I travel from Liverpool, via Birmingham, before continuing my coach journey down to Dover, where I catch the early morning ferry to Calais. From Calais I continue on my journey down through France, before reaching my destination, Belgium. I use the quaint town of Bruges as a base, whilst I take in the sights, tastes, sounds and culture of Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp.

Everything from the hotel, excursions and the coaches where arranged for us by the operator but if you are prepared to do everything yourself, a good place to start would be National Express and Euro lines, costing just £65 return, including ferry tickets. You should expect coaches to be pretty bog standard on a national operator but as we where using a private company, legroom was better and all refreshments from the on board kitchen were free of charge.

***The Country***
The country is actually called the Kingdom of Belgium and is sandwiched in between France, Luxembourg, Germany and The Netherlands. The country dates back to the early tenth century and nowadays still has a lot to show for its history. Over eleven million people live in Belgium. 57% are Dutch Flemings, 32% are French Walloons, 9% are Bilingual and only 0.7 are strictly German.

The capital of the country is Brussels, and is also the largest city with over 10% of Belgium’s population living there. The country is split up into several different provinces such as Wallonia and Flanders, of which Bruges is the capital.

My hotel was just 1500 metres from the railway station, had three disabled bedrooms, an underground car park, and a 24 hour bar and restaurant. I could not have wished for more. All rooms had a telephone, for which you are billed at the end of your stay and all rooms also had a television, either a double or two single beds and en-suite facilities. I did notice a lack of drinks facilities though.

***Day One – Bruges***
Bruges is located in North West Belgium and is a small town with about 200 000 people. It is the capital of Flanders province and is renowned for its lace shops. Canals to Zeebrugge, Ghent and Oostende connect Bruges and if you are lucky, you will see one of the low floating barges making its way through the canals.

There are many sights to see, such as Canal trips, the Old Hospital, The Burg, Government Buildings and the Marketplace and Beguinage. A guidebook is available in most hotels called Bruges on Foot and is available for about EUR 1.50. I would recommend buying this as it also has a map of the town.

***Day Two – Interbrew and Brussels***
Day two meant we were up early for a traditional breakfast of baguettes, cheese, salami, ham, croissants and chocolate, coffee and juice. We were on the coach by ten in the morning and arrived some two hours later in Brussels.

After the two-hour tour, we were driven into the centre of Brussels and the whole group kept laughing at stupid companies like EuroMut and believe it or not – Carpet right! We parked in a busy coach park near the Manequin Pis – a statue of a boy having a wee! My and my friend walked into the centre of Belgium and shopped at places like H and M and C and A. There are many large shopping malls in Brussels and they are absolutely packed to the rafters with gifts, toys, sweets and best of all, Belgian Waffles!

There are many sights to see but be sure to get a map, because the Old river, the Senne was clogged up with sewage so orientation can be a bit difficult with the absence of the east and west riverbanks. There are many museums in the city, such as The Bellevue Museums, The Army Museum, The Jewish Museum, and the Musical Instruments Museum.

Brussels is also the headquarters of NATO and the EU and tours of both these facilities are available, as they are in the courts of appeal.

That night, back in Bruges, it was time to hit the tiles. We decided to go for a meal first and headed towards the main square. You will often see waiters plying their trade on the doorstep of their restaurant, so we chose our favourite and went inside. All restaurants are quite cheap here but it is an idea to leave a tip for about 10% of the total bill. We ordered a traditional fish dish and a glass of beer each, costing EUR 15 altogether. We left a tip for EUR 2 in the ashtray.

There are many other chocolate manufacturers in the area, which are listed in many travel guides. This one was the cheapest.

That night all people in our group had to get dressed into our glad rags and meet in the reception area immediately. We were told that we could go for a meal free of charge at the local Irish Pub, located opposite the Burg. Everyone ran, excited at the fact that the whole pub had been reserved just for us. We enjoyed a lovely meal, although two people got badly drunk and jumped into a canal and one girl set her hair on fire!

My mobile phone rang. We had to get back to the coach, so savouring the moment – I walked slowly don the road to where the coach was waiting! As we pulled out of Bruges I felt really emotional, as I thought that it could possibly be the only time I would ever get to go to a place as beautiful.

Antwerp is a large cosmopolitan city, which has built itself up around the ports and oil refineries. There are many old buildings but you can see some beautiful modern ones too. It was time to go back on the coach and as we pulled out of Antwerp I knew my holiday was well and truly over and it was just a case of getting home now.

On the ferry I fell asleep in the sports bar and woke up in about five minutes when the thing swerved so violently to one side that I fell off the couch. I stayed awake and in the end had yet another baguette. Two hours later we were making our way from London to Birmingham and at 0600 on the Friday morning, my Holiday had ended.

***Information***
· Most Credit and debit cards are accepted abroad.

· GO passes are available from B Rail for EUR 40, which allow ten railway journeys.