The Schengen Problem

Razgrad, Bulgaria – Giurgiu, Romania – Bucharest, Romania

Never heard of Schengen? We hadn’t either.

There’s the EU. It’s like the United States these days. Each “country” is like a state. Like in the U.S., once you are in the country, it’s not like there are borders between the states. One can travel from Wisconsin to Minnnesota without showing a passport or anything . . . 

Same with the EU. Once you enter, you just go where you please.

This part we understood. But what we didn’t understand – or didn’t take the time to understand – were the ramifications of this new borderlessness. The big one is this: each country loses its country status for purposes of the 90-180 rule. That’s the rule that many countries have, that says that you can only stay in the country for 90 days in any one 180 day period. 

In the old days in Europe this would not have been a problem. European “countries” are small enough that you never stay in any one country more than a few weeks. And definitely not 90 days. 

But in the new E.U., most of Europe is treated as one big country. And you can’t be in that one big country for more than 90 days in one 180 day period. 

Worse (for us), while Bulgaria and Romania are not full-fledged E.U. member states quite yet, as of January 1, 2025 – just six months ago – they joined with the other EU countries for purposes of this joint border thing. The Schengen Area it’s called. And what we realized the other day is that the 90-180 rule actually applies to us now – and, if we don’t change our plans, we will violate it. 

Here’s the analysis . . . Are you ready for this? 

We entered the Schengen Area on April 30, when we took the ferry from Morocco to Spain. We stayed in Schengen all the way through Spain, France, Italy, and Croatia – until June 5, some 36 days later. 

When we entered Montenegro we left Schengen – the more dysfunctional of the old Baltic states are not yet part of the EU or Schengen – and we did not re-enter Schengen until we came back into Greece on June 12. Then we left Schengen again on June 16, when we entered Turkiye. And then, when we entered Bulgaria we came back into Schengen – because (thanks a lot), Bulgaria and Romania became part of Schengen just six months ago. 

So at this point we have racked up something like 48 days of Schengen, leaving us with 42 remaining days until mid-October. 

The problem is that we were basically planning to be in the EU and/or the Schengen Area, until September 10 or so. That’s about 70 days from now. 48 + 70 = 118, and 118 is more than 90. Why so long? Because that’s how long it was going to take to travel up through Poland, bike through the Baltic States, go to Finland, take the ferry to Sweden, and then bike down through Denmark to Amsterdam. 

Now, what’s the big deal? We overstay by a few days, who cares? Well, I guess the EU cares. When we go to leave they will stick our passport number into their fancy computer and an alarm will go off, and a bunch of mean police officer people will come with their big German Shepards, and they’ll detain us, or fine us, or ban us from coming back, or something like that. 

Probably not a good idea . . .

So our new plan, which is newly hatched and still subject to change, is something like this . . .

First, we were thinking about whether to go to Serbia or to the Transfagarian Highway in Romania next. We weren’t quite sure – but now it’s pretty obvious. Serbia is not part of Schengen – so the days we are there won’t “count.” 

So Serbia it is . . .

Then we’re meeting our girls in Budapest and they’re going to bike with us to Vienna. That’s non-negotiable. At that point we’ll have burned up about 74 of our Schengen Days – depending upon how long we stay in Serbia – leaving us with about sixteen to go. 

Nowhere near long enough to go up through the Baltic States and Scandinavia and around back to the Netherlands. 

What we can do, instead, is basically beeline across Germany up to Amsterdam – and then take a ferry from there to England. Because of Brexit the whole UK is not part of the EU or Schengen. So we might do a more extended tour of Scotland and Ireland before landing in London and flying back to the U.S.

I think it’s fair to say that this revelation has left us a little bummed. Way back when we started we were going to do a more ambitious trip through Turkiye, Turkmenistan, etc. For various reasons we decided to scrap that idea. Our next plan was to start in Morocco and then cross through Algeria and Tunisia, before taking a ferry to Italy on our way to Turkiye. That idea went by the wayside when we realized that the border between Morocco and Algeria is permanently closed. A bummer, but at least we were still going to see Poland, the Baltic States, and Finland at the end of the trip. 

But now that is out as well . . .

Looking back, it’s too bad we didn’t figure all of this out before. Because, if we had, we might have made Algeria and Tunisia work anyway; we could have taken a ferry back from Spain to Algeria. The benefit of that would have been trading about three weeks of Schengen time in Spain and France for three weeks in Algeria and Tunisia – leaving us with three weeks more to do the trip we wanted in the Baltic regions . . . 

We probably could have just made it work if we had done it that way . . .

Oh well.

And it’s not like it will be miserable to bike through Germany. Should be lots of good hearty bread and mohn and sauerkraut and sausages and radlers and other things that we like. It’s just going to take a few days to readjust to our new plans . . .

Or, if anyone has any other brilliant ideas, we’re all ears . . .

Switching gears, we had a more tangible Schengen experience upon crossing the Danube from Bulgaria into Romania yesterday. We’re approaching the border and we’re a little shocked at how backed up all the traffic is. Cars and trucks are queued up for probably a mile. We’ve been through a lot of borders now, and we’ve never seen anything like this. 

“I guess Bulgaria and Romania are pretty serious about their borders,” we remark. 

And, really, we didn’t comment on it before, but the border between Turkiye and Bulgaria was pretty extensive. The Bulgarians had about four stations before you were finally cleared to enter the country. They checked the passports. They went through luggage. They sprayed the cars coming in with some kind of chemical or something. And then they checked the passports again – this time stamping them. 

