Things are a lot nicer when someone else is paying, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed our flight to Brussels. And when you're as important as Hannah, they let you fly business class! I didn't even have to pay for drinks!!
Unfortunately the route was a three hour hop to Washington, DC followed by a scant seven-hour overnight flight to Belgium. I contemplated staying up, pressing the call button every ten minutes and asking for another glass of Baileys, but decided I needed to be on best form for immigration, so pulled on my complimentary United Airlines socks and slept.
My once powerful British Passport no longer lets me down the EU fast track lane but thankfully the queues were short and we were soon out and on solid European soil for the first time in...a very long time. Then it was a case of getting a Covid test; no small feat when you lack both a Belgian phone and the all-important European eID, "The Future of cross-border digital public services".
But somehow we managed it, and having been judged officially virus clean we wandered the city, which is a lot easier than Houston given they have pavements here. It's all just so European! Cars stop for you at pedestrian crossings, imposing ancient buildings line cobbled streets, and everyone smokes. In the US you get to kill yourself with a gun, whereas in Europe it's a cigarette. Hannah and I have started smoking just to fit in.
I've also been wheeling out my French, which has been going well. "At least you made the effort," the hotel receptionist told me when I requested a "chariot de baggage" for our suitcases.
This morning I put Pete on the bus to his new school (I'm not crying) and Hannah jumped on a train to find Chevron's main office in Ghent. And as soon as I finish this Gauloises bleu, I'm off to Lidl.
