Spending Christmas away from home can be a real bummer, which is why I ended up drinking shots of absinthe with a bunch of guys from my hostel in Brussels one year. I’d tasted the green fairy a few times before, however the experience is a lot cooler when you get the full preparation from [...]
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Belgium
My return to Europe 10 years after my first backpacking trip there was a blast. No Visas, no currency exchanges, no need to show evidence of onward travel. The hospitality of my friends and couchsurfing hosts was amazing. I have definitely learned how to treat my future guests in the right way. Cathedrals, royal palaces, [...]
The prior morning, Steve had been ejected from his bed and room at 10am, for housecleaning, so I got myself into gear thinking the same policy would be in place on Christmas. I later found out it wasn’t, and while Steve lay nestled in bed until 2pm as I would normally do, I washed up [...]
The Van Gogh hostel is about 15-20 minutes from the city center, but I took my time walking there. Lots of people were out and about, shopping for last minute gifts as they do in the United States. I ducked into a glitzy mall for warmth and exploration. Of course everything seemed too expensive, with [...]
At the Cairo airport, I learned Jetairways was a Belgian discount airline. The 737 was fully booked with Europeans returning home for the holidays. I was completely surrounded by children who screamed incessantly for takeoff and landing, and most of the time in between, except when they were running up and down the aisle and [...]