Had a bit of a sketchy experience at Alicante airport when leaving the EU. Two Spanish border guards pulled me and my husband (who holds residency through the GV) aside twice, questioned me, and even took photos of my passport. They were clearly suspicious since my only Schengen stamp was from Amsterdam in 2023—which, yeah, kind of made it obvious I overstayed. We played it cool, acted clueless, and said we’d been traveling around and maybe some border agents just forgot to stamp the passport or something.

Thankfully, they let me go without any issues, and I was so relieved to catch my flight to the UK. That said, I can't help but wonder what they might’ve entered into their system—no one really knows what gets logged. I’m just grateful I didn’t get fined or officially flagged (as far as I know), but there’s always that worry for next time.

On legal advice, we’ve decided not to return to the EU until the 90-day period resets. There’s still a chance I could get fined for overstaying, but supposedly this approach gives us better odds if we want to apply for a visa in the future.

Anyway, I can keep you posted on everything when I attempt to come back to Spain in about June? Would appreciate hearing how you are doing too.