Have you ever dreamed of going to some place fascinating and exotic? But of course if you are a third world member, like me, you would rather not bother thinking about it because, one word: visa. Visa is hard to get and as repulsive as the process goes you'd rather stick around your good old home.
However, the tale of Schengen might just be the right news for travel enthusiasts like you and yes, third world members included.
Now starting from basics, schengen is the combination of 26 European countries (most famous tourists destinations. At.That. Because "europe" duhh). Now this includes Greece, Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc. These countries inside European union decided to join forces. Each resident of the either country can go to another without a passport, let alone visa.
Now hold your horses, you are not from either country but wait, there is a catch for you too. You can start your travel journey right from Schengen, all you need to do is get Schengen visa for any ONE Schengen country and travel the rest of the 25 countries, FREE. (Now free is just an expression, you get the idea).
You don't need visa for any of the remaining countries, your good friendly visa for Spain would get you to Greece as well as Germany as well as Hungary as well every country inside Schengen. Fucking God bless it!
This Schengen system might just be the fantasy for travel enthusiasts specially the one's like us coming from a third world. Imagine trying to get visas for all those 26 countries individually, not to forget the lengths of poverty your bank account would have to deal with.
You think things won't get any better than this right? Think again because they just did. Now not only can you travel visa free you can also extend your stay and the most adventurous part of it is, in an entirety "Non Traditional way." Yes that is right, you got the 90 days visa but seriously who can explore twenty six fucking countries in just 90 days. You are not Jackie Chan going around the world in 80 days. Now for the troublesome soul you are, you would need to make a run for it. And not just any run, A BORDER RUN!
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS BORDER RUN? This concept of running is the best amongst the travelers and worst amongst the actual runners. But of course you are a traveler and reputation can go to hell and your first priority is not to get something distasteful stamped on your passport from overstaying your visa.
Now the run is based on 180 days rule. It's a rule that allows you to stay in Schengen for 90 days but as soon as the 90 days come to a close you need to hop over the border to a non-schengen area like and spend another 90 day there and as soon as you complete the total of 180 days on your Combined Schengen and non Schengen journey (and by now you have the possibility of getting deported from that non-schengen country too) just run back to the any Schengen country at 181st day and resume your Super Schengenian journey. In another words, your visa is automatically renewed and good to go for another 90 days. And just before you start thinking this is the new bond's movie concept and as weird as it may sound, let me tell you one thing: it's realer than your first love.
So now you can spend your lifetime exploring those 26 countries all you need to do is make a timetable. Explore the area for 90 days and get out as soon as your days on visa are over. Go somewhere else as long as it's Europe and non-Schengen, spend 90 days of exploring outside and just when you hit you 181st day, come back and don't worry about the old visa. It is renewed as soon as you step foot in Schengen territory again. Is now the right time to say merry fucking Christmas to every traveller around the world?
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