<i>"We loved Cyprus but the southern part is Greek..."</i>

Well, not exactly. The Republic of Cyprus is Greek-speaking, but not part of Greece. It's a completely independent country. Northern Cyprus is occupied by Turkey, but not recognised as a sovereign state by any other country except Turkey itself.

The above may seem pedantic, but it does affect travel arrangements. For example, you can travel direct from Greece to the Republic of Cyprus, but not to Northern Cyprus.

Have a look at Elberko's thread: photos from a storm in Austria.

<< Have a look at Elberko's thread: photos from a storm in Austria. >>

I've already given the link, above.

Hi Michael
I just want to say how wonderful for you to have 5 month to
travel while you are young.
I am making plans to visit Germany and Italy for my 50th birthday. We will only have 3 weeks because my husband and I both work.
I am thankful and excited for those 3 weeks.

I learned more on my first trip to Europe as a college student for six weeks then I learnt in all my college classes - something about surviving in a foreign at that time rarely English-speaking culture - gave me a lot of self-confidence - I've been back at least 40 times since and have had the luck of working and living in Europe for long stretches of time.

Perhaps your initial trip will open such doors.

Have a great time and let spontneity rule at times - don't be too prescriptive like having a list for what to do every hour as I have seen some here have.

I often find it's what's in between the major tourist sights that were the real eye openers and highlights of my trips. Even a Tube or Paris Metro ride can be enlightening!

What a shame the whole Schengen visa limitations are! Back in the day, you could backpack around Europe for as long as you liked. And I did. Too bad there's not a viable visa alternative to allow travellers to stay longer!

I guess Bulgaria is "out of Schengen". You could include that as a place for some respiste, it's supposed to be very nice.

WWanderer Europeans feel the same way about the US restrictions so fair is fair.

At least you don't have to pay for your 90 days, like visitors to the U.S. have to with ESTA.

"Having 5 months available is ideal for 'Slow Travel' which basically means moving no more often than weekly and trying to 'live' in places as much as possible rather than just doing the typical tourist things every day."

I agree with Sojourntraveller on this one. A few years ago my husband and I took 4 months to go around the world, but we visited only 8 countries, including 3 weeks in the Aeolian Islands (Sicily) and 5 weeks in Turkey (based mostly in one location, Kas). Then on to Asia and the Pacific islands for the remainder. Having chunks of time based in one place and traveling as it suited us to other places from there kept us from burning out. And we saved enough money by getting longer-term rentals to allow us to do overnight trips when we wanted to and still not break the budget. We will do the same on our next multi-month trip. It IS possible (likely) to get tired of traveling if you are on the go all the time.

Yes indeedy less can be more!

Crosscheck, Airbnb is full of illegal rentals as you know and if you are going to suggest using it then it would be the responsible thing to do, to make that clear to the OP. More and more places are starting to take steps against these illegal rentals and that can have consequences for the traveller, not to mention the moral issue of participating in something that is illegal.

Janisj, "Yes one does have to leave for a full 90 days If one is in Schengen for 90 days.

NO one does not need to leave for a full 90 days UNLESS one is in Schengen for 90 CONSECUTIVE days. It is misleading to talk about the 90 days without also explaining how it is connected to the rolling 180 day window.

As for your, "If one is in Schengen for say 80 days -- then heck, sure, come back any time. But only for 10 days and then you have the remainder of the 180 days to wait til you can re-enter." Again NO janisj, you do not have to stay out for the remainder of 180 days UNLESS you have been in a total of 90 days in the LAST 180 days. You might well only have to stay out for 10 days and then you could return for another 10 days or 20 or 30.

What people seem to fail to understand is that what matters is how many days you were in Schengen in the LAST 180 days. So for example, if you were in Schengen for 80 days; out for 120 days and then came back for 10 days, you would only have been in Schengen for 60 days in the last 180. It is a 'rolling' 180 days. It is NOT a 180 day period from your first date of entry to a fixed end date 180 days later. That's why as I said, you can do a day in (or week, or month)and a day (or week or month) out over and over again forever and never end up being in Schengen for more than 90 days in any 180 calendar day period.

When explaining Schengen to people it is important to talk about the LAST 180 days, not just the 90 days.

BeniciaChris, when you advocate visiting Occupied Cyprus, you are supporting the occupation of a country by a foreign power. In this case Turkey. There is a moral aspect to that.

WWanderer, there are changes in process to allow for a longer term visitor's visa to Schengen. There are also some nationalities such as New Zealanders to whom the Schengen rule does not apply as they have bilateral agreements with many of the Schengen countries.
http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/ne...a/index_en.htm