We ran away.... We left the 5000 miles distance behind!

[Hollandia]

I very much doubt they can do this for a long time. There are people here who did this for months, maybe a year, but there is a reason people are not doing it much. At some point it stops being fun and becomes tireing. There is no need for us to be moral or "adult" about it, that they will find out for themselves as it is a very material experience.

I agree he should have some kind of health insurance, since he is not covere through her. But she is good.

Obviously she will have to get a fulltime job before the age of 24, otherwise they will have to wait because of the income request. Another option would be them getting married before 24, even if they can't do spouse visa at that point they can still have the wedding over with. But hey, what is a good advice when they just want to be together for a while? I hope they have fun. I bet half of us wish we could do it, if not for the house, or the pets, or the kids, the job etc. I mean, I travel to Turkey one week a month because of my deal with studies/work and most people are not happy for me when they hear about it, they are pretty openly jealous about it.

I am far from jealous, my SO and I have been together since December and are closing the distance. I give advice to her because she is younger and I have experience in this area. She herself has said, she does not know how long this can last, that is the red flag that money is indeed an issue at some point.

As far as the insurance is concerned, Yay she is good, what about him? Hopefully he won't get hit by a car, or be involved in any type of train accident or even fall down and twist an ankle. I worry about this because as I said until after we marry, I am in same boat. If you have health insurance, you have no idea how scary it is not to for months outside of your country. I know I have a light at end of tunnel and if he had not landed the job in Belfast, I would have went back to USA. There is taking risks to be together and then there is being naive and not caring about the consequences and your future.

Here is why you want to have money saved up for when you do close the distance. For one, I looked into the Denmark rule which states besides the age requirement she will need proof of a residence for them to reside in. My SO has to also to obtain a residence to get a UK bank account. In order to get the place, it is going to cost us a double deposit with a total of around 1800 pounds down. We are currently in a shared house which costs us 20 USA each a day to stay at. 10 USD dollars a day for food for two would be hard, but I suppose doable but that leaves nothing for airfare, train tickets and any other way to leave Schengen and hop around countries that are not a part of it. I really don't see a single way to afford that on that budget. They have only been doing it for two months, so when the country jumping has to go a bit further I would love to hear how they pull that off. You have 90 days in Schengen, in a month, he needs to leave, all of Schengen. This is when the real travel expenses are going to hit. Let us not also forget his taxes due on any income he makes remotely through his USA citizenship.

It's an extended vacation. Enjoy being together but don't stay on vacation any longer than you can afford to without ruining your future together. Don't leave him without health insurance out globe trotting for too long either. They do sell international insurance but that will cost him a bundle. It is going to hurt like hell to say goodbye but really if you ever want to never have to say goodbye, there are things that should be getting done like you getting a job in Denmark and preparing a home for where you will live or him going back to USA and doing the same.

[Alle1770]

I haven't read all the replies in this thread, so I really have no idea what issues are being discussed and not, but I'm just gonna go out on a whim here (probably going against the current) and say that it sounds like a amazing idea. In bypassing, I saw someone mentioned something about visas and stuff - if you're travelling the world, you only need visas for the countries you're visiting, no? Why would Tamara need a visa to the US right at this particular moment, and Alex a European one? When they've stayed in Europe for as long as the visas are good for, I'm assuming they'll move on to another country outside the EU. It's actually not that much of an unreasonable way to live, plenty of people have done it and are doing it:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...#ixzz2qmoy1NJ3

https://www.wanderingearl.com/

https://www.argentinaalaska.com/

https://www.greatbigscaryworld.com/t...without-money/

As long as you have somewhat of a plan as to what to do next (so you don't overstay visas), and are sure you have enough funding for it (keeping some money saved up in case of emergencies, so you can get home if needed and the like), then by all means - go ahead. Even if money is tight, there are always ways to keep travelling and to stay alive - I can't remember his name, but some guy once travelled the entire world basically for free, staying with locals and doing chores in exchange for food and the like.

