Travel report: Belgium
Date of visit: January 2017
First solo trip to Western Europe
I am a huge fan of solo traveling and I have already traveled to many countries just by myself. The freedom of doing whatever I like without making compromises is something I appreciate when I travel. That doesn’t mean that I always travel alone. I like good company too, but sometimes it’s just difficult to find someone or there are certain destinations that I prefer to travel alone. The trip to Belgium was the first solo trip to a Western European country.
I was still broke because of a very expensive trip to the United States and the Bahamas. The two weeks in Florida and the Bahamas cost almost 8’000 Dollars in the end due to some mistakes I did, but also because these destinations are quite expensive. As a consequence, I said that I would wait a few months before I would travel again in order to save a few bucks.
My travel addiction was to big, though, and I knew I couldn’t wait 2-3 months until I went abroad again. That’s why I decided to plan the least expensive weekend trip as possible. My choice eventually fell on Brussels because of the cheap flight I even considered couchsurfing (which I did later in that year).
However, I knew that I had to travel alone in order to keep it cheap. If I have a friend next to me and he wants to do fun stuff, I do not have the discipline to tell him “sorry, I have to pass… I need to save money.” That was also the reason why I chose Brussels. First, I knew that none of my travel friends were interested in Brussels and second, the flights were a bargain.
Arrival in country #46: Belgium
I arrived in Belgium’s capital on a cold Friday evening in January. Actually not the best time to do a city trip, but what can you do as a travel addict. The train took me from the airport to the city centre, and my hotel was near the Central Station.
To be honest, my first impression of Brussels was not very positive. The city looked dirty and many shady and drunk people were hanging around at the outside of the railway station. It looked a bit like when you arrive in a ghetto. Fortunately, the area gets less dodgy as soon as you leave the station towards the city centre.
So, there I was. The first time alone in a European capital. My hotel room was as small as a shoebox, even though it was a 4 star hotel if I remember correctly. I tried to book the cheapest good hotel as possible, but it wasn’t very comfortable in my room. Perhaps, booking that hotel was a mistake and I should have gone to a hostel… There wouldn’t have been a great difference.
As I said, it was a cold night in January, but I wanted to experience something. Staying in the hotel is not a option when you’re in a city you don’t know yet. I left the hotel and walked toward Grand Palace. This area is probably the nicest in the whole city. The lights on the buildings which surround the place were fantastic.
After having a portion of Fries (which were invented in Belgium and not in France by the way), I went to some bars for a few Belgium beers. The city seemed pretty dead at night and most of the bars I visited were full of teenagers. January is probably not the best month for a good night out in Brussels. However, my plan wasn’t to have wild nights there so that I returned to the hotel soon.
How to get entertained on a solo trip
Usually, I enjoy exploring a city by myself when I travel instead of taking a tour. But as I was alone I could use some company. Free walking tours are available in many European cities, so I decided to join the English speaking group the next day. The plan was to meet people while seeing the city’s highlights.
We were a group of 30-40 people and it was cold. Freezing actually! The tour started in front of the Grand Palace and we went from one sight to another in the city centre. We walked the comic strip, visited Manneken Pis and also some other buildings, but I wasn’t impressed. Most of the sights are underwhelming in Brussels, especially Manneken Pis. Our tour guide told that Manneken Pis was voted as one of the five most disappointing tourist attractions in the world (Copenhagen‘s little mermaid is also part of that group).
The city centre of Brussels wasn’t that bad actually but neither something very memorable. The main problem was that it was so cold and rainy that I was more than happy when the tour was over after two or three hours. Walking through the streets of Brussels on a cold January afternoon was not what I mean by getting entertained.
Brussels at night
Bars and nightclubs are good places to meet new people when you travel alone. The trip was quite boring so far and I had the option of either going to bed or going out. I opted for the latter. I headed to a restaurant, which was advertised as a “typical Belgian restaurant” on TripAdvisor. The waiter looked quite confused when I asked if I can get a typical Belgian dish. He recommended “steak with potatoes”.
One hour later, I was sitting in a bar sipping a Gin Tonic. The bar was half full and it didn’t look like a great place to socialise. That changed when I went out for a cigarette. Smoking may have disadvantages, but it can be quite helpful when it comes to socialising. At least, I was now talking to some people for the first time since I arrived in Belgium.
I went to a nightclub around midnight and made friends with a bunch of crazy Scots. As I was going to Edinburgh six weeks later, I could get useful tips from these lads. Nevertheless, I was pretty tired at 2 AM and went back to the hotel. It was an unspectacular night that cost me more than €150 – approximately 40% of the total cost of this trip. The only good thing was that I saved some energy for the last day.
Sightseeing in Brussels: part II
My flight back home was in the evening, but I wouldn’t have minded going back after I woke up to be honest. I still had to spend almost a full day in a city I didn’t like so far. So, I visited the Atomium, one of Brussels most famous landmarks. Did I like it? No. It didn’t make sense to enter it, as the sky was foggy and the view limited. Another disappointing sight in Brussels.
Do you remember the movie In Bruges? I asked myself what Colin Farrell’s opinion of Brussels would have been. He called Bruges a shithole. I’m quite sure that he wouldn’t have been very enthusiastic about Brussels as well.
At least, the waffles I had in the afternoon were awesome and generally, I wasn’t disappointed with the food I had in Belgium. There is one exception though: Belgians claim that their chocolate is the best in the world and I wanted to challenge that a bit, as my home country Switzerland says the same about its chocolate. Of course, I might be biased, but I have tried chocolates from three different (and expensive) stores and can say that Switzerland wins this battle big time. Compare it yourself if you don’t believe me.
Before I headed back to the airport, I finished my trip by visiting the Belgian Comic Strip Center. I rarely go to museums but as Tintin used to be my childhood hero, I couldn’t miss that one. Moreover, Belgium is the country with the second most creators of comic book (or is it correct to call them authors?) so that this visit was more or less mandatory. It was at least a conciliatory end of a quite disappointing weekend.
My travel experience in Belgium
Is Brussels worth a visit? No, in my opinion it is not. There are many better cities in Europe than the Belgian capital and I would even go so far as to say that Brussels is one of the least interesting capital cities in Europe.
However, the trip to Brussels was indeed one of the cheapest in my life. It could have been even cheaper if I had stayed in the hotel the second night, which would have been the better option anyway. My first trip to Belgium can be summarized as the most boring weekend trip ever – travelling alone in Western Europe is just not my thing.
Belgium is not only Brussels though and has more cities to offer. In June 2018, I travelled again to Belgium to the city of Antwerp. It was actually more a coincidence, as a DJ I like was playing there. Matt and I stayed two nights and one full day in Antwerp, and I liked Antwerp way more than Brussels. Belgium is still not my favourite country in Europe, but the trip to Antwerp made it a bit better at least.
Interestingly, Belgium is also a small but multilingual country like Switzerland. The three languages are French, Flemish and German. The people in Antwerp speak Flemish, whereas the citizens of Brussels speak French. From what I heard the Belgians have the same communication problems among each other as we have in Switzerland. The Flemish and the French speaking Belgians usually talk to each other in English, as neither of them want to learn the language of the other. It’s the same with the German and French speaking Swiss.
Will I travel one more time to Belgium? I wouldn’t rule that out. Now, I’ve seen Brussels and Antwerp, so a third trip to Belgium – maybe to Bruges – might be a matter of time.
Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
