A weekend trip to Antwerp
It’s a random trip out of town. A weekend without plans or itineraries. Bliss. Call it Antwerpen or Antwerp and it’ll answer.
Hello, my friend,
It’s been a while. I know, I know. I just had a couple of rough weeks, but I am Obiagu for a reason, so I am back … kind of.
I started writing this piece in the first week of August but somehow returned to it in the last week of August. But I always say that when I am tempted not to follow up on writing, I remind myself that I am writing this for my future self. My current self might be okay with not doing things, but I know my future self would be disappointed.
I write to my future self and you, who might be trying to figure things out for yourself or would like to see the world through my lens.
This postcard is about a random trip to Antwerp, a city in Belgium. However, it might be a story about my last few weeks or the life of a young woman finding her path. Either way, I hope you smile or relate somewhere in between.
Some background information…
You might know this… or not, but I have been in school for two years. I graduated in 2017/2018 with an HND in computer science from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State. However, with this overreaching, Barbie decided to aim for more. But then, after school, I was so broke that I had to freeload at a classmate's house for months because I couldn't afford rent.
So, immediately after starting work, I saved up quite nicely, and it was time to look for a school. I had to look for a school willing to take my HND and give me a BSC. I also wanted to do something part-time because I needed to be able to work for my bread while I studied.
Luckily, after months of searching, I found the University of Derby, UK. So, I have studied online for a BSc (honours) in computing and information technology for the last two years. I loved the idea of returning to school, but it was tough. I had days when I sat down and just cried; I considered dropping out at least two times. But I am excited to say that I saw it through. And I didn’t even fail any papers… yet.
I turned in my final paper on the first day of this month (August), and I am excited to have my time back. I used to have to work from 8 to 5 and then take a nap, shower, eat dinner, and get back to studying until midnight. I wasn’t doing this all the time, but every last month until the end of the school trimester, I spent my days being anxiety-stricken and my favourite thing—a hyper-focused bookworm. I'm glad to share that that is behind us now, and we can chill.
So, to celebrate my final trimester in school, we thought it’d be nice to take a trip and thought of places to go. My initial idea was to withdraw to a cabin, stay indoors, drink hot chocolate, sit in a jacuzzi, and just lazy around in linen pyjamas (I’ll let you know that I do not have any linen pyjamas, but I planned to buy to feel the vibe I had in mind) anyways because I didn’t want to think about the planning, we decided to look at the map and chose a trip that was short by bus or train and wouldn’t require planning. We decided it was going to be Antwerp. We chose Antwerp because it seemed close by, required little planning, and we were spending a weekend anyway, so why stress it?
Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium is in the south of the Netherlands (see what I did there? Before moving and travelling in Europe, I never really cared for the compass or where the north is), but that’s all you’d hear here. So, Belgium is to the south of the Netherlands.
[add a map of the Netherlands and highlight Antwerp and Amsterdam].
So, when preparing for any trip, I note the most important things that will lay the foundation for the trip — transportation, lodging, and travel documents. With this list, I start the prep. I will list things to sort, like what city we are going to. What’s the best way to get there? On deciding on means of transportation, I looked at whether the trip was possible by bus or by train before I looked at flights for Belgium; it was about 2hrs 40mins for a bus, and driving would be 2 hr 11 min (164,9 km) via A27, the train would be an hour, 51mins. But then, we had a small budget, and since the travel times were different, we went for the bus option.
Transportation
We used FlixBus, a popular means of transportation within the EU region and worldwide. They travel to about 400,000 routes and 3,000 destinations in 40 countries. These are very long buses. I’ve seen such buses back in Nigeria, but they are primarily used for night trips, especially for very long distances like the north to the east.
We went to the Flixbus website and entered our destination. We found tickets for 11 euros per person. They offered options to get seats for an extra 4 euros each, and we did that. We choose a panoramic seat. It meant you’d be behind/above the driver's seat and could see as much as the driver. It felt like a good deal, and we got that. We just sat above and enjoyed the ride. We only had our backpacks, so we didn’t need to pay for extra luggage.
On the day of the trip, we took the metro to Sloterdijk, the pickup location. We left around midday and were in Antwerp by 4:30 p.m.
It was a smooth ride, and I am retaking the bus for a trip soon to Brugge or Ghent.
Accommodation
We found a good spot on Airbnb in the centre of the city. When we arrived, we used the check-in guide to find the keys and went upstairs. It was a super old building. The stairs were tiny and narrow, and the building had character.
The image below shows the front of the apartment, > the staircase, > street > room.
Activities
For the trip, we had no itinerary. The plan was to rest, and even though Dave couldn't help it, our one rule was not to travel with our laptops, so we had just the iPad, which we’d use to play music or watch something together at the end of the day.
We just took long walks and ate in between. We had chocolate, waffles, ice cream, and burgers. We went to the Saturday market, and there was a lot to buy, see, eat, and drink. Of course, it was morning, but it wasn't too early for an Antwerp mule or Aperol spritz. We bought some strawberries, a burger, and fish fries and sat at a spot to feast.
So, when we travel, calories don’t count. We do eat like sensible people, but the point is, there are no limits to cravings or how much we can eat during a trip, and that is why I LOVE TRAVEL.
On Saturday, we walked to a market. They sold everything at the market, from drinks to food to fruits, clothes, and leather goods. We bought a burger, ordered some drinks and sat at one of the stalls to eat. After that, we shopped at a vintage store and bought some outfits and jewellery. After shopping, we sat down to drink hot chocolate and eat some strawberries.
Later that evening, we visited Kinepolis Cinema and watched Deadpool and Wolverine. And to be honest, the screen was the most giant screen I’ve ever watched a movie on. It was gigantic.
Overall, it was a good experience. There was no itinerary or huge plans. We just ate, rested, walked, and laughed a lot.
Books — one of our favourite things in a new city is book shopping. And yes, we don’t have a limit to how many books we buy. We like it and buy it even if it takes months to get it on the shelf.
Finally, I look forward to visiting our digital nomads in Malta before the holiday season ends. I haven't met many nomads because I left a year ago, and in the last year, we’ve had more people join us from Nigeria and other parts of the world. So, it’s time to see my people. I am excited about this trip because I look forward to doing water activities like swimming or kayaking (because I am learning to swim).
But more than anything, I’ll be resting. David won’t be working, so we’ll refresh and be back to give our best to work. I look forward to that trip, and even though we’ve not decided on the dates nor bought flight tickets, I am optimistic that it will be a great trip.
I look forward to writing to you again. I'm still determining when, but I hope it will be soon.
Till I write to you again, Doei!
Obiagu.
PS: I have added some photos from the trip to this piece because you deserve to see more. I was a bit lazy about publishing this piece, but it is better done than not. So, ask any questions you have, and I hope you have a great weekend.
