Daytripping...exploring Belgian cities
Nov 6, 2016, 7:28 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 97
Daytripping...exploring Belgian cities
Previous trip reports:
First trip report...an early Summer getaway to the Caucasus
Slovakia...more than just Bratislava
--------------------
It was time for some 'vacation' before the christmas season starts. Ryanair recently opened a base at my local airport in Hamburg so I was keen to check out their new network. I used to be a Ryanair-hater for years and was always willing to pay a lot more to fly with Lufthansa, Swiss etc...but - since I started my studies in business administration I became a fan of this very company due to its legendary controlling and marketing unit. Why paying more for something I don't care about - I don't need any service on short flights if I can save lots of money and spend it on other, more important, things.
Long story short: I've booked 4 day trips to Belgium (arriving and departing at/from BRU - all to happen before christmas) and yesterday my choice was the city of Antwerp.
I'm used to getting up at around 5am so leaving my home shortly after to catch the train to Hamburg airport wasn't a big deal for me. Despite school holidays being over for more than a week now it was packed at 6am. I still managed to make my way over to the very end of T2 which is the airport's newly built low-cost area with walking gates. Mainly used by Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair, I've also seen a Eurowings A320 over there yesterday morning.
Flight FR2902 was almost fully booked and uneventful. Departed 18min late, arrived 4min ahead of schedule via 25R with a short taxi to the Ryanair stands. Buying a train ticket for the 30min ride to Antwerp Centraal and I was finally in Belgium's second city shortly past 9 in the am.
#1 Taken from 22A
#2 Antwerp Centraal - one of the main attractions. Stunning mix of old architecture by Louis Delacenserie and modern design on the lower platforms.
#3 Walking from the central station to downtown takes about 25min. Lots of old houses to explore.
#4 The weather I was hoping for...
#5 Waterfront pier
#6 A short walk to the North and everything looked like this. Hafencity-style.
#7
#8
#9 Antwerp port house pretty much marks the end of civilisation, just highways and construction sites around. Designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, just finished in 2016.
#10
#11 Atelier Millevaches
...
Quick lunch at Carrefour, coffee at Starbucks and a snack at Albert Heijn. (my favorite food stores have never been so close together
)
...
#12 Back to the central station for my train to Brussels Airport.
#13
#14 Reflection action at Zaventem
#15 A gates
The flight back to Hamburg was superb...brand new 737-800 with Boeing's Sky Interior and an empty row for me. Seat pitch was very good - sure better than Lufthansa, Air Berlin and Germanwings. It's mostly the slimline seats that offer more legroom rather than the number of inches between the seats.
All photos were taken with my iPhone 6 and edited with several apps.
Stay tuned for more Belgian cities in the next couple of weeks.
Have a good week!
First trip report...an early Summer getaway to the Caucasus
Slovakia...more than just Bratislava
--------------------
It was time for some 'vacation' before the christmas season starts. Ryanair recently opened a base at my local airport in Hamburg so I was keen to check out their new network. I used to be a Ryanair-hater for years and was always willing to pay a lot more to fly with Lufthansa, Swiss etc...but - since I started my studies in business administration I became a fan of this very company due to its legendary controlling and marketing unit. Why paying more for something I don't care about - I don't need any service on short flights if I can save lots of money and spend it on other, more important, things.
Long story short: I've booked 4 day trips to Belgium (arriving and departing at/from BRU - all to happen before christmas) and yesterday my choice was the city of Antwerp.
I'm used to getting up at around 5am so leaving my home shortly after to catch the train to Hamburg airport wasn't a big deal for me. Despite school holidays being over for more than a week now it was packed at 6am. I still managed to make my way over to the very end of T2 which is the airport's newly built low-cost area with walking gates. Mainly used by Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair, I've also seen a Eurowings A320 over there yesterday morning.
Flight FR2902 was almost fully booked and uneventful. Departed 18min late, arrived 4min ahead of schedule via 25R with a short taxi to the Ryanair stands. Buying a train ticket for the 30min ride to Antwerp Centraal and I was finally in Belgium's second city shortly past 9 in the am.
#1 Taken from 22A
#2 Antwerp Centraal - one of the main attractions. Stunning mix of old architecture by Louis Delacenserie and modern design on the lower platforms.
#3 Walking from the central station to downtown takes about 25min. Lots of old houses to explore.
#4 The weather I was hoping for...
#5 Waterfront pier
#6 A short walk to the North and everything looked like this. Hafencity-style.
#7
#8
#9 Antwerp port house pretty much marks the end of civilisation, just highways and construction sites around. Designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, just finished in 2016.
#10
#11 Atelier Millevaches
...
Quick lunch at Carrefour, coffee at Starbucks and a snack at Albert Heijn. (my favorite food stores have never been so close together
)...
#12 Back to the central station for my train to Brussels Airport.
#13
#14 Reflection action at Zaventem
#15 A gates
The flight back to Hamburg was superb...brand new 737-800 with Boeing's Sky Interior and an empty row for me. Seat pitch was very good - sure better than Lufthansa, Air Berlin and Germanwings. It's mostly the slimline seats that offer more legroom rather than the number of inches between the seats.
All photos were taken with my iPhone 6 and edited with several apps.
Stay tuned for more Belgian cities in the next couple of weeks.
Have a good week!
Last edited by MA330; Jan 18, 2017 at 9:16 am
Nov 6, 2016, 7:58 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak
Posts: 27,556
Awesome! I used to visit friends in Bruxelles a lot and took day trips to various fun places - Gent, Brugges, Bouillon (the castle of Godfrey), and other spots. Always fun!
Nov 6, 2016, 5:07 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: JNB
Programs: Flying Blue, Miles and Smiles, Hhonors, ICHotels
Posts: 1,307
Some great photos of Antwerp!! For my previous employer, I traveled to Antwerp at least twice a year and have very fond memories. Looks like the weather behaved and remained fine while you were there.
Looking forward to your next adventures.
Looking forward to your next adventures.
