My Type A brain usually tells me that I have to plan absolutely everything. I’m the one who books the hostel, figures out all the sights to see, and brings a notebook with a list of all the important addresses and phone numbers necessary for the trip. My friends tell me I’m crazy and that I need a little spontaneity in my life. So I decided to plan to be spontaneous.
Two Mondays ago, I turned to my friend who had just been to Brussels and said, “Did you eat waffles in Belgium?” She looked at me like I was crazy and hesitantly answered, “Yes…why?”. After listening to her rave reviews, I had booked my flight to Brussels for that weekend within the hour. (But not before finding a travel buddy and planning what to do there. Some things never change.)
The weekend we spent in Brussels ended up being one of the best adventures I have had yet, and it all started with a serendipitous meeting. On the bus from the airport into the city, we met another group of American students who were also studying in Bilbao. Much to our surprise, we found that we were all staying at the same hotel and were on the exact same bus and flight on the way home. We ended up spending our entire weekend with them and were strangely and almost freakishly compatible.
The majority of our time was spent eating. There was some sight-seeing mixed in too, of course, but eating was the activity of choice because of the cold! We could hardly stand to be outside for more than a few minutes. We had fresh, warm, Belgian waffles with Nutella, chocolate, mussels (who knew Brussels was famous for Mussels? Get it?), French fries, and exotic-flavored beers. There was a bar called Delirium that had 2,000 different kinds, which was overwhelming to say the least.
Our sight-seeing stints included walking in and out of chocolate shops for hours (free samples!) and staring quizzically at their oh-so-famous statue of a peeing boy. After spending practically an entire day looking for it (our map-reading skills could use some work) we finally stumbled upon the statue, only to learn its maybe a foot tall. Maybe.
Our weekend getaway ended with a visit to the Atomium, which is a giant atom structure built for the World’s Fair in 1958. The view from the top was beautiful and we had fun creating optical illusion pictures from the outside. This was also the day that I stopped at Starbucks and the waiter accidentally misheard my name and wrote “Rola” on the cup. I will forever be deemed “Rola” by everyone I met in Brussels.
Overall, the trip was phenomenal and the memories only make me want to return when the weather is warmer. I’m not going to book it now though. After all, I’m working on my spontaneity.
Lauren Fisher can be reached for comment at [email protected].
