Planes vs trains? We say trains win! Obviously there is a limit on your travel distance for this… but when it is a reasonable distance, oh boy, the train wins HANDS DOWN!
We found the train to be so awesome because it is so less stressful than getting a plane. There is no 2 hour minimum check in time, no baggage restrictions, (what are you carrying on, what are you checking-in, how heavy are your bags… nope they don’t care!), security is efficient but not intense (they let Austin sleep through security and passport checks in the pram, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou) and then you just walk up to the train literally 10 minutes before it departs, jump on and voila off you go.
And that’s just the beginning of the benefits… On the train seats have more room, there are only 2 seats on each side so you can freely get up and down and walk down to the food cart, and you can fit baby on your lap with the tray table down, I know whhhaaaaat! Baby can sit there and watch the world whizz by and you avoid the trauma of take-off and landing (ears popping, ears popping, EARS POPPING WAAAAHHHHH).
And then when you get to your destination (generally) you’re pretty much smack bang in the middle of the city and just have to get to your accommodation. No hour taxi rides from airports and passport lines that go forever and ever and everrrrrrrr. Nope. Just stroll on out. Excellent.
So as you can probably tell, by the time we got to Brussells we were pretty damn chuffed with ourselves. And with the addition of a purchase of mini trucks from St Pancras station before we left the train ride was as smooth as a baby’s bottom (pun intended – dad joke, I know!)
So planes and trains aside… when we were in Brussels we stayed in the old part of town, which was right near the Grand Place, perfection. Before we left if we told people we were going to Brussels they would ask ‘oh and are you going to Bruge? Bruge is so pretty!’. So we weren’t expecting well, anything much exciting in Brussels but it was soo pretty. (Who needs Bruge, right?)
Brussels seems to be a city built on their passion for food, and not just any foods, pretty much the best foods in the world. Chocolate. Fries. Waffles. Crepes. Yes, yes and yes. So we dived in to local culture ie. food, as any respectful tourist would, and had a ball of a holiday.