Review: Ibis Wavre

So, this is really geared towards those who plan to travel to the area or are just super interested in all the details of my trip.

I had read some really bad reviews before I arrived, so I was a little nervous about that, but the lobby was really lovely and a sign indicated they started remodeling in January 2016.  The staff were really helpful and most spoke a decent amount of English.

The bed was perfectly comfortable, and this is coming from someone with back issues from a car accident, and even the pillows weren't so bad.  I never woke up stiff or needing to change positions in the night, so it was a win from that perspective.  The remodel clearly hadn't reached much of hotel though as the stair carpet was quite worn, the hardwood floors in the rooms were pretty dinged up and the "black out curtains" advertised on the Ibis flyer were nowhere in existence - my curtain didn't block light on the sides and had a hole in it.

The breakfast was a typical French-style breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat  (like a square croissant with chunks of chocolate in the middle), fruit, thin meats and soft cheeses.  For foreigners, they also had eggs and bacon, plus baked beans the day the Asian group was there.

Speaking of the Asian tour group, I'm not sure if it's a regular thing, although I suspect it might be given the Asian signs at the breakfast bar, but that night was a totally different experience.  The hotel had seemed nice and quiet before, but it must have been pretty empty because once I had neighbors, I could hear them yelling across the hall at each other, in their rooms, moving furniture, etc.  It woke me up several times. Plus, one smoked in a non-smoking room on a non-smoking floor, but the staff took care of that quickly.

Not sure I could recommend it unless you're also traveling in the off season and unlikely to have neighbors given the thin walls, but when it was quiet, it was a decent place.

Pros: Comfortable bed, quiet when no close neighbors, good breakfast, good water temp & pressure, clean, strong room WiFi
Cons: Really thin walls if you have a neighbor, hotel really needs the planned remodel

Belgium Annual Jubilee

I'm a little envious that Belgium has an annual Jubilee for the employees, but excited I was able to attend!

Let me tell you - Belgians know how to throw a party!  It started at 7 PM with greeting each other with the customary cheek kisses, snacks and champagne.  Once we were seated, white wine was served to go with 3 more rounds of mini-appetizers and the show began!  The group had spoofed a Belgian show where they interview various neighbors for a comedy skit.  In this case, employees were describing, often in funny ways, the employee who had a big anniversary to celebrate (appeared to be longest, then in 10 year increments).  The sound wasn't the best, so I couldn't understand much; however, when they got to the short bits for 5 year anniversaries, they had the print up & I understood enough to get the gist of what was being said.  Red wine was served with dinner and dessert wrapped up after 11 pm.  Then, music started for dancing - keep in mind this is an all-employee gathering with no partners or spouses, so definitely a different culture than the US.  While I left at midnight, people weren't really dancing yet and I guess they often go well past 1 AM.

I have one thing to say about this - we need Jubilees in the US!  The location was lovely too:

Outside of Jubilee news, I thought my hotel was awesomely quiet until a large group of Asian people took the two rooms on each side of me and across the hall . . . then left all their doors open while yelling to each other across the hall.  As it turns out, if people talk loudly in the actual hall, the place isn't quiet at all!  Other than that, it's quite nice really.

One thing I will add from the perspective of a solo female traveler is that, despite the news of two raids in the area related to the Paris bombings, I saw nothing and felt entirely safe my whole time here, even riding about on local trains.  That wraps up my time in Belgium!  Oh, except a picture of Brussels by train! 

Realities of Business Travel

While I will never complain about ANY international travel, traveling for business bears little resemblance to leisure travel.  Your entire day is largely consumed by work and socializing with co-workers; even if you don't socialize with co-workers in the evenings, everything is closed.  When I traveled to Kansas City, the only time I saw anything was the third trip when I attended an evening Kaizen event.  I was with two co-workers from Portland who have been my work friends since!  We toured the Harley Davidson power train factory and a museum for items from a sunken boat (unearthed obviously), the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  We also ate KC BBQ every day for lunch, which was surprisingly fun!  On my trip to Golden, Colorado, I intentionally flew out later on Friday so I could do at least one touristy thing, which turned out to be a tour of the Coors Factory (even though I don't like or really drink beer, it was interesting).

This is all to say that, if you have to travel for business, ensure you add a weekend on at one end (or both ends) if you actually want to do any site-seeing.  When I traveled to Civray previously for work, I saw a little of Paris when I arrived two days early, but that was all.  I am really looking forward to my extended time in the Bordeaux region!  I plan to spend some time exploring the Southern Coast and the chateaus in the area.

I've currently seen nothing of Belgium really though and will be leaving rather early Saturday since everything in rural France closes early and very little is open on Sunday (so far, it appears to be one store and one restaurant that both close at noon).  Given that, I may take the train back to Belgium for a weekend since I've never been here before and I feel like I will be leaving without experiencing anything Belgium has to offer.  Ok, well not NOTHING - I've mastered the art of roundabouts and learned the expressway speed despite the lack of an actual sign.  I also survived a massive Carrefour store:

TSA Disaster and Staying in Belgium

After my most eventful airport experience ever at PDX, Belgium has been peaceful.  My airport experience started with me declaring my larger-than-3-oz contact solution after TSA had told me explicitly that my peroxide-based solution was a medical fluid and exempt from size restrictions.  Which is true if you use standard preservative-laden solution.  If you have to use the hydrogen peroxide version, a factory-sealed bottle will be opened and test as a hazardous chemical.  You and your luggage will then be thoroughly searched and swabbed for other hazardous substances . . . even if you produce their own e-mail clearly stating it was acceptable.  It appears adequate training is not a strong point at the TSA.

As I leisurely enjoyed my breakfast after this fiasco, a distinct "we've located her" into a walkie talkie caught my attention.  Out of curiosity I looked up, and imagine my surprise when I found a large number of TSA agents and Portland Police looking at . . . me.  Really guys - just contact solution!  Turns out it was unrelated; however, I learned that I can be nearly finished with breakfast, accompanied by a large suitcase at my table and still be mistaken for a 5'5" non-Caucasian restaurant employee who came through security 15 minutes before. Given that our flight was then singled out for TSA K-9 sniffing and random passport checks, I was half convinced TSA was just screwing with me, but all of the ID verifications were men.  Fortunately, the rest of my travels to Paris and on to Brussels were uneventful.So, reporting to work for the first time today, I found this will be my view for the week - not bad!

I'm in the French-speaking part of Belgium, which has felt a lot like being in France.  This included eating at a restaurant serving French food (no complaints on that here!); however, English is largely spoken and English menus (aka "cards" because a "menu" is a fixed price set of options for a 2-3 course meal) are widely available.  I'm forcing myself to order in French to prepare for rural France though.

The most entertaining occurrence today was realizing I can drive a manual still, but, while I could sort out converting the computer menu to English, the car stubbornly refused to go in reverse - you had to use a tricky way of pulling up the stick skirting while putting it into 1st if you actually needed to back up.  I was to the point of just hoping the car would roll backwards out of the spot in neutral!  Also, while an automatic isn't common and can cost considerably more in a rental here, my car is equipped with built-in GPS, back-up camera and other fancy options, which is such a contrast to the US.  Had my first International driving experience today, which I will wait to comment on as it was fairly short and possibly not representative.