Itinerary help please!

Well, really, your only constraints are time and money. The first part of what you propose is pretty good...London to Paris to Belgium to Amsterdam is pretty compact with easy, fast connections between each stop. Very easy to do solo and lots of options to stretch it out (Normandy, Ghent, Brussels, several places in the Netherlands. Prague is sort of out of the way for that Itinerary, and really, would fit better with the GAS tour than the London tour, especially with what you have planned. I guess my personal preference would be to hold off on Prague, stick to the plan as you have it for the first trip. Maybe for the September trip, fly into Prague early, then meet up with the tour, then consider winding up in Italy after the tour. I will warn you though, getting only a taste of Italy (as opposed to a full meal) will drive you absolutely crazy until you can get back to Italy and dedicate 2 to 3 weeks there.

You can get to Prague relatively easily from Paris, but it is a long train ride. I agree that fitting it in with your Italy trip would be more efficien, plus teh train ride from Prague - go via Vienna to Venice is through spectacular scenery.

Paris 3-4 days - you may want to extend that. We spent three days there and wish we had more time, so much we did not see. Hope to go back, but it has not fitted in with our plans recently. Amsterdam is interesting, but if you find you are choosing between Paris and Amsterdam, spend the extra time in Paris.

Joy,

What an incredible year you have planned! You must have done extremely well saving for your "sabbatical" to be able to travel for an unlimited time. One point though, given that you have "unlimited time" be sure to remember the 3-month limit of the Schengen Visa.

Open jaw flights would definitely be the best idea, so whether to fit Prague into the first trip will depend to some extent on whether you can find the flights you need at a good price. You won't have any trouble finding flights into London, but the return from Prague might be expensive?

As the others have mentioned, visiting Prague would probably be somewhat easier at the time you take the GAS tour. However, it would also be easy to visit Prague following the London tour as you suggested.

The rail journey from Amsterdam to Prague is about 12-hours+, however the easiest solution in this case would be a budget flight. There are at least two carriers flying that route. Keep in mind that July is PEAK season so you'll need to book early to get the best prices.

The tentative route you suggested looks good. BTW, I'd suggest 2-3 days in Amsterdam.

Good luck with your planning!

London to Paris, Brugges, Amsterdam makes sense. They are relatively short train rides. Making a trek accross the continent to see Prague is better left for a future trip that covers that area.

The second trip (unlimited time) would be a great time to start in the North and work South. Possibly Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest then see the highlights of the Adriatic and end in Venice.

Or Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Prague, Linz, Salzburg, Venice then the Adriatic.

Everything depends on your personal preference but I do think it's more enjoyable to keep each days travel to manageable bites rather than trying to cover too much ground.

Thank you all for your responses! Here is an update on my plans. After thinking and doing some more research, I decided to switch the Adriatic tour to the Prague in 7 days tour. So, after the GAS tour, I will take the train from Vienna to Prague, do the tour, then stay in the area for several days to do some independent traveling.

As far as my trip in July, that is still up in the air and I am trying to figure out what to do. Neither trip will most likely be longer than a month or 6 weeks, so I am good on the Schengen Visa. I am so fortunate to have a well-paying job and the ability to have saved money the last few years to travel. I am leaving my main job in the military, but will still be an independent contractor until I figure out where to settle down. Thank you again for all your advice!