I arrived back in Houston from Amsterdam last night after one of the longest travel days I have ever experienced. Originally, six of us planned to fly from Brussels to Newark and go our separate ways from there but Continental decided that was not going to happen.

The plane from Newark to Brussels was delayed for a few hours due to mechanical problems and then ran into weather issues at Newark, delaying the arrival of the plane in Brussels for approximately six hours. My friend and I called Continental and had ourselves rebooked through Amsterdam and then on to Houston. The good news is, we all made it home safely.

The trip was fantastic and Belgium is at the top of my list for another visit. The weather did not cooperate nearly as well as I had hoped but I managed to stay warm most of the time.

Brussels is a very interesting city with a very easily spotted contrast in old and new, classic and modern. The beers are some of the best I have ever had and were dirt cheap compared to their cousins here in the States.

I will be posting pictures from the trip later today and this evening and will hopefully do a full recap at some point this evening.

Today I start a short trip to Paris and Brussels. This trip has been a long time in planning and came together only a few weeks ago. Some friends and I will be meeting up in Brussels and doing a short beer tasting around the city with a side trip to Brugge.

We started planning this in the middle of last year and the fares at the time were completely unreasonable but over time the prices have nose-dived and I was able to find a cheap ticket to Paris and connect to Brussels via the Thalys train.

I will be flying back to the States on Monday, January 19. The flights to and from Paris and Brussels are completely empty. I should have a whole row to sleep in.