Morning arrival. Drop bags at HI Boston hostel (great location, near South End). Walk the Freedom Trail — 2.5-mile red brick line connecting 16 free historic sites through the city. Evening in Allston, Boston's student neighbourhood — cheap eats, live music, packed bars any night of the week.

Take the T (Red Line) to Harvard Square. Walk Harvard Yard and the Natural History Museum (glass flowers exhibit is genuinely strange and beautiful). 20-min walk to MIT — the Stata Center and MIT Museum are both free. Back to Cambridge for dinner. Evening: The Comedy Studio or ImprovBoston — cheap or free Sunday nights.

Morning Amtrak from Boston. Check into a hostel in Williamsburg or Brooklyn — cheaper and more interesting than Manhattan. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge on foot (free, stunning). DUMBO neighbourhood for skyline views. Evening on the Lower East Side — dense bar and restaurant scene, very student-friendly prices.

Morning in Central Park — rent a bike or just walk. Afternoon at Columbia University's beautiful Morningside Heights campus (free to walk). Lunch in Harlem — best soul food in the city and very cheap. Evening: bouldering day pass at Cliffs of ID in Brooklyn — great way to meet locals and burn energy.

Morning in SoHo — boutique browsing and street art. Walk the High Line (elevated park above the West Side, completely free, beautiful in October fall colours). Late afternoon: head to MoMA — free entry from 5:30pm on Fridays, arrive at 5pm to beat the queue. Dinner in Hell's Kitchen after.

Amtrak from NYC. Drop bags at HI Washington D.C. hostel (excellent location near the Mall). Walk the National Mall — Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Wall, Washington Monument. Smithsonians are all free and world-class: Air & Space is the obvious first stop (real Moon rocks, Wright Brothers plane). Dinner in Dupont Circle.

Morning at Georgetown University's beautiful campus — the oldest Jesuit university in the US, free to walk. Natural History Museum after lunch (free — the Hope Diamond is genuinely impressive). Evening in Adams Morgan — D.C.'s most eclectic neighbourhood, great bars and live music, very international crowd.

Morning flight from DCA to Miami. From Miami Airport, take the Greyhound or FlixBus to Cocoa Beach (~3.5 hrs, ~$25). Check into a beach motel near the pier. Rent a foamie from Ron Jon Surf Shop (open 24/7) and get a first feel for the water before sunset. Book a lesson for tomorrow morning.

2-hour beginner lesson with Cocoa Beach Surf School — sandy bottom, warm water, very forgiving. By the afternoon you'll be catching small waves solo. Evening on the pier for food and a cold drink watching the sunset over the lagoon side.

Early dawn session (waves glassier in the morning). Then take a rideshare or the Space Coast Area Transit bus to Kennedy Space Center — 10 min away. Shuttle Atlantis, the Saturn V hall, launch pad views. Student discount ~$65. Check if there's an upcoming SpaceX launch — watching one from the beach at night is free and unforgettable.

Take the SunRail or a rideshare north to New Smyrna Beach (~45 min) — Florida's most consistent surf town, slightly different breaks from Cocoa. Great for building on your skills. Long beachside lunch, then back to Cocoa for an evening session. By now you should be reading waves and timing pop-ups comfortably.

Last morning surf at Cocoa. Afternoon at Canaveral National Seashore — 24 miles of undeveloped Atlantic coast, sea turtles nesting, zero crowds. Free with America the Beautiful pass ($20 student). Take the evening Greyhound or FlixBus to Miami (~3.5 hrs) — arrive late, check into a Wynwood or South Beach hostel.

Morning in Wynwood — the outdoor street art district is completely free and one of the best in the world. Grab a coffee at a Wynwood café. Afternoon in Little Havana: walk Calle Ocho, eat a Cuban sandwich, watch the domino players in Máximo Gómez Park. Evening stroll through the Art Deco Historic District on Ocean Drive — free self-guided walking tour, most beautiful at dusk.

Easy morning. Walk Ocean Drive one last time, swim if the flight allows. Miami connects directly to most European capitals — British Airways, Iberia, Lufthansa, and KLM all fly direct. Head to MIA airport by early afternoon for an evening departure, arriving in Europe Monday morning.