Ibiza to Brussels
We headed to the airport early as we had to claim back some Spanish taxes (21%), and there was also a strange set up where we had to go to the RyanAir office to have our boarding passes verified and stamped. As normal we were way too early - better than being late though, as we hate airport stress - this comes from previously living a long way from the airport and running the risk of unforeseen airport traffic jams.
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| A sneak peek at tomorrow's exciting scenery |
Once arriving in Brussels we caught the bus to the city centre where our English friends Anita and Laurence had spent a horrid day travelling to meet us. They had arrived at the ferry from England to France to find there was a strike on and the French had not only barricaded the port but had also placed debris and burning tyres in the tunnel leaving thousands of people stranded. They were very lucky as they had left incredibly early, around 5.30am, so were part of the few people that managed to catch a ferry from Dunkirk. Later we were to see on TV terrible scenes of illegal immigrants running after stranded trucks and climbing wherever they could to try and get across the border.
We went for a walk around the city, shocked at how cold it was. Apparently Belgium is known for being cold, the flight attendant even had a dig as we were landing (it's cold, but you already know that ....). Well, we didn't know that, put that down to lack of research.
We went to a restaurant recommended by the people who owned the place we were staying, which specialised in traditional Belgian food. Our table was next to an opera singer from New Zealand who was stranded because of the port closure. He was excellent company and was obviously bored on his own, just another example of how many people's plans had been thrown into disarray by the strike action.
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