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.In the years that have passed since I lived with my Oma and went to school on Germany for a year and John spent his gap year after college vagabonding through Europe, things have changed on the visa front. Our tentative plan had us landing in Europe in February, and not leaving for Africa until the fall. Friends are coming out to see us off at the beginning of our trip and a few others are hoping to meet up with us in the summer. I had imagined us drifting south until late spring, and moving north as the temperatures of summer arrived.
In checking tourist visa information for the EU, however, I found that we’ll need to be much more mindful of where we go than I had thought. Instead of each country operating individually, much of the EU has joined a treaty that spells out how long people can stay, and lumps these countries all together in one experience. So, we arrive in late February, and can only stay in the Schengen Zone for 90 of the next 180 days, or until late August. Leaving and coming back does not re-start the clock, although time spent outside the zone does not count toward the 90 days. We’re using almost four weeks in France already, and hope to ski through March and into April.
This gives a real advantage, in my mind, to the non-Schengen countries, and we’ll opt for them when we can. If the ski season is still going (snow and weather permitting) we were thinking about moving over to Italy to try their slopes. All things equal, we’ll surely opt for Andorra instead. It’s a small, mountain kingdom between France and Spain in the Pyrenees, and they’re supposed to have great skiing.
After our fill of skiing, I’ve had Croatia on my mind, and maybe on down into Greece. John, on the other hand, has been talking about Spain quite a bit. In that Spain is Schengen and Croatia is not, I’m likely to win this one. Sorry, Spain. And for an extended rental, it’ll be Croatia’s coast with just a few days in Schengen Greece.
It reminds me of the fallout and impact on our dude ranch business when the US made it more difficult for people from the UK to come to America on a tourist visa. They could not just show up anymore, but rather had to go through a visa application process at a US consulate. Not very welcoming for tourists, and certainly shrank the numbers of visitors from one of our biggest markets.
I guess there must not be that many Americans who want to spend extended time in the EU. If there were, the tourism boards for these countries would pressure their governments not to join, or to change the policies. But, for this traveling family, it will send us to other destinations.