“I guess if both Bulgaria and Romania do stuff like this it could take a while . . .”

But in situations like this it’s an advantage to be on bikes. You just weave your way through and it’s all good. Eventually we make our way up onto the bridge, and then to the front of the line. Only then do we see that there’s major construction on the bridge itself and the cars are all waiting just to cross at all. 

We’re at the front of the line but we still have to wait . . .

After a while I bike up to the worker guys who are managing the traffic as part of the construction project. I ask if they will stamp passports up ahead – on the Romanian side of the bridge.

He scoffs.

With Schengen there are no more borders, he tells me. 

And then he starts in . . . 

He doesn’t see the point of having a government without having borders. 

“Bulgaria,” he tells me, “was better before [Communism fell].” 

I ask about this crazy ugly power plant infrastructure back in the border town – which we biked by and we can still see from the bridge. Huge, and I mean huge, pipes, running all along the main street in town. Super industrial and unsightly. He tells me that it was an old coal burning plant that used to supply hot water for heating the houses in town. 

He goes on to relate that under Communism people didn’t make much, but things were not very expensive either. He said something about how now you are a slave to your mortgage, where years ago you didn’t have to pay for your housing. He also says that back in the day there were factories where people made stuff in Bulgaria; they are all gone now . . . (Really, if you substitute 1950s America for his Communism we are maybe talking the exact same complaints that people in rural America have: immigration, low wages, no more factory jobs, huge wealth disparities. Bottom line – the immense changes of the last 50 years have been pretty hard on people throughout the world.)

Corruption was better then too, according to him. 

“Wasn’t there corruption under Communism?” I ask.

”Yes, but at least people couldn’t flaunt their wealth as much. They couldn’t buy big hotels and mansions on the Black Sea.”

I’m not sure I completely follow what he’s saying on all of this, but I guess the broader point is that there are people, like this guy, who still think Communism was preferable to what they have now. Pretty sure there aren’t too many people with this sentiment in Croatia, where, biking through today, you would never know that Communism ever existed. Everything is bright and polished and happy.

The question is, I guess, by what fairy dust is Croatia so successful while the Bulgarias and Romanias of the world seem to lag behind – seemingly caught in some permanent version of yesterday’s sunset. I never got to the answer to that question. Just as I was about to delve into it with this guy – and maybe get his name as well – the traffic cleared and we were allowed to cross the bridge. There’s no slowing Diana down in situations like this – so off we went. 

I guess I’m not sure he would have known anyway . . .

Oh, and the border? He was right. No more passport controls. Just bike on through. 

And now I’m going to take one of our frequent side roads for a minute. Not necessary for the narrative, but some musings on Schengen and borders and such. 

First off, I’ve always been a huge advocate for this citizen of the world type idea. We’re all people and we all have something to contribute to the rich tapestry of humanity. Blah, blah . . .

But biking through all these different countries you can see that there are cultural differences that are worth preserving. Different languages, different foods, different houses, different clothes, and different religions. In fact, all these different cultures are a big part of what makes a trip like this interesting and fun. 

I guess the fear is, and this guy expressed a little of it, that if you open all the borders and people just move wherever, that eventually distinct cultures just melt away and you are left with this colorless, grey monoculture – where everyone speaks English, eats hamburgers and French fries, and listens to the Beatles and Elton John. 

This is mostly fear, I think. It’s not like people are knocking the doors down to get into Bulgaria or anything. But the fact that a guy like this – who is pretty clearly a thoughtful individual – is not bought in, is probably pretty telling. My sense is that the fact that the politicians, or the elites, or whatever we want to call them, have not done a better job of selling their internationalist type ideas, is, I think, going to come back to bite them. 

We’ll see – but I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole Schengen thing – or the EU itself, starts to fall apart in the years ahead. It’s not just Trump and America; people the world over are worried about borders and border controls. See this recent article. 

I guess if that happens the good news is that on our next long bike trip through Europe we might not have to worry about this whole Schengen problem . . . 

Alright, sorry. Enough politics.

The biking through Bulgaria, and, so far, Romania, has been nice, but maybe not super dramatic. 

Except for one little incident. 

It started with Diana’s chain. 

It came off – which in and of itself is no big deal. 

She started to put it back on, but I decided it would be a good idea to help. Again, not a big deal, except that what I didn’t realize is that the chain was already kind of half on, and, in being half on, was already kind of bound up and ready to turn. Hard to describe, but the point is that when I went to grab the chain, the chain pulled toward the front derailleur – and my right ring finger went with it – into the derailleur. 

If you haven’t examined one lately, let me just tell you that front derailleur teeth are big, sharp, and ugly. Within a millisecond I had a huge tooth-shaped gash in my finger – and blood was going everywhere. 

It wasn’t pretty. 

Fortunately, we have a doctor along on our journey. In the short run we put a napkin and some duct tape around the finger, and when we arrived at the hotel later she had me scrub it out as best I could; the other problem with derailleurs is that they are incredibly greasy – so cleaning it out was not a piece of cake . . . Then, new gauze and real bandages she picked up at the pharmacy, along with an antibiotic to make sure there’s no infection, and I’m pretty functional again now. 

Hopefully the big flap of flesh hanging off decides to reconnect itself with the rest of the finger . . .

We arrived in Bucharest, and I’ll have more to report on that, but we’ll save that for the next episode. 

Schengen thoughts welcome . . .

This is one we really don’t know the answer to . . .