Preparing to Travel Full-Time, Part 3: Create Your Itinerary

After minimalizing and mobilizing your lifestyle, it’s time to create your itinerary for traveling full-time. This part of the process is fun and exciting! You get to start dreaming about all the places you’ll visit.

Depending on how much planning is required to ease your anxiety, you may want to start planning your travel destinations sooner rather than later. Whether you do it while minimizing or after completing that task, it should be a welcomed change from that emotionally and physically draining process.

Your itinerary will depend on whether you get a long-term visa or travel visa-free. Specifically, long-stay visa travelers must choose many destinations in a single country. In contrast, visa-free travelers must choose a few destinations in multiple countries. For more information about visa considerations, read our article “Do Full-Time Travelers Need A Visa.”

If you are going to get a long-stay visa, your travel planning will be relatively straightforward. Just pick your favorite destinations in the country of your choice.

On the other hand, your visa application process may be complicated. We have not applied for a long-stay visa in any country we’ve visited thus far, so we’re not in the best position to comment. But you should do your research and start the process early.

US citizens (and others) can travel visa-free to many countries or, in some cases, regions worldwide. Significantly, Europe’s Schengen Area is treated as one region for visa purposes. Typically, you can spend 90 days out of any 180-day period in the country or region without a visa. To oversimplify it slightly (see “Third Country Requirement“), you can stay for up to 90 days before you have to leave for 90 days. After that, you can return and stay another 90 days before you have to leave again. This process can be repeated over and over again.

Some countries allow longer stays (some as long as a year), and others limit stays to shorter periods (some as short as 30 days). You should research each country’s visa requirements to see how long you can visit.

If you are going to travel visa-free, you will need to move around every few months. Significantly, you will need a well-planned itinerary that complies with all visa requirements. Just because you are traveling visa-free does not mean you don’t have to comply with specific requirements. It just means you don’t have to apply for a long-stay visa before arriving in the country.

Once you’ve decided whether or not you’re going to get a visa, you need to determine where you’re going. If you’re getting a long-stay visa, you only need to pick one country. If you’re traveling visa-free, you can focus on a few countries in one region or travel around the world visiting many different countries.

If you are going to get a long-stay visa, the country you decide to visit will likely depend on the visa programs available. For example, Portugal has a very appealing visa program for U.S. citizens interested in staying for an extended period. Also, many countries have recently started offering Digital Nomad Visas. These may be appealing to those who are working remotely while traveling full-time.

There are several good reasons to focus your travels on a few countries in one geographic region. First, it makes learning some basic travel information easier. While you don’t need to learn a foreign language to travel full-time, it certainly helps to learn some basic phrases. A few essential words will endear you to the locals and increase your enjoyment. Likewise, it is helpful to understand the currency conversions – especially if you’re trying to stay within a budget. Finally, it helps to know some general history about the area. This will increase your appreciation of the architecture and culture, improving your overall experience.

Our full-time travel plan revolves around visiting a primary Schengen country when the weather is best suited for exploring and visiting one or more nearby non-Schengen countries during the Winter and Summer months when we will spend more time inside.

Specifically, we are starting our travels in Italy and the nearby non-Schengen countries that can be reached easily, including Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania. We plan to spend the Spring and Fall months in Italy and the Winter and Summer months in non-Schengen countries. We are also planning to spend some time in Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic while we are in the area. These countries are easily accessible from the non-Schengen countries on our current list.

Once we have visited all the places in Italy we want to see, we plan to visit Spain and Morocco and then England and France (perhaps with some time in Asia mixed in somewhere).

If you want to travel to as many countries as possible, you could visit the main tourist destinations and then move on to another country when the time you’re permitted in the country has expired. Unfortunately, this plan will not work well in Europe because every EU country except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, and Ireland are part of the Schengen Agreement which limits your time in the area to 90 days. However, this could work in many other regions.

Once you’ve decided on the countries, you need to determine what cities you will visit. In addition to choosing places you find interesting, several other factors should be considered when deciding what destinations to visit.