You're both very young still, without obligations. If you both want to, you could keep doing this for the rest of your lives. It's actually not unheard of, believe it or not. Just as long as you keep one step ahead and are aware of things that might come up that could be tricky to handle, you should be fine. Keep saving some money every day/month that can be used once you decide to settle down, and who knows, by the end of your travels you might have saved up enough to buy a house or whatever! I do agree with what Hollandia is saying above though, some kind of health insurance might be a good idea - you think "stuff like this never happens to me", but then they do, and you're left without any form of safety net. If I could do what you are doing, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. Then again, I'm not familiar with how things work in the US, but from an EU point of view, I don't see why travelling the globe for an extended period of time would be an issue.

Best of luck to both of you

[Marmalade]

Why? You say that with no reasoning or context.

They could apply without having to wait for her turn 24. They could have a cosponsor if they don't have enough money. They wouldn't have to run from Visa laws, but they can do whatever they want to do. It just seems easier and a little cheaper.

[Hollandia]

I haven't read all the replies in this thread, so I really have no idea what issues are being discussed and not, but I'm just gonna go out on a whim here (probably going against the current) and say that it sounds like a amazing idea. In bypassing, I saw someone mentioned something about visas and stuff - if you're travelling the world, you only need visas for the countries you're visiting, no? Why would Tamara need a visa to the US right at this particular moment, and Alex a European one? When they've stayed in Europe for as long as the visas are good for, I'm assuming they'll move on to another country outside the EU. It's actually not that much of an unreasonable way to live, plenty of people have done it and are doing it:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...#ixzz2qmoy1NJ3

https://www.wanderingearl.com/

https://www.argentinaalaska.com/

https://www.greatbigscaryworld.com/t...without-money/

As long as you have somewhat of a plan as to what to do next (so you don't overstay visas), and are sure you have enough funding for it (keeping some money saved up in case of emergencies, so you can get home if needed and the like), then by all means - go ahead. Even if money is tight, there are always ways to keep travelling and to stay alive - I can't remember his name, but some guy once travelled the entire world basically for free, staying with locals and doing chores in exchange for food and the like.

You're both very young still, without obligations. If you both want to, you could keep doing this for the rest of your lives. It's actually not unheard of, believe it or not. Just as long as you keep one step ahead and are aware of things that might come up that could be tricky to handle, you should be fine. Keep saving some money every day/month that can be used once you decide to settle down, and who knows, by the end of your travels you might have saved up enough to buy a house or whatever! I do agree with what Hollandia is saying above though, some kind of health insurance might be a good idea - you think "stuff like this never happens to me", but then they do, and you're left without any form of safety net. If I could do what you are doing, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. Then again, I'm not familiar with how things work in the US, but from an EU point of view, I don't see why travelling the globe for an extended period of time would be an issue.

Best of luck to both of you

You should really read the posts.....
According to OP, they are not going back and forth to USA due to cost of airfare. For a US citizen we are allowed in Schengen, all of Schengen for a total of 90 days and then have to remain outside of all of Schengen for 90 days. For the rest of globe outside of Schengen you are talking about airfare. With unlimited funds it would be amazing indeed, but they not in that situation and when the vacation is done will have no money saved up to actually truly close the distance. It really comes down to cash.

[Hollandia]

They could apply without having to wait for her turn 24. They could have a cosponsor if they don't have enough money. They wouldn't have to run from Visa laws, but they can do whatever they want to do. It just seems easier and a little cheaper.

I was also wondering why they don't do it in USA since it seems that he does have an income already and in USA all he needs is 22K to bring her in as his spouse. The thing is though they would need to separate for a bit while the process was ongoing and I get the feeling that is not something they are willing to do at this point.

[Alle1770]

You should really read the posts.....
According to OP, they are not going back and forth to USA due to cost of airfare. For a US citizen we are allowed in Schengen, all of Schengen for a total of 90 days and then have to remain outside of all of Schengen for 90 days. For the rest of globe outside of Schengen you are talking about airfare. With unlimited funds it would be amazing indeed, but they not in that situation and when the vacation is done will have no money saved up to actually truly close the distance. It really comes down to cash.

I'm aware of the Schengen-regulations, indeed. But as long as they go outside of Schengen for 90 days after having stayed 90 days IN the Schengen-area, that is not an issue. You don't have to fly between countries - there's buses, boats and trains that are usually a whole lot cheaper than airfare. You can get from Europe to Africa by boat, for instance. If you're determined on travelling cheaply, there are plenty of ways.

