Benton managed to spend about a month in Europe this year, and the trip overall was as follows:
1.5 weeks (2 weekends) in Portugal, on vacation with Jack, Brad, and Logan (a trip that is becoming a somewhat expected yearly endeavor). All on vacation
Another 2.5 week roaming around central Europe, starting in Vienna and moving towards Copenhagen, with a hodgepodge of people (Benton being the only one working, but also having found out during Portugal that he will be taking a new job at Yext, he was a bit more lax with making sure that all the normal hours were covered).
A final 3 days in Oslo of just Allan and Benton (their flights from Copenhagen to NYC went through Oslo, so calling Virgin Airlines and making that layover last a couple days seemed to make sense)
Where all we (Benton being the only one at all of these locations) went, in order:
Portugal: Lisbon → Nazaré → Porto → Coimbra → Lisbon
Austria: Vienna
Czechia: Prague
Germany: Berlin
Denmark: Copenhagen
Norway: Oslo
In terms of who all came:
Brad: Benton’s friend from Ohio currently living in Columbus, came for the Portugal leg of the trip
Jack: Benton’s friend from Ohio, also currently living in Columbus, came for the Portugal leg of the trip
Logan: Benton’s friend from Ohio, currently living in Minneapolis, came for the Portugal leg of the trip
Elizabeth: Benton’s friend from MIT, currently one of Benton’s roommates
Shashank: Benton’s friend who lives in NYC, but who Benton originally knows from high school
Ryan: Elizabeth’s friend from work at Meta, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area
Allan: Benton’s friend from MIT who lives in DC, but frequently visits New York
Joe: Allan’s friend/roommate from MIT (went to Yale, but spent a lot of time at MIT), currently lives in DC and knew Benton before going.
Roger: Enrolling in med school and off until late summer; planned to roam around Europe and ran into Benton at a poker night; happened to have overlapping locations/dates for some of the trip. (A very random addition, ended up seeing us in Vienna and providing us with some recommendations for Prague)
Kira: Elizabeth’s friend from Meta, lives in the Bay Area as well.
Clayton: Kira’s boyfriend, also knew Elizabeth from before she moved to New York
Omar: Joe’s friend who used to live in Berlin (and visited/stayed with us during the Berlin leg of the trip), now living in Paris.