One thing I had never done, is drive between countries, at least not by bus anyway. It was definitely an experience (even though I slept for so much of the outbound journey). There's so much I love seeing wen on the road, watching the world pass by, but truth be told, I missed a lot whilst sleeping (ultimate travel fail on my behalf). The sleep did make it feel like a relatively short journey, but in that I lost 2 1/2 days, so whilst coach travel is cost effective, especially in summer, it's probably better suited to longer trips. So aside from the transit here's 48 hours in Brussels... I arrived at the Train Hostel, which runs alongside Brussels famous Train Museum, and for one of the cheaper hostels to book in Brussels, was great. When I entered my room I met two guys that I later spent the next 24 hours with. Kristian who is British, and Derek, Idaho USA. Shoutout to you two!! @Kristian.h.richards & @soy_boi go follow them on Instagram! I decided to make the most of every minute I spent in Belgium, and when Derek invited me to join him at the Couluer café festival at the Atomium, how could I say no? This was before they had sold out of day tickets and only had weekend tickets left at 55Euro, and failing to get a Press pass due to needing authorisation, we spent the best part of the next two hours trying to sneak in. After that didn't go to plan, Derek stayed as he'd bought a weekend ticket in advance and I went back to the hostel, absolutely shattered, but met up with Derek later that evening to lay an absolutely awful game of foosball on my end. Day 2 of my quick visit to Belgium, I decided to get up early to make the most of the day, and Derek, Kristian and I, decided to go and explore the city together, first, with breakfast at Peck 20. I enjoyed a granola breakfast smoothie whilst Derek and Kristian both had savoury Belgian waffles. I was saving myself for a sweeter one later on. After we'd finished breakfast, we wandered the streets to find our own adventures for the day in Brussels, rather than the average tourist attractions. We ventured through some beautiful parks... and then some more parks for a while, including Leopold park, next to the Parliamentarian and European Union HQ (or something), which was gorgeous and had two sections of the Berlin Wall standing in memoriam. After wandering around for a while as it started to get warmer and stickier we decided to find a waffle house for sweet waffles this time instead, and we Uber-ed to the main center of Brussels which we'd unintentionally avoided for the earlier part of the day. The center was bustling with people and the architecture was incredibly beautiful. But what was the undeniably most beautiful was the stacked waffle I savoured when we eventually found our destination. A sweet warm waffle, with strawberries, bananas, cream, melted white chocolate, and homemade vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Needless to say, I ate way too much but it was delicious, and it's not a trip to Belgium without a Belgian waffle. After stuffing our faces, and then heading to yet another park to relax and try and find a patch of shade to hide under, the peak of the day began, and with the heat and the food baby combined we all agreed that we'd head back to the hostel for some well needed rest. For the remaining duration of the evening, Kristian and I ventured out in the evening after we'd both rested and got our dinner from a local deli, which, I can't speak for Kristian, but I thoroughly enjoyed. Returning to the hostel, we relaxed more as the heat completely tuckered me out especially after the non-stop travelling and exploring and continued to relax and met new people in the outside area for the remainder of the evening. Even for me, it was a very fleeting trip, and I feel like there was so much of the city left to explore, but I explored in my own way with 2 new friends. Albeit a very short blogpost - to reflect the very short trip, here's to a summer of more trips, more travels, and more adventures!
Thank you guys for reading, xo NikKirby! For more pictures and content check out my Instagram @nik2655 (plugplug) - exciting new things to come!
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AuthorNik, the small town Brit. Traveller, adventure enthusiast, writer, has 2 goldfish. The norm. Archives
August 2018
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