 20 hours in Frankfurt or Zurich wouldn't do much for me. I'd rather have the extra time in Turkey.

Bus trip? That's not vacation, that's torture.

Colorado...not a bad call, but if your intent is not to head into the mountains to ski, you should do Denver/Boulder in the summer. I used to live in Denver...enjoyed it greatly...but in December the main thing to do is go up the hill on the weekends. The quality of early-season skiing varies widely with the weather and the exact mountain you're headed for. Good news is that the tourist crowds aren't there yet.

Montreal and nearby parts of Quebec are awesome in the summer but ls17031 would have a tougher sales job to get me there in December. Some of the best beer in North America is brewed in Chambly, but I think they export it to Chicago these days...

Another option since you're runner is to head into the American Southwest...should be perfect weather to spend a week anywhere out that direction crushing some awesome trails. December's ahead of the peak season so getting flights/hotels/cars should likely be pretty reasonable cost-wise and you have a lot of control over how much or little you spend. Plus if you actually want to race, there are a bunch of options in the south/southwest in December.

I still think I'd do Turkey if I had a week and access to a good airfare like that.

Agreed. If you have an even slightly intellectual bent, you'll enjoy Europe in general and Istanbul is one fascinating, exotic place, right where Europe meets Asia (minor).

I'd also vote for maximizing time in Istanbul. The language barrier is a non-issue. The public transport is excellent starting right from the airport.

As a grandmother, I felt totally safe wandering about. Very kindly treated and didn't encounter any scams. Fairly aggressive salespeople, but they were cheerful when I firmly declined. They simply moved on to the next potential customer. I wasn't bar-hopping late at night but I understand simply staying aware and using good judgement will take care of one in that circumstance.

Trying to see three cities involves a whole lot of moving one's body and possessions, checking in and out of hotels, and other time wasting.

I spent a couple weeks there. Never ran out of things to do. And would go back.

There is a visa necessary, but it is a non-event of standing in line at the Istanbul airport and handing them $20 US.

IMHO - Romelle