mikebeaches
LIFE MEMBER
An article in the Daily Telegraph today about motorhomers planning longer European ventures, taking account of the new restrictions (copied below):
www.telegraph.co.uk
Myles and Karen Davies, avid campervanners who plan to travel across Europe this winter, despite new Brexit rules
From the 18th-century Grand Tour to gap year interrailers and retired motorhomers heading for the southern European sun, lengthy trips across Europe are the ambition of many Britons. Yet the arrival of new post-Brexit travel regulations – which restrict British passport holders to visits in Schengen Area countries for just 90 days out of every 180 – has made such trips, if not impossible, more administratively tricky. Add to this picture the shifting traffic light system that has left popular holiday spots out of bounds, and travellers have been subject to a level of forward-planning that would bamboozle a top-flight City PA.
For post-Brexit regulations, some canny travellers have come up with a solution: the Schengen shuffle, well-planned itineraries that make the most of countries that are in Europe but not in the Schengen Area, and countries bordering Europe with favourable periods to remain for British passport holders, such as Morocco, the Ukraine and Turkey.
“This is an opportunity to see the fringe bits of Europe,” says Rupert Dillow, 30, a lawyer and keen traveller who’s planning a trip with his girlfriend this year, heading to countries outside the Schengen Area, including Ireland and Croatia, in his Mercedes camper van.
“It took some getting our head around where we can and can’t go,” says Dillow, who’s written an ebook guide on the new travel rules (travelonwards.co.uk/schengen-ebook). “There are EU countries that are within the Schengen Area, to which the new 90-day rule applies; there are countries not in the EU that are in Schengen such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland; and there are countries in the EU that are outside Schengen where stays will not count towards the 90 day allowance, including Cyprus and Croatia.”
Myles and Karen Davies, 53 and 54, took to the road in their campervan, nicknamed Scoobie, in 2016, after giving up their corporate jobs on the Isle of Man. After a year back in Britain due to the pandemic, they will head to the continent again in winter.
“After some tantrums and tears we realised we can still travel for a year at a time in and around Europe if we plan on a spreadsheet and are very organised about where we will be and when”, says Karen. Departing in December, the couple will drive across France and through Spain, spending a few weeks there before heading to Morocco, where they are eligible for another three-month stay under the North African country’s visa-waiver for British passport holders. Karen adds that she and Myles will take care to ‘spend’ their 90-day Schengen allocation wisely, taking into account the need to travel back home in case of emergency.
Charlie Hutchinson, 32, a British military observer currently living in his motorhome in Ukraine plans to travel into Romania, reentering the Schengen Area in Hungary before heading west through Austria and into Switzerland. Hutchinson hopes that the equalising of travel regulations between favoured European holiday destinations, such as France and bordering countries such as Bulgaria and Ukraine, will encourage Britons to explore more untouristed spots: “the Carpathian Mountains for example, which are like the Alps that time forgot”.
The Davieses, who run the travel blog motoroaming.com, rave about Romania: “It’s like going back to a Thomas Hardy novel with these amazing painted monasteries and locals picturesquely scything grass.”
Most Schengen Area countries are EU members; there are however, countries that are not in the EU but are ‘associate’ members of Schengen for border and visa purposes, including Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and countries such as Ireland, which are in the EU but have opted out of Schengen. There are also ‘pending’ Schengen countries, including Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, which are not currently in Schengen but are expected to join in the future and where alternative visa arrangements for Britons now apply.
From January 1, 2021, British passport holders can spend 90 days in each rolling 180-day period within the Schengen Area and from 2022 will need to register an electronic application called an Etias prior to entering the Schengen Area, costing around £5.50 per application; etias.com.
For more help and information, visit visa-calculator.com or a Schengen travel/visa calculator.
