Brussels: Day 1

By the time I go to bed tonight I will have been up for 24 hours, with over half that time spent at the airport or on an airplane. Needless to say I am exhausted.

The flight over the Atlantic was cramped. The flight was overbooked so I was unable to get an emergency aisle seat like I normally do. Ten hours in a cramped economy seat is not my idea of spacious.

And it doesn't help when the guy sitting next to you decides he wants to make comments to you when you are obviously trying to sleep. Nor does it help the space issue when he constantly puts his elbow over the dividing armrest.

At least the flight was not bumpy.

Once I got to Heathrow I had a three hour wait until my final leg to Brussels. That airport is massive! And they really need to have more flight info displays when you are trying to make a connection. I luckily knew who the carrier was and what terminal I would be leaving from, but had I been wrong it would have been quite the pain to get to another terminal.

An odd thing about Heathrow is that they do not announce the gate until 30-40 minutes before the flight leaves. So everyone loiters in the shopping area, waiting for their departure gate to be announced. Kind of frustrating for someone like me who prefers to be at the gate so they don't miss the flight by falling asleep, etc.

Another odd thing (that is also true at the Brussels airport) is that there are ads on the outside of the gates on the skywalks. It was odd to see ads for HSBC and ExxonMobil while the plane was taxiing to the gate.

The flight into Brussels was really bumpy. Apparently some front was crossing the Channel and we flew right over it. We landed into Brussels with rain and slight gusts of wind.

Once at Brussels I took the train in to my hotel. The street signs are not the best in the world, so it took a little while to get my bearings. Luckily my hotel is really close to the train station and thus was quick to find once I figured out the right street to walk down.

When I checked in I found out what they considered a double to be; a double bed. But I had them move me to a larger room that has a sofa large enough for someone to sleep on (they had no more rooms with two beds).

I found out that Internet is charged by the hour here. I will probably spring for it come tomorrow when I am more conscious and thus more able to actually take full advantage of my time online.