It took us 17 hours to from Istanbul back to Brussels. As a point of reference, a direct flight between the two cities is three and a half hours. It takes me around 15-17 hours to go from Brussels to my parents' house in Nashville, Tennessee (normally). When we came back from Bangkok, it only took us around 13. I was travelling sick (for the record, I didn't want to. I think it's irresponsible and I volunteered to take a cheap hotel in Istanbul until I was feeling better then bounce my way back to Belgium via bus/boat/cheap flight. Nathalie, however, vetoed it. It was probably for the better). Not so easy this time, right?
As you would guess it's taxing and after pushing and pushing, our bodies forced us to stop. Luckily, we had some time to recuperate and recover as we were back in Belgium. This, though, wouldn't seem to be the case, as in keeping with the theme of our time in Asia; planning proved to be futile. Here's how it shook down.
As mentioned before the break, I came back from Turkey exhausted and sick. Nathalie did a great job drugging me up and making me feel comfortable enough to not only travel but also do so without much complaint. You should probably congratulate her on that feat the next time you see her (I tend to slide into a rant when I'm running low on energy and have been on the move). Initially when we planned our trip back in December/January, we had anticipated having our apartment available as from the 1st of August. We had sublet our place temporarily as a means to keep our address and our place without having to break our contract (and be penalized for doing so). As it would turn out, our tenants wanted to extend for another six months which was beneficial to us and before coming back, we had setup the paperwork to agree to do so.
Since we didn't have our usual place in Brussels, we instead based ourselves out of Nathalie's hometown of Namur, Belgium, 60 Km/40 mi south of the capital. Staying in the house she grew up in, we wasted no time catching up on sleep, family and food. While it wasn't our own home, it was still the closest we had been in over half a year to being at ours.
In the months building up to our early return to Belgium, Nathalie and I meticulously plotted how we would spend the two and a half weeks back in Europe before heading off to the United States. We planned on splitting our time between family and friends, visiting the newly pedestrianized downtown Brussels and other favorite places in the country and finally resting up a bit from our trek in Southeast Asia. So much for that.
I needed at least two days to start feeling well enough to even walk down to the street. By the time my recovery seemed to be escalating upwards, Nathalie began to show the symptoms of my newly-defeating aliment and just like in my case, she quickly fell ill. The result? Our three-day recovery period stretched out to a week. This, in turn, meant that the two weeks we had to visit all of the people and places mentioned above would be cut in half.
By the time both of us had recovered, we were approaching the weekend. While the previous week wasn't an entire bust (I had taken the opportunity to go out and photograph Namur with the GoPro one sunny afternoon. The pictures in this post are from that session), it certainly made us re-adjust our schedule to see everyone we needed to. Having barely recovered from our illness and still feeling the burn from our trip, we began contacting friends and family to arrange our next week.
Starting with a BBQ on Saturday, we began a marathon week of eating, drinking, and recounting the same stories from the previous six months. Our agenda was packed and even our mornings were busy as we were watching our little niece during the day while my sister-in-law was at work. Not that I'm complaining; it was great to see people and spending precious time with family is priceless. It's just that it all began to add up.
By the time our final weekend rolled around, we were not only running low on energy again, but also had tons of more people to see as well as had to get ready to travel once anon. Regardless, we kept pushing through. Within 72 hours, we managed to see over 30 friends and family. This left us with exactly one day to get our bags packed before our 4 a.m. Wednesday departure. Other than some minor hiccups, the exercise went smoothly.
Almost as quickly as we arrived, it was time to leave again. What was a month-long stay, minus a week in Turkey, flew by faster than we could've imagined. And just like when we arrived, we left tired and exhausted. By the time we made it to my parents' place, 27 long hours later (pro-tip: stay away from La Guardia), we were drained, but for all the right reasons. Being back in my adopted home for a month made for a smooth transition into part two of our career break. Seeing friends and family recharged the soul even if it emptied us physically. The nice weather also helped.
As you would guess it's taxing and after pushing and pushing, our bodies forced us to stop. Luckily, we had some time to recuperate and recover as we were back in Belgium. This, though, wouldn't seem to be the case, as in keeping with the theme of our time in Asia; planning proved to be futile. Here's how it shook down.
 |
| Overlooking the Sambre River running next to downtown Namur, Belgium |
As mentioned before the break, I came back from Turkey exhausted and sick. Nathalie did a great job drugging me up and making me feel comfortable enough to not only travel but also do so without much complaint. You should probably congratulate her on that feat the next time you see her (I tend to slide into a rant when I'm running low on energy and have been on the move). Initially when we planned our trip back in December/January, we had anticipated having our apartment available as from the 1st of August. We had sublet our place temporarily as a means to keep our address and our place without having to break our contract (and be penalized for doing so). As it would turn out, our tenants wanted to extend for another six months which was beneficial to us and before coming back, we had setup the paperwork to agree to do so.
 |
| Namur from the city's Citadel |
In the months building up to our early return to Belgium, Nathalie and I meticulously plotted how we would spend the two and a half weeks back in Europe before heading off to the United States. We planned on splitting our time between family and friends, visiting the newly pedestrianized downtown Brussels and other favorite places in the country and finally resting up a bit from our trek in Southeast Asia. So much for that.
I needed at least two days to start feeling well enough to even walk down to the street. By the time my recovery seemed to be escalating upwards, Nathalie began to show the symptoms of my newly-defeating aliment and just like in my case, she quickly fell ill. The result? Our three-day recovery period stretched out to a week. This, in turn, meant that the two weeks we had to visit all of the people and places mentioned above would be cut in half.
 |
| Downtown Namur |
Starting with a BBQ on Saturday, we began a marathon week of eating, drinking, and recounting the same stories from the previous six months. Our agenda was packed and even our mornings were busy as we were watching our little niece during the day while my sister-in-law was at work. Not that I'm complaining; it was great to see people and spending precious time with family is priceless. It's just that it all began to add up.
By the time our final weekend rolled around, we were not only running low on energy again, but also had tons of more people to see as well as had to get ready to travel once anon. Regardless, we kept pushing through. Within 72 hours, we managed to see over 30 friends and family. This left us with exactly one day to get our bags packed before our 4 a.m. Wednesday departure. Other than some minor hiccups, the exercise went smoothly.
Almost as quickly as we arrived, it was time to leave again. What was a month-long stay, minus a week in Turkey, flew by faster than we could've imagined. And just like when we arrived, we left tired and exhausted. By the time we made it to my parents' place, 27 long hours later (pro-tip: stay away from La Guardia), we were drained, but for all the right reasons. Being back in my adopted home for a month made for a smooth transition into part two of our career break. Seeing friends and family recharged the soul even if it emptied us physically. The nice weather also helped.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment