Turkish has some good prices, and the layover going out is almost reasonable. The layover coming back from Munich makes the trip almost 20 hours so not worth it to us. United is the way to go from Houston if you want to maximize your time abroad. Was your perception of Europe as good as ours? We liked it so much I'm working on a German language cert now (the wife already speaks it though rusty.) We may spend the first couple of years of our retirement over there. I could spend a year just riding Austria and Slovenia.
I absolutely love Europe. Although, I think their governments are a little more prone to taking advantage of their citizenry than ours is. I spent five years in Germany, three of them when I was 2y to 5y old. We lived on the economy, so I learned to speak German at the same time I learned English. Unfortunately, I have forgot most of it. But I have been surprised by how some of it has come back. I love Germany! I also enjoyed Slovakia and Czech Republic. Norway and Sweden are too expensive. The UK was dense and drove on the wrong side of the road.
One place I absolutely enjoyed was Luxembourg. Great roads and less expensive accommodations, I may go back there. I am looking forward to September when we head to Italy, the alps and Croatia. Ending up in Turkey. We are headed south into Spain and the Pyrenees in May. I recommend to anyone, who is able to make the trip, to go to Europe.
Language is no barrier as almost everyone speaks English. We met a Professor at a gas station, from Germany in the Czech Republic, who had just spoken at a convention. He and his host, spoke English with each other because one spoke native German and the other Czech. The professor said, "of course you know that the "official" language of flight is English, the "official" language of business is English and since 1945 the "official" language of Science is English. Everyone speaks English." We said, we do know. Being the contrarians they are, France seemed to be the only country we traveled through, which seemed to use German, instead of English, as their second language.
Anyway, we are glad to be going back. Good luck with a two year residency, sounds wonderful. And, good luck to the OP in finding a ride, it will be worth the cost.
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