How on earth is it September already, folks?
I feel like I just put Jason on a plane to Spain in June for the summer, and here we are back to the regular school routine in September. It’s been an extremely busy travel summer for us. Jason was in Spain for most of the summer, but also did a brief stint in Milan, Italy, and a weekend with me in Luxembourg and Belgium. I spent a couple of weeks with Jason in Europe in July, and then turned right around when I got home and flew to Denver. It’s been a bit wild.
I feel like you’ve heard about Jason’s Spanish adventures a few times over the years, so we’re going to focus on our quick adventure to Luxembourg and Belgium. It was fast, but amazing! Definitely move both of those countries up on your list.
Ready? Go!
The Adventure to Europe
Naturally, I have to start with my origin story because it explains the rest of my trip. I flew business to Europe for the first time this summer…completely by accident. Okay, maybe accident is the wrong word…by chance?
From the start, this wasn’t meant to be my day: my first flight was messed up before I even left Springfield. I made it to Chicago and basically had a mental breakdown in a corner of the airport while I sat on hold with United for over 2 hours. My second flight had been delayed, causing me to miss my trans-Atlantic flight to Spain, which may or may not have even flown because it was out of Newark, and that airport has been an absolute disaster all year. Jason (remember, he was in Spain at this point) managed to find a flight on TAP Air (while I hyperventilated in my corner on hold), a partner airline that flew into Lisbon, Portugal, in business class, which ended up being a free upgrade. Finally, a positive part of the day. There was also more than one connection to Madrid, which was great because that flight ended up delayed as well, and they rebooked me automatically. Fabulous.
I will not say it was a fancy experience on TAP, but I was able to put my feet up, and that was gold. After I broke my leg last year, my legs have really struggled with pain and swelling when we fly (I’m doing compression socks & turmeric, ibuprofen if it’s bad – send me your ideas!). I caught my connection in Lisbon (discovered I know zero Portuguese) and finally made it to Madrid only a couple of hours later than planned. Thankfully, Jason met me at the airport so I could quit thinking in languages other than English.
The Recovery
After that adventure, I laid low at his apartment in Madrid for a couple of days to catch up on sleep and my class. Since life isn’t crazy enough, I’ve also been taking an intensive herbalism course for the past 6 months. I had a hard time keeping up while I was traveling since classes were at midnight Madrid time, and the most intensive part was while I was gone – go figure.
A Luxembourg-sized Adventure
Two days later, we were off again! Back to the airport for a flight on Ryanair to Luxembourg, a tiny little country between Germany, France, and Belgium. We had a lovely experience with the airline (we appreciate this might not be everyone’s experience), mostly because we traveled super light and booked exit row seats.
Now… it was finally time for some fun. Well almost. We grabbed an Uber to the hotel, ate dinner there, and crashed for the night. We’re so into nightlife. Ha! Our flight had arrived around 9 PM after Jason worked that day. We closed down the restaurant and called it a day. I think that was the best night of sleep I had during my entire stay.
The next morning, we set off on a walking tour of Luxembourg city. Self-guided, of course. We got Jason some coffee and wandered past the Royal Palace, in and out of little shops, and over the various bridges into and out of the oldest portions of the city. We didn’t really give ourselves much time here for tours, so we just walked for a few hours. It was really nice after a few days of heavy travel. Around noon, we headed back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We didn’t do this the night before, so we wouldn’t have to worry about where to park it in the city overnight.
The Adventure Continues
We set off on this adventure with just a backpack each, which was glorious for ease of movement, but that also managed to cause me a bit of an issue. I typically strap my backpack to my roller bag and only carry my crossbody purse on my body. Well, somehow in the mayhem of removing both and putting them back on, I left my purse in the bathroom at the Luxembourg airport and didn’t realize until I reached for it as we were getting into our rental car. Obviously, everything of importance that’s hard to replace was in there, including my passport. I ran (literally) back to get it, and naturally, it was gone. Another panic attack! I caught a security guard, and he told me to check with THE info desk (tiny airport), who MERCIFULLY had just had someone turn it in. Completely intact. It hadn’t even been opened (but we monitored all our card accounts anyway). Wheeeeeew! So now…we get to joke that we’ve both lost my purse (he dropped it on the way to the truck while we were loading out of a show in Oklahoma a couple of years ago) and there are still good people in the world. Thank you, thank you, whoever you are! We’ve been sending positive karma vibes your way, promise!
Fortunately, this was my last major panic attack. It was now time to relax and have a good time. We set off for Ramborn Distillery east of the city for a cider tasting. We were a bit early getting there, so we wandered the village of Born and poked our heads into the little church there while we waited. The apple cider was fabulous, and of course, we brought a couple of bottles with us for the rest of the adventure. We spent a couple of hours there just sipping and enjoying the sunshine. The staff were also a lovely group who shared their passion for the fruits of their labors.