You're speaking of closing the distance as solely one thing - moving in together and living in one country, settling down and the like. Perhaps they decide to never settle down in one country? Distance is still closed, because they're together and living a life they see as preferable to the "normal" way of living (which, to me, frankly, is kind of boring.) IF their plan is to move in together in one country, then I agree with you as stated in my previous post - saving up some money while travelling is a good idea so you're not standing there empty handed once/if you decide to stop travelling.

Again, travelling with little or no money might not be preferable, but it's completely doable. There's a difference between those two things, and I think that as long as you know what you're doing, money isn't an issue.

[Marmalade]

I was also wondering why they don't do it in USA since it seems that he does have an income already and in USA all he needs is 22K to bring her in as his spouse. The thing is though they would need to separate for a bit while the process was ongoing and I get the feeling that is not something they are willing to do at this point.

Being apart for a few months would be worth it I'm sure if the end result meant together in one's country. But I doubt what we say will change their minds, so I just wish them luck and hope they enjoy it . Sometimes it is nice to imagine running away together.

[Hollandia]

Being apart for a few months would be worth it I'm sure if the end result meant together in one's country. But I doubt what we say will change their minds, so I just wish them luck and hope they enjoy it . Sometimes it is nice to imagine running away together.

This is my thoughts too. Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

[Hollandia]

I'm aware of the Schengen-regulations, indeed. But as long as they go outside of Schengen for 90 days after having stayed 90 days IN the Schengen-area, that is not an issue. You don't have to fly between countries - there's buses, boats and trains that are usually a whole lot cheaper than airfare. You can get from Europe to Africa by boat, for instance. If you're determined on travelling cheaply, there are plenty of ways.

You're speaking of closing the distance as solely one thing - moving in together and living in one country, settling down and the like. Perhaps they decide to never settle down in one country? Distance is still closed, because they're together and living a life they see as preferable to the "normal" way of living (which, to me, frankly, is kind of boring.) IF their plan is to move in together in one country, then I agree with you as stated in my previous post - saving up some money while travelling is a good idea so you're not standing there empty handed once/if you decide to stop travelling.

Again, travelling with little or no money might not be preferable, but it's completely doable. There's a difference between those two things, and I think that as long as you know what you're doing, money isn't an issue.

Can you you tell me how exactly? I just did that for 9 months. Once my Schengen time ran out, it got quite expensive. I have used, planes, trains and buses. If you take a look at the map, can you show me what non Schengen countries you are speaking about? Ferries to UK are not cheap, trains are not cheap, and bus far as well when you have to go through several counties to hit one that is not a part of Schengen. I scoured the map to find the closest one and for us it was Croatia, it still cost over 500 usd to get round trip tickets for it, and btw, as a US citizen you must provide return ticket via bus, train, boat, or air when you go into most countries and as a EU citizen the same will be true once you leave EU.

Do you see this map?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

Everything in blue is off limits after 90 days. As I said before, if they have the funds for the travel and can afford not to destroy their chance at truly closing the distance that is great. They are going to do it anyway but I have done it with the resources and I know from experience how very very very much it does cost when you are limited to where you can actually stay. I believe they are in Spain now, and I would also remind them that if they plan on taking a long haul out of Schengen to make sure he has enough time left on his passport to get all the way out. If you need a week to get out via buses, then make sure he has at least a week left on his Schengen.

I will give them a tip however; they are in Spain right now. So, if they can migrate to Gibraltar, it is hella expensive to stay at, but outside of Schengen and at the bottom of Spain.

[Alle1770]

Can you you tell me how exactly? I just did that for 9 months. Once my Schengen time ran out, it got quite expensive. I have used, planes, trains and buses. If you take a look at the map, can you show me what non Schengen countries you are speaking about? Ferries to UK are not cheap, trains are not cheap, and bus far as well when you have to go through several counties to hit one that is not a part of Schengen. I scoured the map to find the closest one and for us it was Croatia, it still cost over 500 usd to get round trip tickets for it, and btw, as a US citizen you must provide return ticket via bus, train, boat, or air when you go into most countries and as a EU citizen the same will be true once you leave EU.

