What is “Schengen Shuffle” Travel & How To Do It!
What is "Schengen Shuffle"
Travel & How To Do It!
Have wanderlust & want to
do long term travel in Europe
as a retiree, digital nomad or
Have wanderlust & want to do long term travel in Europe as a retiree, digital nomad or family travel worldschooling? If you are American, Brit, Australian etc, just do the "Schengen Shuffle" like we have been doing in Europe for the last year. We flew from Los Angeles to Paris last May 2nd, then spent almost 3 months in Barcelona, then we spent high season 2 months in super cheap Bansko (which is like budget Switzerland), then road tripped in Croatia and Montenegro, then back to Barcelona for the fall and Christmas plus more house hunting. Then we spent the winter on the beach in a beautiful airbnb in Cyprus ( review coming) and last week we flew off to Italy and now so excited to return back to Spain long stay in our camper van near the beach and Barcelona!
We enjoy taking our time and exploring places we've been before and discovering new places! We live a much freer, rewarding, luxurious life this way at MUCH less cost than we did living in California apartment or home.
We really love Europe and never tire of exploring the endless beautiful cities and country sites!
We also stay healthier this way hiking, biking, swimming, barefoot sunrise walking to ground and visiting natural springs to soak in warm or cold healing waters.
One of the safest ( even more so with covid) and cheapest, (yet luxurious) ways to explore Europe is in a camper van and I am thrilled to get back to our vintage tiny home. We loved renovating it last summer in Barcelona so it feels brand new!
Especially since the pandemic, many more people do full time "Schengen shuffle" travel by van or small rv as remote work, digital nomads and remote schooling or "worldschooling" has blossomed. Looks like we started a trend in 2006 when we started as a family & now happy to join back in as an empty nester couple.
We bought our 1998 Ford Rimor van in 2005, so are very fond of it and have more than gotten our money's worth in this investment that we likely will pass on to our 22 year old daughter eventually. Won't it be wonderful if she can explore Europe some day in it with her children like we did with her?
We like to shop locally and at farmers markets & cook our own healthy food in our camper or airbnb, so we have become skilled at making the most of a small space! I actually really enjoy how it makes me a more mindful minimalist & is great for our health, longevity & my diet. Here I am making a big salad for me and some bone broth for hubby. Every day is a picnic!
I love the indoor/outdoor living and catching the sunrises if I can when I wake up like this beautiful one I put on Instagram on our first day back here. So much beauty makes me happy!!
IMHO, a camper van really is the best way to do slow travel in Europe……
….and makes for a great "second home" when we do longer stays. Plus it is cheap to store our van safely when we are not here & enjoying other modes of travel & lodging.
We do our "Schengen shuffle" with a combination of camper van, cheap flights,
airbnb long stays,
..luxury resort camping bungalow rentals,
car rentals when needed,
but mostly, we live large on little
with a small carbon footprint
mostly walking
or biking to get around
or using mass transit
….as we just thrive on slow travel, doing life our "location independent" way!!
HOW TO DO THE "SCHENGEN SHUFFLE"
If you enter Spain on a 90 tourist visa/allowance, then you need to leave for another 90 days before you can come back.Tip: don't count 3 months as 90 days. Some months have 28, 30, 31 days and you can create problems for yourself. I type in Google "April 5 + 90 days" and it will give you the result. Generally we leave a 1-2 day buffer on the departure date…Just in case the flight is canceled or something. Google has heaps of info on this.
There is so much beauty in this world & we love Europe, so find this a very enriching & exciting way to live large & healthy on a small budget. It is a great way to strengthen a partnership via romantic travel adventures!
Now it has been one year for us doing the "Schengen Shuffle" and we still adore this lifestyle, so plan to continue it as we also look for a home and land to buy in Spain near Barcelona. We will likely continue this lifestyle even after we buy our home and will just use our new home as a base, but still travel lots, use our camper van to explore Europe and sometimes airbnbs.
Next winter Jan – April we might try going outside of Europe like Buenos Aires and Mexico for a warm winter and beach explorations. We might get a digital nomad visa. With the world's crazy financial crisis and other things, we are in no hurry to make final decisions yet, but have found some great home possibilities.
We're just all about enjoying our empty nest years of "new couplehood" & seeing as much of the world as we can while we are still young & healthy enough to enjoy it. How about you?
So glad to see you on the road again. Now I can once again travel vicariously through you until I am able to do it myself!
Aww, thanks so much Robyn!! It is always so sweet to hear from you and I am glad you enjoy traveling along vicariously and dreaming of your own travel coming up!!
Because we are also juggling a few things like house hunting in a foreign land, we are going a bit slower than we’d like, but it will all work out. Like seeing Rome recently made me want to go back and spend a few months wandering Italy again. lol Always more to see, do and dream about!!