The weather has a significant impact on your ability to enjoy any destination. Some activities are not available during certain months of the year. For example, the ski slopes will not be open in the summer, and the beaches will not be open in the winter. Even if an activity is available, some things will not be much fun when the weather is less than ideal.

Some people like hot weather activities, and others like cold weather. These are personal preferences. You need to factor your preferred weather conditions into your selection of locations. Even the most beautiful destination is not very enjoyable if you don’t want to leave your apartment.

Because we are not prolific beach-goers, we go to cool locations in the summer. On the other hand, because we like to spend time outside exploring, we go to warmer places in the winter.

You should avoid tourist destinations during the high season due to crowds and costs. Crowds can be very annoying when it is hot out. Dealing with crowds or heat is generally bearable, but put the two together, and you might choose to stay inside. Also, the cost of everything increases significantly during the busy season. Accommodation costs in popular tourist destinations can easily be double or more during the summer months.

This does not mean we skip tourist destinations. We just go to them during the off-season. Significantly, many beach destinations have mild weather during the winter. Although you won’t be swimming, you can enjoy walking along the promenade or around town. Some of our favorite experiences have been in typically crowded destinations while the tourists are gone.

Another important consideration is the transfer time to and from every destination. When possible, you should avoid long transfers between destinations. Long transfers can be expensive and tiring – the two primary nemesis of full-time travelers. We try to get from one destination to another in one day – ideally, between the time we have to check out of one apartment and the time we can check into the next.

We suggest you determine the transfer method and confirm availability before making a final decision. We have found that many ferry lines only run during the high season. Even if the ferry is running, it may not run every day of the week. Likewise, trains in some countries only run on certain days of the week or only run once per day.

Finally, if you’re planning to rent a car to get from one destination to another, you need to make sure you can pick it up at your departure location and drop it off at your arrival destination. Some rental car companies do not allow drop-offs in certain countries. Even those that do can charge very high fees. Also, many car rental companies are not open on Sunday. During the off-season, you might be the only drop-off or pick-up all day, and the employee may only be there for your scheduled time. So, it is important to select accurate pick-up and drop-off times.

For more information, see our article titled “How Do Full-Time Travelers Get From One Destination to Another?”

Everyone will have different preferences when it comes to booking apartments. Some people prefer to plan far in advance, and others prefer to make plans at the last minute. We’re planners. We’ll describe how we plan our destinations in hopes it will help someone develop their process.

To satisfy all the factors discussed above, we spend significant time researching locations and planning a block of travel destinations before we book any apartments. Specifically, we typically plan a six-month block of destinations at a time. This includes three months in the Schengen area and three months outside the Schengen area.

Our three-month period in the Schengen area typically includes two to four destinations. Although we usually stay one month in each place, If there is a large city (like Florence or Rome), we may stay for two months. If there is a smaller destination that we want to see (like Cinque Terre), we may only stay for two weeks. Although we have done this in the past, we found two weeks to be too short and the extra transfer too expensive and exhausting to justify doing this regularly.

Our three-month period outside the Schengen is actually three months plus one week. As discussed in the article “Do You Need a Visa for Long-Term Travel,” you must spend more than 90 days outside the Schengen area to avoid visa issues. Because most countries only allow visitors to stay 90 days without a visa, our time outside the Schengen area typically includes three destinations in two countries.

Once you decide on your destinations, it’s time for the fun part! You need to research the neighborhoods in each destination and determine where you want to stay. You might want to choose two or three neighborhoods to find an apartment within your budget or find an apartment that is a good value. For example, an apartment in your second favorite neighborhood that costs half as much as any apartment in your favorite area might be a good choice.

Choosing an airline, selecting your seats, and purchasing tickets should be pretty straightforward if you’re only booking for human passengers. However, this part can be complicated if you’re traveling with a dog or pet. If that’s you, check out “Our Experience Flying International with a French Bulldog.”

Once you’ve bought your airline ticket, you’re ready to plan for departure!