Meet the Schengen Shufflers – the motorhomers planning lengthier European trips
In the post-Brexit world new restrictions mean that those intent on long cross-continent tours need to plan very cleverly
www.telegraph.co.uk
Meet the Schengen Shufflers – the motorhomers planning lengthier European trips
Myles and Karen Davies, avid campervanners who plan to travel across Europe this winter, despite new Brexit rules
In the post-Brexit world new restrictions mean that those intent on long cross-continent tours need to plan very cleverly
From the 18th-century Grand Tour to gap year interrailers and retired motorhomers heading for the southern European sun, lengthy trips across Europe are the ambition of many Britons. Yet the arrival of new post-Brexit travel regulations – which restrict British passport holders to visits in Schengen Area countries for just 90 days out of every 180 – has made such trips, if not impossible, more administratively tricky. Add to this picture the shifting traffic light system that has left popular holiday spots out of bounds, and travellers have been subject to a level of forward-planning that would bamboozle a top-flight City PA.
For post-Brexit regulations, some canny travellers have come up with a solution: the Schengen shuffle, well-planned itineraries that make the most of countries that are in Europe but not in the Schengen Area, and countries bordering Europe with favourable periods to remain for British passport holders, such as Morocco, the Ukraine and Turkey.
“This is an opportunity to see the fringe bits of Europe,” says Rupert Dillow, 30, a lawyer and keen traveller who’s planning a trip with his girlfriend this year, heading to countries outside the Schengen Area, including Ireland and Croatia, in his Mercedes camper van.
“It took some getting our head around where we can and can’t go,” says Dillow, who’s written an ebook guide on the new travel rules (travelonwards.co.uk/schengen-ebook). “There are EU countries that are within the Schengen Area, to which the new 90-day rule applies; there are countries not in the EU that are in Schengen such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland; and there are countries in the EU that are outside Schengen where stays will not count towards the 90 day allowance, including Cyprus and Croatia.”
Myles and Karen Davies, 53 and 54, took to the road in their campervan, nicknamed Scoobie, in 2016, after giving up their corporate jobs on the Isle of Man. After a year back in Britain due to the pandemic, they will head to the continent again in winter.
“After some tantrums and tears we realised we can still travel for a year at a time in and around Europe if we plan on a spreadsheet and are very organised about where we will be and when”, says Karen. Departing in December, the couple will drive across France and through Spain, spending a few weeks there before heading to Morocco, where they are eligible for another three-month stay under the North African country’s visa-waiver for British passport holders. Karen adds that she and Myles will take care to ‘spend’ their 90-day Schengen allocation wisely, taking into account the need to travel back home in case of emergency.
Charlie Hutchinson, 32, a British military observer currently living in his motorhome in Ukraine plans to travel into Romania, reentering the Schengen Area in Hungary before heading west through Austria and into Switzerland. Hutchinson hopes that the equalising of travel regulations between favoured European holiday destinations, such as France and bordering countries such as Bulgaria and Ukraine, will encourage Britons to explore more untouristed spots: “the Carpathian Mountains for example, which are like the Alps that time forgot”.
The Davieses, who run the travel blog motoroaming.com, rave about Romania: “It’s like going back to a Thomas Hardy novel with these amazing painted monasteries and locals picturesquely scything grass.”
How to do it
The Schengen Area comprises 26 countries that have officially abolished all passports and all other types of border control at their mutual borders following a 1985 treaty, the Schengen Agreement, that sought to build a ‘Europe without borders’.Most Schengen Area countries are EU members; there are however, countries that are not in the EU but are ‘associate’ members of Schengen for border and visa purposes, including Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and countries such as Ireland, which are in the EU but have opted out of Schengen. There are also ‘pending’ Schengen countries, including Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, which are not currently in Schengen but are expected to join in the future and where alternative visa arrangements for Britons now apply.
From January 1, 2021, British passport holders can spend 90 days in each rolling 180-day period within the Schengen Area and from 2022 will need to register an electronic application called an Etias prior to entering the Schengen Area, costing around £5.50 per application; etias.com.
For more help and information, visit visa-calculator.com or a Schengen travel/visa calculator.
