Getting Ready

We should have started this blog when we first decided to make this journey almost two years ago. We put a lot of time into preparation and study, and our findings might be valuable for others thinking about doing the same thing. We had originally thought that we would settle in northern Italy and explore Europe from there, but we quickly learned that it was difficult to obtain a long term visa in any of the European countries.

For a long term visa, one must have already established a residence, and must apply in the home country for the visa. The process requires proof of income and resources showing that it is not necessary to work in the country of interest. It requires comprehensive medical insurance. One can't have a criminal record. It takes about 3 months after application to receive an approval or denial. We were advised by the local Italian embassy to expect a denial "the first time"! For all of these reasons, we decided to just come on the Schengen tourist visa which is only valid for 90 days. You can see a map of the Schengen countries here:

We thought about doing an LDS mission, but our church doesn't allow couples with children to serve missions as the rigors of the assignment take parents away from children too much, and our priority is our family. Our chuch does allow couples to serve in some "service" missions, but those are coordinated by local leaders and not by church headquarters. So, in the end, we decided to just go and let the local leaders know we are available. But that doesn't solve the problem of the visa for a long term stay in one location. We are hoping we can solve that problem if we find a place we would like to settle into. But for now, we will wander a bit and see what we can see.