However, that is precisely what I shall do.
For a month now, my brother Johnny and I have planned on going to Brussels and Bruges, Belgium. My boyfriend, Garrett, had told us to watch In Bruges before going, and it was what convinced us to visit. Good film, by the way. I recommend. I think everyone in Europe has seen it.
Anyway. Our flight left out of Manchester at 6:30 Friday morning. So, after my Stats test on Thursday evening, I took the Megabus out to Manchester to stay the night with Johnny. I get to his flat around midnight. His girl flatmates are there, but he is not. He and his mates thought it would be jolly good to go out, and they did not come back until 2 in the morning. Neither Johnny nor I slept.
In his altered state, Johnny could not find his wallet. Time was of the essence, so to escape the possibility of missing our flight, we left it. I told him I would foot the bill for the trip, and he could pay me back later.
Here's the thing about flying with cheap airlines. The flights are cheap because if you mess up an any way, they charge you. And they love doing it. Is your bag 1kg too heavy? That'll be £50. Did you forget to check in 4 hours before your flight takes off? Oh, lovely. That'll be £70. Johnny checked in 2 hours before the flight instead of 4 hours. Oh, God FORBID. The woman who took great relish in telling us this was clad in a tacky uniform, and she had caked on the makeup. She snapped her bubble gum as she smiled maliciously and said, "You can't fly without paying the £70. Sorry."
Witch. She wasn't sorry at all.
So after painfully paying $120 for them to print off a piece of paper, we were off to Brussels. We land, and Johnny and I are so excited! Woohoo! We made it to Brussels!
Yeah...no....we didn't make it to Brussels. I don't know how RyanAir can legally advertise that they fly into Brussels, because we landed halfway across Belgium. About 2 hours south. Getting to our hostel was another adventure. I won't bore you with the details.
One thing I loved about being outside the UK is that we had no cell phone service. No data, no internet, no nothing. We were partying like it was 1995 using paper maps and a compass the entire weekend. Can I lose my Millennial status now? I don't need no iPhone.
Brussels, was fine...Johnny and I agreed that the city was a bit dirty, and there were not many sights to see. However, we were very enthralled by their parliament building. It's gorgeous at night:
So, we get to Bruges...and it is the most charming little city you could ever imagine. All the streets are cobbled, every building looks as though it were built in the 1200s, and there are canals running all the around through it. It's called "The Venice of the North." We were immediately pleased that we had decided to go.
However, our high spirits were shot down when we got to our hostel. They had not received our second email, and our reservations were cancelled. They were booked, every hostel in Bruges was booked....Every. Hostel. In Belgium. Was Booked. There was a beer festival going on in Bruges.
So Johnny and I were homeless for the evening.
We knew we were S.O.L. if we did not meet anyone. So the pressure was on to make friends and hope that we came across as trustworthy enough to let us stay with them. We were nervous because the national languages in Belgium are French and Dutch. I know quite a bit of French, but not enough to make friends. And Dutch? Forget it.
Guess who we find? Americans.
Thank. God. I've never been so happy in my life to meet some Americans. Their names were Beth, Renee, and Samantha, and they were the nicest girls. They are currently living in the Netherlands, and they were in Bruges for the beer festival. We got to know each other, and as we hopped from bar to bar, the night getting progressively more fun. We actually settled down at the bar in the hostel where Johnny and I originally had our reservations. They introduced us to some other friends they had, including an English guy named Sam. He and his mates had rented a house, and he just happened to have a couple extra beds we could sleep on.
So, we danced, we laughed, we talked...and then we went back to the house and did that some more! We drank coffee, played cards, laughed some more...until it was 5 in the morning.
It was Legen....wait for it.....dary. Legendary. I still can't believe we pulled it off.
In the morning, Johnny and I leave. We're pretty exhausted, and honestly we were both ready to get back to the UK. However, we couldn't leave before having an authentic Belgian waffle.
Belgian waffles are different from American waffles. They are much richer, and much sweeter. Delicious. The owner of the little waffle shop we went to had a dog who simply hung out and begged for waffles all day. She wouldn't make any noise, she would just get up on her hind legs and look at us with her beautiful eyes as though if to say, "Those waffles are for me...right?" Adorable!
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| Waffle Dog |
I want to take a second and say that Johnny and I miss our mom, our dad, and Dominic, our amazing little brother. I know I wish all the time they could be here with us to see this crazy thing called Europe.
All I can say is that I'm glad I have a bit of family over here. It definitely makes the journey all the better.
Cheers!
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| Exhausted and in Bruges |
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