Then we headed to Belgium; our next hotel was Chateau de Vignee in the countryside. We had dinner reservations at their Michelin-starred restaurant and didn’t want to be late! This place was spectacular. The entire estate has recently been refurbished and turned into a hotel. It’s situated along a peaceful river, surrounded by woodland with trails, including a spa, this restaurant, and to top it all off, under the center courtyard is an enormous wine cellar! I wish I had photos of the wine cellar – it was stunning!
We spent two nights here and had purchased a package that included dinner both nights at the Michelin-starred restaurant. Treat yourself, right!? The food was fabulous, and dinner took 3-4 hours each night. We were living in true luxury. The first night we tried to pair wines on our own, and we did okay. The second night, we decided to let them do it for us and were blown away. These people know what they’re doing! Seven courses later, and I was dancing barefoot in our garden in the rain after dinner (full disclosure: it doesn’t take seven wines to make this happen). We had SUCH a great time.
The next day we had planned to hang around the hotel and visit the spa and we did, briefly. Nerd alert! It suddenly occurred to me that we were in the Ardennes Forest, the very place where the Battle of the Bulge took place in WWII, and we should visit some of the sites. After approximately 30 minutes at the pool, we packed it in, jumped in the car, and headed to Bastogne to visit the Bastogne War Museum. The museum was amazing, and it was so cool to visit a WWII museum from a European perspective. We’ve visited almost every WWII museum in the US, but for some reason have avoided them in Europe, the very place where it happened. This was completely different. The gratitude pouring out of the Belgians for what the Americans did here was still easily felt. It was a much more heartfelt exhibit that laid out exactly how the war affected people’s daily lives, rather than a timeline of facts. Americans are not great with emotion, and we’re often just taught the facts to be tested on. We were there for over 3 hours and didn’t see every bit.
Before we headed back to the hotel, we decided to visit one of the battlefields. To walk through the tall pines (obviously not the originals) of the Ardennes to get a sense of the cold, the hardship, and the fear was something I’ve rarely experienced. I would have loved to sit there for a bit, feeling the energy, but we were on a mission to get back to the hotel for another phenomenal dinner. Jason would call this living in the present rather than the past.
The next day our stay came to an end. We got an unexpected tour of the wine cellar under the courtyard after we checked out (I’ve never seen so much – expensive – wine in my life!) and then we headed off back towards Luxembourg. But first…
Americans in Europe
We made a stop at Chateau de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne for a castle tour. You can’t go to a European country without a castle tour; it’s a rule (this makes Jason roll his eyes so hard he gets a headache). This castle was a stronghold built in the 15th century, is surrounded by a moat, has these fabulous round, domed towers (and they let you see the roof timbers – so cool), and can be booked for events. The garden is surrounded by the castle’s stables and outbuildings that have been turned into event spaces, a café, and gift shop. A quick look at their events schedule told me it is a very busy place with weddings, events, galas, costumed events, markets, and anything else you can imagine. How fun!
Back in the car, we headed back to Luxembourg for real this time. We made a stop outside of the city, right next to the airport, at the Luxembourg-American WWII Cemetery. This is where General Patton requested to be buried with his men who died in Europe. It’s another one of those places that holds so much gravity. The headstones are arranged in a fan from his stone, slightly off-center. It’s like they’re all standing at attention. It was a gloomy day and threatened to rain the entire time we were there, adding to the atmosphere. It opened up just as we got into the car, and then we drove through an absolute torrent getting back to the airport. Thankfully, the car return was underground and we didn’t get a bit wet. It was raining so hard, you literally could not see a thing outside the windows of the airport.
Back to Spain (again)
Our flight back to Madrid was on Luxair. Again, we had exit row seats and still only our backpacks, which they had us store above, so there was ample leg space. Let me just say, the airline experience was lovely, but we had some of the worst turbulence I’ve experienced in my life. The kind that leaves your stomach hundreds of feet in the air above you when you drop. Holy moly. Picture this…me with my eyes closed, tightening my belt, and taking deep breaths. Jason is next to me…giggling like a little kid. Brat. Apparently, he’s heard too many flight stories from his dad to be any sort of concerned. (also…if it’s your time, you might as well go in a good mood, right?) Next time…we’re taking the train, even if it takes two days.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been on a plane where the passengers clapped enthusiastically when we landed, but I have now. Woowee. Back on the ground, we slung on our backpacks (checked that I had my purse) and went to grab an Uber back to Jason’s apartment. Jason wrote last month about using his apartment as a home base while he did some trips this summer. It was nice to have a place to “come home” to, drop our stuff, do laundry, and get ready for the next adventure (which we had to cancel due to difficult students). I highly recommend that approach if it’s in your budget. In our case, the University was covering his apartment, so we were able to stay in some places that are typically a bit beyond our budget.
There you have it, less than a week of my summer! Ha! I hope you all found time for some joy and relaxation in yours as well. It’s just amazing to me how time seems to move faster and faster every year. The next thing we know, it will be November and we’ll be in Scotland with a group again! Woohoo! Group trips may be something we need to talk about next month. Stay tuned.
See you out there!