Do you see this map?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

Everything in blue is off limits after 90 days. As I said before, if they have the funds for the travel and can afford not to destroy their chance at truly closing the distance that is great. They are going to do it anyway but I have done it with the resources and I know from experience how very very very much it does cost when you are limited to where you can actually stay. I believe they are in Spain now, and I would also remind them that if they plan on taking a long haul out of Schengen to make sure he has enough time left on his passport to get all the way out. If you need a week to get out via buses, then make sure he has at least a week left on his Schengen.

Again, I'm well aware of what countries are included in the Schengen area and which ones are not - I live here. I'm not saying travelling is free, but I am saying that you can get away with it relatively cheaply if you know where to look.

They are in Spain, correct. From Spain, you can take a ferry to Morocco - the cheapest one I've found so far with 2 minutes of searching, costs about 90 usd for two people (round trip even, so singles are even cheaper). Tadaaa, you're out of the Schengen-area, and you can stay in Morocco for 90 days on a tourist visa. Then, they can keep on travelling throughout Africa, for instance, which you can very well do by bus or even by foot, if you're really trying to live cheaply. Sure, sometime they will have to buy flight tickets (to get from Africa to Australia, or whatever, but again - if you want to travel cheaply, it's very well possible.

I've done quite a bit of travelling too, and I know the drill. The comfortable, fast way is also the expensive way. 500 usd round trip to Croatia in all it's glory, but you could get there cheaper if you were willing to do it in a different way. I agree on the visa-time though, they should always be sure to have some extra time to get out of a certain country before the visa expires - absolutely. I'm not in favor of overstaying visas at all, and I've never said that either. I'm just saying that travelling the world is a highly possible way of living, and with excellent ways of doing it cheaply.

[snow]

I was also wondering why they don't do it in USA since it seems that he does have an income already and in USA all he needs is 22K to bring her in as his spouse. The thing is though they would need to separate for a bit while the process was ongoing and I get the feeling that is not something they are willing to do at this point.

They wouldn't necessarily have to be separate. The non-US citizen would just not be able to stay longer than the VWP allows, but they can visit each other as long as they are not breaking any laws. He could come visit her in Europe and she could fly out to America.

[Hollandia]

Again, I'm well aware of what countries are included in the Schengen area and which ones are not - I live here. I'm not saying travelling is free, but I am saying that you can get away with it relatively cheaply if you know where to look.

They are in Spain, correct. From Spain, you can take a ferry to Morocco - the cheapest one I've found so far with 2 minutes of searching, costs about 90 usd for two people (round trip even, so singles are even cheaper). Tadaaa, you're out of the Schengen-area, and you can stay in Morocco for 90 days on a tourist visa. Then, they can keep on travelling throughout Africa, for instance, which you can very well do by bus or even by foot, if you're really trying to live cheaply. Sure, sometime they will have to buy flight tickets (to get from Africa to Australia, or whatever, but again - if you want to travel cheaply, it's very well possible.

I've done quite a bit of travelling too, and I know the drill. The comfortable, fast way is also the expensive way. 500 usd round trip to Croatia in all it's glory, but you could get there cheaper if you were willing to do it in a different way. I agree on the visa-time though, they should always be sure to have some extra time to get out of a certain country before the visa expires - absolutely. I'm not in favor of overstaying visas at all, and I've never said that either. I'm just saying that travelling the world is a highly possible way of living, and with excellent ways of doing it cheaply.

They are supposed to be able to do this on 34 dollars a day. There was no trains that would run all the way into Croatia and we did not have car that could get us there and the buses would have taken too long because my Schengen time was running out because we could not leave yet due to other problems finding somewhere to stay in Croatia. I am sure you traveled quite a bit, but have you done the visa run away thing? I have. I came down to having to go to UK for two weeks because my Croatia time was running out and my Schengen time was not up yet, that hurt the pocketbook a bit, but again other things in life come into play besides just immigration clocks and they are have to worked around when you are visa running. Also I am curious if they are planning on returning to home her home country during his next Schengen allotment. If so, that is a hike.

i think you are making this sound like sunshine and roses and it is not going to be. She has no income at all and he might lose his job at any time according to her. Futhermore, her goal is to be able to close the distance and roaming the globe on an extended vacation is not a prudent way to plan for it. It is a quite enjoyable way to avoid the parting of ways until you are ready to find jobs and get a real visas to close the distance in country and that is where the talk of Visas was coming from.

