Help - EU travel requirements (TW --> BE & NL)

Hi everyone,

I plan on going abroad in less than two months. I'm not very experienced and am going alone, so I've been nervous about the preparations and being able to get through the airports and borders smoothly. Any advice and information would be appreciated.

I will be starting an exchange program in Belgium (Ghent, specifically) on September. I wanted to arrive early (I'll explain why soon), so after I communicated with the school, they changed the start date on my Proof of Acceptance to July 1st. When I apply for my student Visa, that would probably be useful.

I plan to use the time between July and September to see a friend in the Netherlands. I've wanted to visit him for a long time, but COVID travel restrictions have prevented me from doing that. My plan is to fly to Belgium, finish my quarantine, take a train to the Netherlands, finish quarantine there again, and then go see my friend. If everything goes according to plan, I'll stay there throughout the rest of July and August, then return to Belgium in time for school.

To my knowledge, I won't need a Visa to be in the Netherlands for less than 90 days. From what I've read on the government website, I wouldn't be banned from traveling to the Netherlands from Belgium. I'll just need to get tested and quarantine. Due to the vaccine shortage, I don't think I will be able to get vaccinated before my trip.

I haven't applied for my student Visa, bought the airplane tickets, or reserved quarantine hotels. That is mostly due to uncertainty over travel schedules and travel requirements. So right now I'm pretty ill-prepared and a bit desperate. I'd really appreciate anyone who can advise me or point out any oversights in my travel plans.