MikeSandy.net

I took basically the same flights to Belgium that I took for my October 2008 trip. The only downside of those flights is the long layover in Chicago going there and coming back. All told, I spent about 12 hours milling around O'Hare International Airport for this trip.

The flight to Belgium wasn't too bad. It was very crowded, but I had an aisle seat, so I could get up and walk around easily. I sat next a man from near Antwerp, Belgium. We talked quite a bit. He was a really good guy.

I didn't sleep very much during the flight, unfortunately, which made my Friday in Belgium a bit of a struggle.

I arrived in Belgium in the early morning and met up with Mindy at the airport. It was so nice to see her!

We rode the bus and a tram back to her apartment in Etterbeek, I took a short nap, and then we walked to her school so she could hand in an assignment that was due that day.

Mindy had booked a night at the Marriott in downtown Brussels so I could get a great night's sleep, so we headed downtown soon after she handed in her assignment. But first we stopped at Parc du Cinquantenaire to see its arch (and to buy a Belgian waffle).

Soon after riding the metro downtown, we checked into the Marriott for the night, ordered room service, relaxed in the sauna, and got some awesome sleep in the king-sized bed.

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The flight back to the United States was easy enough. The flight was fairly empty so, at check-in, they offered to move me to a seat with no one sitting next to me. On the Boeing 767s the seat groupings go 2-3-2, with aisles in between. I got the middle 3 seats of my row, which gave me enough room to lay down and sleep a bit.

The only bad parts of the flight were Kung Fu Panda, the movie, some really nasty mid-flight turbulence that made me quesy, and a choppy approach into O'Hare due to strong winds. (After all, it is the Windy City.)

The layover in Chicago killed me again though. If I didn't have to sit in Chicago for six hours on my way back to Salt Lake City from Brussels then I would be fine. Instead, by the time I boarded my flight for Salt Lake City in the evening, I'm a zombie.

After the flight from Brussels, the flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City (about 3 hours), feels rather short.

Nonetheless, by the time I got back to my apartment, I had had enough. I went to sleep almost immediately to cap off another awesome trip to Europe to visit Mindy.