Overcoming Visa Challenges & Learning to Packing Light

When visiting 52 countries, one challenge you run into is all the Visa requirements for each country. We thought we had that part handled UNTIL we realized we needed a “full blank page” for many of the countries. As our current US passports only have 25 pages, that wasn’t going to work. Oh yeah, and when you apply for extra pages, your passport number changes!?! So we had to roll with this and start a little later than we were planning.

The other issue I’ve run into is the new law about visiting the EU and the number of days you are legally allowed to stay. Turns out you can only spend 90 days over a 180 day period and Violet and I are “dangerously close” to hitting that limit. We currently are at 87 days and possibly 89 depending on how you count it up and what constitutes the time “out of the EU” — especially as it pertains to being on a cruise ship.

And, I’m planning on visiting Norway on a totally separate cruise with my wife Elena and son Will the first two weeks of June, so that would most CERTAINLY put me over the 90 day period.

I believe we found a workaround by using my Canadian passport for the first cruise and my US passport for the full time I’m in the EU with Violet. We’ll see. All of this is relatively new (launched in 2025) and it’s unclear how to clean up the issues if we need more than the 90 days, let alone what the fines and penalties are one or both of us go over the allotted time.

52 page passport vs. 25 page “standard issue”

My travel agent, Kerrie, also introduced me to an outfit in Utah that helps prepare Mormon missionaries to travel the world for upto 2 years. Specifically, what to bring so that you can travel light (including a single carry on bag).

I’m going to watch his videos and possibly do a seperate interview with him to pass on his wisdom and ensure Violet and I are only taking the bare necessities as we travel the world for a year.