Even with the dwindling dollar, many people who live outside the European Union want to stay in Europe for an extended period of time. The Schengen Convention of 1990, which now applies to 15 European countries, spells out exactly how long you may stay without penalty. Do you know how long it is? See: How Long Can I Stay in Europe?

Am curious and hope this gets answered, but before the EU were you able to stay in different countries in Europe even for a limited time (probably 3 months at a time) but could stay on the continent for an extended period? Was intending to travel around Europe for awhile and this is a real bummer to find this out.
Yep, it was like that a while ago, you could leave and return. Now it’s not.
james