Articles from this Category
7 July 2026
World Cup I woke up to news that Belgium had defeated (4-1) the USA in the World Cup. That wouldn’t normally mean much to anyone else but Belgium but it was significant to many people today because a few days ago, President Trump had contacted the FIFA head to have the red card given to […]
6 July 2026
I ordered an Uber for Kim to take him to Centraal station around 0745. He reported that it was chaos at immigration at Brussels airport, taking 90 mins to go through immigration. There had been only 3 officers processing a large hall of passengers. About 1000, I made my way to Centraal myself on foot, […]
5 July 2026
Dry run Today is our only whole day in Brussels. We weren’t too fussed about seeing and doing everything as we had been here 12 years ago. We started the day with a dry run (or walk) from the hotel to Centraal Station. The exercise turned out horribly for a few reasons: I wasn’t sure […]
4 July 2026
To Brussels by train (the hard way) Today we move on from Brussels to Amsterdam. The reason for our visit is so that Kim can fly back to Singapore (for New Zealand) on a confirmed reward ticket at much lower taxes compared to Amsterdam and other European cities. We basically applied the savings for the […]
3 July 2026
There wasn’t too much we wanted to do in the old city so we decided to time our visit in the late morning so we could have lunch, wander around and bring dinner back to eat at the hotel. Taking the train there around 1040, we headed to Dam Square where the Palace was. A […]
2 July 2026
Thoughts on leaving Ireland Even though we had thought of visiting Ireland for many years, we’ve only just done it. We seem to prioritise countries that are more different to where we live in New Zealand in terms of culture, landscape and weather. We enjoyed our stay, the scenery, the friendliness of people but it […]
9 July 2025
Getting to Paris Today I leave Rennes for Paris, for an overnight there in order to make a morning flight the next day. My hotel was opposite Rennes station which made the 0748 train a breeze to catch. The direct service got me to Paris Montparnasse at 0945. My intention was to explore Paris but […]
8 July 2025
There wasn’t much that was “must see” in Rennes. That was a nice feeling. I could just enjoy being there, wandering around and enjoying the beauty of some of the buildings and whatever else I could find. In my little exploration I found the Palace of St George (formerly an abbey), the City Hall, quite […]
7 July 2025
Yesterday Yesterday turned out to be a spare day, having done everything a little bit ahead of plan. Just as well, as the weather was drizzly and my short excursion to the old town was a little damp. The highlight of the day was probably my final gym workout and doing my laundry at […]
5 July 2025
Dinan The weather turned grey today but remained dry as I headed out to the nearby towns of Dinard and Dinan, which I keep getting mixed up. I bought the bus ticket to Dinan on the app, which would require me to transfer in Dinard where I could explore briefly. The bus timings were too […]