Help needed! Travel advice. PST is back and on the loose..

So guess what?

I have decided that I really need a holiday - last years holidays were marred by illness and deciding to go and making plans for this year has well and truly been on the back burner. I guess I am a little apprehensive about it and have lost some of my solo traveller confidence! I don't know why because when I think about what I did do in the condition I was in - its dawns on me how stubborn I actually was, hehehe.

Most people plan trips well in advance or at least have some idea and usually I fall into that category, this year I have decided (last week) that I would take two weeks off and the sooner the better, I really need a break!

So I requested leave from work from 27th July till 7th August. Great right? This is where my lack of planning is most evident.

The school holidays all start here (England) that week - and a year or two ago there was a new law that children being taken out of school during term-time (for holidays) would have to pay a fine (or rather their parents would). Some parents would take their children out during term-time or there would be a few days overlap because the cost of holidays almost doubles during the school holidays.

Anyway...its not the best time to choose but I have decided and seeing as it takes me so long to do that I am sticking with it otherwise it means another two month wait! I'm not that patient. The second thing that highlights my poor planning is the fact that I haven't booked anything or have any idea where I might go! And a third, that also effects everything, is the fact that I am single and will be travelling solo - so last minute package deals are not such great bargains when you have to pay single supplements.

I have been browsing and still am no closer to making a decision on location - do I go somewhere and lounge or do I go somewhere that needs exploration or do I go somewhere and do both? Do I go for one week in one place and then move on to another the next week, or do I travel around a country?

All of this of course is dependent on what my budget will stretch to, but I am not a fussy traveller, if I opt to be on the go travelling here there and everywhere the I will happily stay in a Hostel or low end hotel as I am only there for sleeping. I always resent paying for a nice room that I won't get to spend time in.

If I travel about then I am currently thinking of Germany, but where do I start, what route do I take, do I focus on a region?....any other suggestions?

If I am going to stay put and lounge then, do I stay in the UK or some beach location such as France or Spain?

The reason I am writing all this is in the hope that you will have some suggestions - obviously, telling me to wait is not an option, so I would be very grateful regarding any travel advice. Those of you who have followed this blog in all its incarnations over the years will know about my Paranoid Solo Traveller posts (see the travel tab above) and may even be rolling your eyes and sniggering at me right now!

So...your challenge if you wish to accept is to help me come up with an itinerary for 24/25th July - 8/9th August (any 14 consecutive nights between those dates) leaving from any London airport. What would you do if you had two weeks?

Ok, I shall be back later to check up on you all! and maybe with some suggestions I have since come up with....