EuroHip: Day 10

I've woken up late on the morning of the last day - Probably too late, especially considering I have to check out in less than half an hour! Oops! I've got a text message waiting for me from Trevor, asking if I want to come and pick my camera up as they're all ready to leave! I throw some clothes on and leg it upstairs to find Trevor, Adrian, Mark and Matt leaving to start their journey to Germany. Part of me is ready to head home, but another part of me really wants to stay on (stupid work getting in the way again!). After collecting my camera, I head back downstairs for a swift shower and packing session, before checking out, donning my wet weather gear (it's raining again) and making the ten minute walk to Brussels North station. As I'm wandering along the road in the rain, I find myself becoming increasingly worried by the
sounds of drums and the waving of flags. There seems to be some sort of protest going on, and I'm heading straight for it. Joy. Images of closed railway stations, angry Belgians and stranded, rain soaked English travellers filled my head as I approached the mass. Fortunately, they weren't protesting against the Belgian rail service, and I found my way clear to nipping down a side road to the station. After negotiating a series of bus lanes under the station, I finally found my way inside, and out of the rain. Now, the phrase "worlds most depressing place" is thrown around a lot these days, however, if I ever find myself on the board of judges for such an event, I know what'll get my vote: Brussels-Nord Station. I'm sure the gray skies, wind and rain do nothing for the ambience of the place, but it was certainly putting on a pretty poor show even without the outside assistance. It's vast, sparse and devoid of any human faces that have seen a smile in at least the last six months - and at this moment in time, I was hardly doing anything to redress that balance. I stand and scour the departures board, desperately trying to find the train to Amsterdam! It seems to take an eternity to appear, but when it finally does, it warms my heart! That series of sorry looking, yellow LED's signal my iminent (well, just under 30
minutes) departure from this place. I decide to kill some time, and try and find some food.I find a little bakery, and order a sausage roll and Danish pastry and make my way into the waiting room. I bury myself into my book until the train arrives, and I settle for the three hour journey back to Amsterdam...

The journey was fairly uneventful (I've spared you the gory details). It wasn't until I emerged at Amsterdam Central that I realised that perhaps getting off directly at the airport might have been a better idea. D'oh. A sift ticket purchase and some nimble footwork later, and I was back on the train following the motorway to the airport. I'm starting to get a little nervous now, as things seem to be taking an awful lot longer than I was expecting. As it turns out, my nerves were unfounded and I'm at the check in desk before my flight's even called to check in! I wait for about ten minutes, whizz through the check in and head to the departure gate. I use a bit of spare time to get online and catch up with a few things before joining the security queue and boarding the plane. Much like the train journey, the flight goes smoothly and before I know it, I'm stood on the chilly platform at Gatwick waiting for a train to Victoria. I finally get back to the flat, dump my stuff wherever it happens to land, stick the kettle on (my God am I desperate for a cup of tea!) and order a Pizza. So, that's it, the dream and the trip is over. It's been a great journey and even better than I hoped! I've met some great people, and made some new friends along the away. Friends that hopefully, I'll be able to catch up with again soon.

Now begins the mammoth task of editing and uploading photos, audio and video footage - Perhaps the journey's only just started...