<human>: Hey guys, 

So I'm going to Kenya and South Africa this coming January and my plan was to stop over at Amsterdam and Belgium for 2 weeks in December as a stop over. Late summer the price for this was $1050 with the layover. However, I couldn't book my tickets yet since I didn't know my schedule until now, and the same flights cost around 1700$ now. If I choose to skip Europe, the price comes to $1000 range again. 

Dilemma: I can sort of go to California for those 2 weeks instead and then head to Kenya/South Africa but I planned this Europe trip in the summer and was really looking forward to it. I fear I will not be able to have the same experience as a college student in Europe anytime soon since I will have an internship next summer and other priorities to take care of. I don't know what I should do. Any advice is greatly appreciated it. 

To put things into perspective, I'm just a 19 year old college student and don't feel like asking my parents to fund the excess of my flights. (Even though they wouldn't mind)

Can you condense the text into a few key points?
<bot>: Europe stopover became too expensive, considering California as an alternative. Fear of missing out on a much better experience in Europe.