The Trip that EDP Built
We have a long-standing tradition in this house of me planning, scheduling, and pre-booking every minute of every trip and EDP wanting to murder me. He is also responsible for choosing restaurants while we’re away and anything to do with a rental car. In my defence, I’ve really mellowed out in the last few years. Case in point - when we did the Amalfi Coast in June, I not only shifted which day we headed to Capri at the last minute but I also said “sounds good, let’s do it” when EDP cautiously showed me a pamphlet for a private ferry trip to the island that he got from our hotel front desk. I think we were both confused when I agreed it was a better idea than trying to get on the regular ferry.
Anyway. That’s not the point. The point is, I do our trip planning and given the seriousness with which I undertake it, you’d think the future of humanity depended on it. But this fall, we’re going to Belgium and Luxembourg. And EDP did all the work. Okay, well, I still colour-coded the itinerary and made not-so-subtle comments about promotional offers to pre-book parking at Pearson but he did like… 98% of it.
We’re headed to Belgium & Luxembourg in a couple of weeks. My mom was born in Belgium, coming to Canada when she was pretty young so still has a lot of extended family over there. She and my dad made it back a few years ago to visit some of that family and now, there’s some kind of party or something that they are headed back for next month and asked my sister & I if we wanted to go, too. I can’t speak to my sister’s motivations, but the chocolate and the waffles were enough to get me signed up. And somehow, I managed to convince EDP that since it was my family trip, he had to plan it.
What ended up on the itinerary?
A couple of days in Brussels to take in the town hall, the Grand Place, a few museums and a chocolate tour
A packed day in Antwerp to see Rubenhuis, another museum, a few churches and the underground city
A day in Lier & Turnhout to see the beginhofs and a very fancy clock
A day in Bruges for a canal tour, another beginhof, another church, another museum, and another chocolate tour
A day in Ghent for a bridge, a belfry, a very large church, a castle and a market
A couple of family days
A couple of days in Luxembourg for more castles
A day in the grottos with a castle tacked on, for good measure
It feels weird to have had relatively little to do to prep for the trip so I haven’t even started packing yet. Maybe I’ll do that tonight.
