I think you should give Turkey some serious consideration. If I were your mom, I imagine I’d absolutely love it if you shared your passion for the local history with me.

I think Turkey should have wonderful beaches, but from there you could also travel to Albania, Greece or Italy quite easily. If those are too hot, you could go to Poland or Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. I haven’t been myself, but I hear Eastern Europe has beautiful old cities and nature. Those countries are also pretty cheap!

Depending on how much you want to travel and whether you like trains you could get an [Eurail ticket] (www.eurail.com/en) for one or more countries. If you’re younger than 28 you’ll get a nice discount. There should also plenty of affordable flights.