They can do this for now, but when they will want to truly close the distance they are going to need cash to do it. As I said before, I hope they enjoy the ride while it lasts.

[Hollandia]

They wouldn't necessarily have to be separate. The non-US citizen would just not be able to stay longer than the VWP allows, but they can visit each other as long as they are not breaking any laws. He could come visit her in Europe and she could fly out to America.

Sure, but then you are back at that 1000 USD plane return ticket costs again. This is what I thought they were doing before and actually what we did for first 2 years, it was even more expensive than the last 9 months of visa running. We had a set amount of money that could be spent on it and once it was gone, we knew I would end up in USA and him in NL again. I waited to sell my car until I knew we were going to be able the close the distance after he got the job in Belfast. The money from that car is now going toward the deposit on the house and I never would have used it to continue to support more visa running. You need to have a plan, and a limit of how much time and cash you can spend doing this versus how much you will need to close the distance for real in the future.

[Alle1770]

They are supposed to be able to do this on 34 dollars a day. There was no trains that would run all the way into Croatia and we did not have car that could get us there and the buses would have taken too long because my Schengen time was running out because we could not leave yet due to other problems finding somewhere to stay in Croatia. I am sure you travelled quite a bit, but have you done the visa run away thing? I have. I came down to having to go to UK for two weeks because my Croatia time was running out and my Schengen time was not up yet, that hurt the pocketbook a bit, but again other things come into play besides just immigration clocks in life and they are have to worked around when you are visa running.

i think you are making this sound like sunshine and roses and it is not going to be. She has no income at all and he might lose his job at any time according to her. Futhermore, her goal is to be able to close the distance and roaming the globe on an extended vacation is not a prudent way to plan for it. It is a quite enjoyable way to avoid the parting of ways until you are ready to find jobs and get a real visas to close the distance in country and that is where the talk of Visas was coming from.

They can do this for now, but when they will want to truly close the distance they are going to need cash to do it. As I said before, I hope they enjoy the ride while it lasts.

34 dollars a day on average, I assume? Some days they'll spend less and some days they'll spend more, if they spend more money on a ferry or train tickets, they just have to spend less the next couple of days - it's really not that hard. I more than understand that there obviously were other issues that didn't allow you to go to Croatia any other way, but the discussion is not about that - I was simply stating that had you had more time and the like, the trip could've been a lot cheaper.

I haven't done the visa-runaway thing, no, since I'm a member of the Schengen, but I'm pretty sure I understand how it works anyways since I've had to deal with it a lot with my SO. If you plan ahead and are ready for unexpected events, it's completely doable on a budget, once again.

I'm not saying it's all a dance on roses, travelling is tough and even more so when you do it while being low on funding. I'm simply stating that it's possible to do it, which it is. If they save money while travelling, they'll have something to fall back on if he'd lose his job. And come on, just because you want to close the distance in the future, you can't travel now? What kind of logic is that even xD Of course they can travel around now and close the distance later! As long as they're happy with the life they're living, and are planning somewhat ahead and have a crisis-plan, they can travel the world for 10 years and still settle down afterwards. Check out the links I provided, and you have only a few examples of the hundreds of people living this way. You don't have to plan your life out to the smallest detail - a general idea of what you want to do and how to do it, sure, but what the hell. Live your life while you have the ability to do so, when you're not tied down by family or work or school.

What some people might see as crazy and irresponsible is actually the ideal life to others. Maybe they don't want to live in a castle on the country side with safe jobs and three kids and a dog. Maybe they want to spend their lives roaming the globe? It's completely up to them. It's hard, yes, and it's not at all always fun and easy, and most certainly not luxurious. But that's part of the experience, and personally, I admire the courage to do what you want to do instead of playing it safe and sit at home being bored with your life because that was the safest thing to do.

[Hollandia]

I'm going to leave it at this. They have not really starting to run visas yet, since she said USA won't be a part of it, then I shall be curious to see what happens about 6 months from now.