Lost in Translation

            There’s nothing like a brisk morning jog, and even better when it’s through airport terminals. When we booked our Amsterdam/Brussels flights, we booked the 6am flight out of Brussels to give us an extra night. We would stay close to the airport making the early flight that much easier…so we thought. Our parents seem to tell us traveling is all about the process of learning things along the way, and they’re most certainly right. Let me back track some…

            It was raining the first night we got to Amsterdam so we were able to have an excuse to stay in and enjoy a comfortable bed and watch Family Guy and South Park. The next day was beautiful, so since I had already seen most of the tourist sights before I just walked around town with Ryan, Blake, and Matt and sat in the parks. While sitting in the Leidseplein Square, I accidentally smacked a bee to my face and got stung in the eye. After a minor panic attack, I put on Becca’s bug-eye shades to hide the swelling, downed a Heineken and sucked it up so I could enjoy the sunny day in Holland.

Tom

            And then we met Tom…probably my favorite part of the trip. I learned the hard way on my last visit that the guided canal tours are boring, so while we were sitting on the edge of the canal discussing how great it would be to get a private tour of the canal, up walks Tom offering to take us out on his boat. His adorable grin and British accent immediately had me sold, but the 2½ hours for 50 euro sealed the deal for the boys. He took us to his favorite local brewery, where I walked my dumb ass American self up to the bar and asked for a Heineken. When they said they don’t have that I laughed thinking they were joking and said, “of course you do…its Holland!” He looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed to the “locally brewed” sign, then handed me something that tasted close enough to a Heineken.   

On the canal 

             After day 3 in Amsterdam we were headed to Brussels…at least that was the plan. We were told it would take about 2 ½ hours so I dozed off, and when I woke up Ryan said the woman next to us said our stop was the next one. We got off and signs all over the station said Antwerp. I guess in my mind I thought Antwerp and Brussels was more like a Dallas/Ft. Worth type thing, where you travel to one location to get to both. I figured we’d probably have to take a bus or cab into down town Brussels. We walked around the city for a good 15 minutes and saw “Antwerpen” on every building and sign, and for those 15 minutes we honestly had no idea where in Europe we were. After realizing Antwerp is a completely different city than Brussels and definitely not the right stop, I contemplated registering for another Geography class in the fall. Instead, we read the board times for the next train to Brussels and used our hour to spare to go get Belgium waffles.

Belgium Waffles

            Once we finally arrived in the real Brussels, we wandered through town some before getting a cab to the airport hotel. A good dinner, some quality time on WiFi, and a short nights sleep later, Remi’s obnoxious alarm was going off and it was time to get up to catch our flight. We pre-ordered a cab, got to the Brussels airport fairly early, and looked around for the Ryan air counter. Aer Lingus, Continental, Belgium Airways, Delta, and the list went o – but no Ryan air. Remi glanced down at her ticket and looked up “WE’RE AT THE WRONG AIRPORT!” A 200 euro cab ride later and nearly to France, we got to the Charleroi airport 5 minutes after the gate closed.

            I can think of a lot of things I’d rather spend 200 euro on than a cab ride, but I’m not sure I would trade these acts of stupidity for anything else. I can now add Antwerp to my list of European destinations, plus Remi’s face when realizing we weren’t at Charleroi, falling into the street while making a mad dash out of the cab, and cutting through the extensive security line of grumpy morning travelers, all make worthwhile memories. If traveling is all a process of learning, consider one thing learned: I’ll definitely be sure to double check airports from now on.