The dream continues to become reality as we sit in our living room on the last piece of furniture and rest our cups on a Rubbermaid tote acting as our coffee table. Sam has done an amazing job marketing our pieces on Kijiji and arranging for their disposition to buyers.
But alas, a wrinkle: Just as we were getting our flights, shipping for Sassy and initial accommodations set, we received a message from a fellow traveller. “How are you guys handling the restrictions caused by the Schengen area requirements? Have you found a way around the 90 day restriction in every 180 day period?” Then he sent us a link to https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/schengen-area. (Thanks Peter)
The good news: As Canadians we can enter and stay in the Schengen area without any kind of Visa for 90 days.
The bad news: We had planned on being there for 12 months!
Well, when I got this information there was a sound similar to a slamming door that could be heard clearly within a few blocks radius of our place. (It wasn’t a door that slammed shut) Time to start researching again. We quickly discovered that there was not really any Visa that truly applied to our situation. So we latched on to the one year French visitor/residency visa. This would give us the ability to freely travel in the Schengen area countries for the entire year.
Sam and I feverously hunted down documents and put together a solid application for the assessors. All the requirements and processes are on the following site. Read carefully and bring everything they ask for and a few things they don’t!
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en_US/web/france-visas/tourist-or-private-visit
The next step was an impromptu trip to Vancouver for the in person interview with VSF Global representatives. We used Aeroplan and Airmiles points to book flights and a hotel which was within a few blocks of both the appointment and the Canada line train. What a convenient and economical way to get to Vancouver City Centre station. 30 mins and only a few toonies each and we were in the thick of it: bars, restaurants, the waterfront and parks abound.
We settled into our room and went for a walk to hit up the Sneeki Tiki for some refreshments and appy’s. You must try the Coconut Shrimp and Poke Crunch. They do a great job in presentation and the food is really tasty. After a delightful Main St Mango Guava Tart Ale and a Mai Tai Redus and a Pineapple express it was time for bed. After all, the purpose to this rollercoaster was the 10 am meeting at VFS.
The next day we arrived a bit early to our meeting and after showing our appointment email (printed and in duplicate) we were ushered into a room for a bag search by the security officer. Almost immediately we were taken to our interviewers. It was a bit of a strange situation as Sam and I were sat in the same room about 6 feet apart answering the same questions (to different officials) in different orders and providing the same documents. I lucked out and got the new person who required advice from a supervisor on every other document. Anyone who knows Sam and I, know that we are over preparers and as such each of us had 2” binders with all our documents organized, printed in duplicate and ready to go.
The meeting lasted all of 15 minutes when we hit a couple of road blocks. Firstly, they required documents not on the list they had provided to us by email before we left Calgary: A handwritten letter explaining the purpose of our trip to France, a police check and proof of accommodation for each of the first 90 days we were to be in France. Luckily we had the criminal record checks and we could easily articulate our need to experience French culture, food and language. However, we did not have 90 days of accommodation booked and once we were in France the OFII form and interview would be required within the first 90 days to authorize a full year residency. The inspectors in France would confirm the accommodation receipts and expect to see the rest of the year planned. The ladies in Vancouver were kind and said we could come back at 2 pm when they had another appointment opening but they would not process our Visa’s without these items addressed.
We left VFS a bit disenchanted. As we sat in Starbucks a few blocks away pondering the situation, I started to look into accommodation bookings but not whole heartedly. This Visa was starting to cramp our style. It was outside of spirit of our ‘Mid-Life Gap Year’. We had no intention of staying in France for the entire year and certainly no intention of pre-booking our lodging. We aspire to travel at the speed of our experiences. If we like where we are, we will stay a while; if not we will move on to the next adventure.
In the end we followed our hearts and decided to not complete the Visa application and instead made reservations for dinner!
That brings me to the Wildtale Coastal Grill. The staff and atmosphere were fantastic. We managed a booth which faced the kitchen, a partially private table. The place was a buzz with laughter, the soft clink of silverware and smiling faces. Our meal was comprised of a delightful crisp local PG with a dozen fresh Kusshi, Fanny Bay and Sawmill oysters and freshly grated horseradish. The main was a perfectly prepared crispy skinned Haida Gwaii Halibut with side strip prawn risotto. We savoured every bite and finished up with a local fortified wine for desert. If you get a chance to make it to this place Sam and I definitely had a great experience, check it out.
Our last day was spent walking the waterfront and Stanley park. With the sun shining, the smell of warm cedars and salt air in our lungs we happily strolled along the Malecon watching sea planes take off and docked sailboats bobbing in the harbor. We sat and enjoyed the totem poles for a time. What a great way to spend a couple of days and nights on the west coast of Canada.
Keep on travelling,
D&S
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2 Comments
Lawrence · March 8, 2019 at 7:14 pm
Hi Dan and Sam, your adventure looks amazing thus far. I just had a question about the final outcome of the visa situation and what you ended up doing instead?
safe travels and looking forward to reading about your trip in the upcoming weeks.
Dan&Sam · March 8, 2019 at 11:05 pm
Lawrence, Thank you for checking us out! The Schengen Agreement allows Canadians to be in member countries for 90 days within 180 days. So we decided to do 90 days in France, Spain and Belgium then flee to The UK which is not in the SG. After a 90 day UK reset we will head back to Spain and continue on our way for another 90 days. There is a link in the second paragraph of this post that takes you to the Canadian government site explaining the entrance and exit requirements.