Carlene and Kim
So, we’ve been silent for a while now. Why? We’ve cheated…we’ve both briefly gone to America–not because we wanted to leave this fabulous new life of ours, but because of The Schengen. What is “The Schengen?” you’re asking. Yeah, that’s what we asked ourselves while watching “Roman Holiday” the first night Carlene arrived in Rome. My friend had mentioned “The Schengen” and “visa” prior to our departure, but she thought, as I did, we could just head to Switzerland (not in the EU, but turns out IS a Schengen member) and get a stamp in our passport and be fine. Not quite that easy as it turns out. Schengen is an area made up of 26 European counties that banned together for international travel purposes. There are no border controls between these countries; however, as a US citizen you are limited to a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen Area within a rolling 180 day period without obtaining a visa (nearly impossible in the age of Covid). Not great news when you’ve already pre-booked 3 months of AirB&Bs. So… we needed to lose 11 days in order to avoid being deported with a hefty fine from Paris next month. The solution? Egypt initially–that’s where I had wanted to start this adventure from the start, but due to Covid restrictions, reentry to The Schengen from Egypt requires quarantine. Schengen! Lots of options were blocked due to Covid restrictions. Next, we looked at the UK, not a member of Schengen, but we are already going there for the month of December. (Side note–Americans are allowed 6 months in the UK without a visa…in case you were wondering).
This is where the perks of the airline job, aka free plane tickets, has come in handy. On our short trip to Dallas, we got to trade in our summer clothes for fall attire since as of October 1, it suddenly turned colder here in Italy. Another bright note is we got to go to the Texas State Fair with close friends where Harrison won the biggest possible stuffed dog by making two shots in the basketball game. It will most likely be his most impressive fair win of all time! We got to see Finney, get hair cuts and see a few friends on the down low. Our next trip home will take us to Canyon for an early Thanksgiving with our mom, who we’re hoping to convince to come back to Paris with us (kind of hard since she’s taken in all our motherless pets while we’re away). That will put us at 89 days in Schengen on December 1, when we head to the UK.
On a fun note, we really have turned “Schengen” into our favorite new curse word. This will most likely come back to bite me in the Schengen when we get back to reality because Harrison is in on this action. Our favorite was when he correctly called out the obnoxiously loud woman on the train by leaning over and whispering into Carlene’s ear, “I wish that woman would shut the Schengen up.” We all did — and great use of the new word! All isn’t lost in homeschooling. Life lessons? Check.
Overseaing Harrison 