My friend Sarah landed in Paris last April, breezed through passport control, and spent two weeks hopping trains to Barcelona, Rome, and Amsterdam. No visa. No questions. Just a stamp and a smile. That trip cost her about $3,200. A Schengen visa application today? Runs you €80 ($87) plus a chunk of your sanity. So when she asked me, “Do I need a visa for Europe this summer?”, I had to give her the 2026 answer — which is different from what she remembered. Wait — US Citizens Don’t Need a Schengen Visa. But There’s a Catch Let me be…