Welcome to travels with Todd

If I believed in some mystical force guiding the universe (or at least guiding my life), I’d be inclined to say that something that happened at the outset of the trip I’m about to recount and something I learned after I departed, indicated some sort of approval of what I considered my primary destination. I don’t. But the coincidences are curious. The first happened shortly after my arrival in Brussels and the other coincided with my departure date though I didn’t learn of it until more than a week after I returned to the US.

Since I’ve taken to flying Delta One on transoceanic and transcontinental flights, I’m comfortable arriving at the departing airport several hours early because these tickets provide access to the Delta Lounge. However, when I reached Dulles Airport I was once again handed this Benny Hill lesson:

when I discovered that, as of the present writing, Delta has no lounge at Dulles. So, I bought a breakfast sandwich from the nearby Ben’s Chili Bowl and surfed the internet on my phone until it was time to board the flight.

I’ve taken to flying Delta and its partners whenever I can because this is the airline on which I have the highest loyalty status. However, Delta has very few direct flights to Europe from any of the Washington area airports so I typically have to fly first to JFK in New York or Logan in Boston. This particular shuttle took me to JFK and generated a triple whammy of delays.

I’m uncertain what caused the first but I’ll be generous and say it was weather induced. This meant the plane we were to fly arrived late and, by the time it was emptied and cleaned, we approached a time marker that would cause delay number two. The baggage crew had a problem filling the hold and by the time they completed their task, we would be stuck at the gate for some additional time. Here’s why:

[Photo from Vanity Fair]

This is President Trump at the US Open men’s tennis final. The first delay spilled us into the time when the President was leaving Flushing Meadows. When Air Force 1 is in the air or about to be, air traffic control understandably shuts down all the air space in the vicinity. Although we had boarded the plane, we had to sit at the gate until the President’s plane cleared New York air space.

I had more uncertainty regarding the cause of delay number three – particularly why it went undiscovered until we had boarded but had been sitting at the gate for more than an hour. According to the captain’s announcements, it was related to someone’s medication and baggage. We sat for another half-hour until they resolved this issue to everyone’s satisfaction.

I think the total delay exceeded two and a half hours and our departure came close to 22:00 Eastern Time. I was unconcerned because I knew it was unlikely that I’d be able to check-in to my hotel before noon and, unlike H, a senior producer for Walt Disney Imagineering whom I met and connected with during the delays and flight, I had no concerns about missing a business meeting.

Once I arrived and cleared Immigration, it was relatively easy to catch a Eurocity train,

[From NS International]

connect with the number 6 Metro at the Brussels Midi Station to Louiza, and walk less than 400 meters to the hotel. And it was here that the first coincidence happened. You see, although I began the trip in Belgium and would end it in Germany, my main focus was the two weeks I’d spend exploring Albania. When I reached the hotel and began chatting with L, the receptionist, I discovered that she was not only from Albania but that she was from Fishtë – a small town toward the north of the country – and one that was on the itinerary of the group portion of my tour. She made two recommendations – Mrizi i Zanave and the birthplace museum of the poet Gjergj Fishta. During my time in Brussels she also helped me practice some of my key Albanian phrases.

(Those of you who know me know that I believe that the key phrases to learn when traveling to a place where English isn’t the native language have nothing to do with learning how to ask for the location of the toilet or anyplace else for that matter. {Being an English speaker is rather a blessing for travelers. In most large cities and places frequented by tourists it’s generally easy to find people who speak some English. Signs are often in the native language and English. On international flights, announcements are usually made in a native language and English – and so on.}

No, the key phrases to learn are greetings – {good morning, good afternoon, etc.}, courtesies  – {please, thank you, excuse me}, and how to propose a toast. And, if you want to show true respect learn how to ask, ‘Do you speak English’ in the country’s native tongue. {Of course, if someone speaks English you can ask them in English and they’ll understand but they’re likely to be appreciative and more willing to help you when you show them this additional measure of respect.} The philosophy behind those first few phrases is that if you can greet someone, have a polite interaction, and share a drink, you’ll have a friend. And a friend can be useful in a strange land.)

I chose to stay at the Vintage Hotel because it seemed to be locally owned and because I was intrigued by the possibility of staying in the Airstream. Yes, I said the Airstream.

I’ll be frank and admit that this proved to be a bit more of an adventure than I anticipated. It’s a unique choice but, ideally, I would have stayed in the Airstream for one of my three nights in Brussels and moved to the main hotel for the other two. The Airstream is small. It has a bed,

a small sitting area

and a very small commode and shower.

Among the amenities it lacked were a coffee service – or, in my preference, a kettle to make tea – and a closet or armoire. (I have to acknowledge the staff for letting me access the breakfast bar each night to brew a cup of tea to take back to the room.) Still, in the end, I think one night in the Airstream would probably have been enough.

I was able to check-in early and set off on a walk about the city and you can discover what sprouted up in the next post. (And I’ll try to leave this as my lone Brussels sprout pun.)

(Although initially cultivated in the Mediterranean, the Brussels sprout belongs to the Gemmifera cultivated group of cabbages and the plant first appeared in northern Europe sometime in the fifth century. According to Wikipedia, the first written reference dates to 1587 but there is evidence that the plant was cultivated in the 13th century in and around the Belgian capital and it does, indeed, draw its name from the city of Brussels.)

As is customary, I’ll be making musical references throughout. There’s no challenge forthcoming but you’re free to play along. I hope they won’t require a zetetic approach to ferret out. However, to keep things interesting, the posts about this trip will expand your useless but (I hope fun) vocabulary and that you’ll be challenged by at least one word in every post. Read or listen closely for words you’ve never heard (and I suspect you’ve recently encountered one) and keep a dictionary handy or a browser tab open for the necessary searches that will ensue. Many of these terms will be archaic but appropriate and I hope my gadzookery will provide some additional amusement.