The Schengen Dilemma

So much happens between each post. This week we decided to pare down our bags even further, tossing out almost half of what we thought we couldn't live without. If we aren't careful, pretty soon we will be walking out the door with nothing but a toothbrush and passport in our hands.

Insert bombshell here.

So, we thought all our ducks were in a row with a bit of room here and there for adjustments, if we needed. Come to Europe! Backpack through the Alps! Don't worry, no special visa needed... just don't stay more than 90 days in each particular country and you're fine. Need to stay longer? Just pop out to any neighboring country for a weekend and come back; like magic, you can stay another 90 days. Well that's just what the guidebooks tell you. Dig a little deeper and the Schengen states rear their ugly heads. Yep, turns out there is this Schengen Agreement that treats all members of the EU, excluding a few, as a whole when it comes to visas. Americans can stay for only 90 days out of 180 and no more than 6 months out of every year. Basically, we are able to stay 90 days in the Schengen area and must then leave for 90 consecutive days before returning again for 90 more.

Check out http://www.immihelp.com/visas/schengenvisa/ for more info on this fascinating topic.

Whoa really?! This would have been good to know like 7 months ago. (Remember, we are leaving in 12 days with one way tickets to Spain.) Now we have a bit of a hole in our itinerary. A veritable wish sandwich with Spain and Greece on one slice of bread and Italy on the other, with a 6 month question mark in the middle. Well, let's go make some lemonade! So how do you fill that gap on the fly? Well here's the rough outline. Check out Turkey, Bulgaria, or Croatia for a few months or maybe Ireland and some of GB. Then find some place to rent in Morocco for a few months?

And that's all we have so far. Anybody got any connections in Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia or Ireland?

Excited now? Well you wanted an adventure, right? Stay tuned: up next - departure and New York. JFK, the Big Apple, Wappingers Falls and who knows?