ADVENTURES, CHALLENGES, AND INSIGHTS OF A COUPLE IN EARLY RETIREMENT
Many people we meet discuss their issues with how long they can stay in the Schengen Zone, which covers much of Europe. For non-residents, the rule is that you can stay 90 out of 180 days using a rolling calendar otherwise you need a residence visa.
Our main reason for heading into France was to attend our visa appointment at the Prefecture in Nice. That said, we lived in Nice for more than two months last year and we were anxious to visit some of our old haunts. We toyed with the idea of staying in and exploring another part of town but finally settled on staying in roughly the same neighborhood as we did before.
A big part of our roving retirement is traveling around Europe. However, during Covid lots of extra things need to be done. So, we thought we would describe our EU Covid pass experience. On our recent trip, people in Portugal and in France required our Euro QR code to verify our vaccination status.
Having savored our final meal in San Sebastian, it was time to make haste to get to Nice for our date with visa renewal destiny. We decided to break up our 500+ mile journey with overnight stops in Zaragoza, Barcelona, and Montpellier. This made for a very roving retirement stretch of days.
Every day feels like Groundhog Day, we get up, make coffee, go for a walk or shop, practice French, watch the news, call Mike’s folks, call the kids, share funny things on Facebook, and cook dinner.
