Belgium

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Trip start
June 8, 2024
Belgium Traveler
Day 150/151: Ghent Hangs with Lucas
June 9, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F
Bad news: Mary’s passport failed to mail on time so now she’s on a 10 hour train ride back to Warsaw. However, we already booked accommodations in Ghent and planned to meet up with Lucas so Kieran continued on to the city. We said goodbye in Brussels 🥲

Ghent, originally a port city, is famous for its medieval architecture and market squares. Several buildings are under UNESCO protection. Lucas invited Kieran to a very Belgian experience which involved all his friends meeting in a park to celebrate a birthday, drink beer, eat food, and listen to live music. His friends brought a real track mixer and were playing live house music while everyone sat around chatting. Lucas also kept buying Belgian beer for Kieran to try.

Later in the evening, everyone started dancing and Lucas’s roommates invited Kieran to a pub. Kieran and the roommates walked 30 minutes around the city in the evening light and it was breathtaking. Lucas eventually rejoins and continues to buy delicious Belgian beer for everyone.

The next day, Kieran was feeling under the weather from the night before. Drinking nothing but 8% Belgium Strong Ales takes it out of a person. He spent the day relaxing in bed with hangover essentials like chicken wings and ramen.

He met up with Lucas and his friends later that night at an Irish Pub. Today was Belgiums Election Day for their EU representatives so we had some interesting conversation about their parliament structure and various parties.

We thank Lucas so much for how friendly and kind he has been to us! We hope to see him again (perhaps an EDM music festival in the future or perhaps host him in the states).

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Belgium Traveler
Day 152: Brussels
June 10, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F
Kieran packed up his stuff and made his way to Brussels. It was a rainy Monday so the morning and early afternoon was spent with coffee at the hostel. The weather cleared up around 3pm and he headed out to see the city.

Many of the major sights are all within walking distance in the downtown area. The Belgium people have a fixation with peeing statues and there were 2-3 sculptures on every street. The main square is home cathedrals and palaces and he loved the way that the sunlight reflected off the gold trim on the buildings.

Kieran later found the Delirium Village, a themed street built by the famous Delirium brewery. The Delirium Pub had 100-150 different beer options where he was able to find one of Lucas’ beer recommendations, the Gulden Draak. He then found a noodle bar and had some amazing red curry noodles before heading back to the hostel to prepare for a long day of travel.

Mary finally got DHL to call the store and teach them how to cancel the package and give her passport back. Too stressed from the experience, she left Warsaw and found accommodation in Poznan. The town had a mall built into a huge old brewery so she replaced some socks, watched Furiosa Mad Max movie, and attended her grandmothers funeral virtually.

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Belgium Traveler
Day 153-159: US Pit Stop
June 17, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
When your childhood best friend is getting married in South Carolina and your orthodontist in Baltimore needs to check on your smile, it’s time for a US PIT STOP!

Mary with her passport in hand trained to Berlin to meet with Kieran who trained from Brussels. The cheapest flight to North Carolina was Berlin so we booked American Airlines and British Airline flights home. Of course, President Zelenskyy from Ukraine was visiting Berlin at the same time so all trains were cancelled for security reasons. We met a young woman from Bulgaria who needed to make a wedding as well so we hopped into an Uber together and hit the airport.

It was a long flight to Heathrow London and then to North Carolina. Mary had one more flight to Baltimore. She got in at 11:30pm and snuck into the house of good friends Tom, Emily, and Stella for a snooze. It was awesome to catch up in the morning before heading to the orthodontist and flying to Charleston. She also got to see the beginning of Fleet Week in Baltimore and grab some Towson Hot Bagels (THB). Meanwhile, Kieran’s parents picked him up from the airport and drove home to Granite Falls for the evening.

Next day we converged at the Charleston airport and attended an awesome pre-wedding dinner with the Shirleman Family and many others. Fiancés Alex and Caroline were so gracious with their time by sitting with us and catching up with Kieran. We also got great one on one time with their siblings.

Wedding day we walked around Charleston downtown, got some lunch, and cleaned ourselves up for the wedding. During the wedding we hung out with Alex’s uncle and talked shop regarding the NRO and other fun Navy things. Kieran was lucky because he was placed at the same table as the bride and groom and got to sit next to Alex during the dinner. Wedding was awesome, drinks were strong, and Mary called it quits at 10:30pm from all the jet leg. Kieran and his parents somehow made it to the dualing piano bar until 12:30am.

Next day we ventured to Folly beach with Alex’s sibling Davis, girlfriend Iris, and roommate Flynn. We soaked up the sun and warm water all day while playing jackpot with friends and the bride/groom.

Our final day in America was Father’s Day so we went to IHOP and a delicious Chinese restaurant with Bert and Susan: we got Bert some beer from Bavaria Germany for Father’s Day. After dinner, drove to the airport for a red eye to Heathrow London and took advantage of a credit card perk for free lounge access during our 7 hour layover. We got into Berlin around 8:30pm.

The biggest culture shocks being back in America was hearing English all the time, going into Walmart with guns, and seeing the prices in Charleston ☠️ America is not cheap and Austria is looking pretty affordable right now…Read more
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Trip end
June 12, 2024

Day 150/151: Ghent Hangs with Lucas

Day 152: Brussels

Day 153-159: US Pit Stop