Getting back from beautiful Belgium

OK, so the little matter of a gigantic cloud of volcanic ash meant that the Brussels Airlines flight that was meant to be taking us home after a fantastic three-day FAM trip to Belgium wasn’t going to happen.

What to do? Well, the first thing we did was to arrange somewhere to stay. Rooms at the very nice Dolce La Hulpe Hotel were duly arranged by our excellent host, Philippe Maree. So far, so easy.

However, reality kicked in a little harder the next morning. Having been informed by the Eurostar website that there were places available on trains from Brussels, we headed into the city bright and early to grab a journey home.

The response from the Eurostar staff on our arrival: no seats to London until Wednesday. It was Sunday. Ah. A plan B had to be hastily conjured up. Calais or Ostend was the debate. Ostend won, being closer and, hopefully, less busy.

An hour-long train journey later and we found out we were right about the less busy, but what we hadn’t planned on was the “no foot passengers” sign. Double ah. We spent the next couple of hours working out how to get aboard a car-only ferry:  the result was a cab driver willing to take us and then get the return boat home for a rather large amount of money.

Sorted? Well, no. By the time we’d come up with this plan, the two remaining ferries of the day had sold out. Triple ah. Deflated and increasingly desperate, we decided to head down to the ferry terminal and, if necessary, beg to get on.

Did that work? Nearly not. The first official we encountered would hear nothing of our plan, but fortunately we got past him. Finally arriving at the terminal, we were met by understanding and friendly staff who could help. We couldn’t walk on but, if we waited, they would find us spare places in vehicles that arrived.

Hallelujah! Johnny and I got a lift with a great couple on the way back from a festival at Tilburg. Not only were they more than happy to help us get on the ferry, but they also lived near Heathrow, where our car was parked, and gave us a lift to the car park. Relieved and grateful doesn’t quite cover it.

So thank you to the determination of Philippe Maree, the patience of the Transeuropa ferry terminal staff and the goodwill of the Ka-driving couple. One of this fabulous duo was comedian Rob Hoey. He’s a very funny man – check him out here: www.thejellymoustache.com

Posted in Site visits & Fam Trips

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