BRUSSELS,A CITY OF MONEY AND CHOCOLATES

by OLATUNJI OFFEYI (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown Belgium

BRUSSELS,A CITY OF MONEY AND CHOCOLATES By Tunji Offeyi I have been to a few countries and cities non caught me off the balance like visiting Brussels in terms of the economic pocket,it sure left a big hole in there! So my wife and son’s birthday was approaching last January.She suggests I take them on a trip to Brussels.I thought it was a wise idea,why not it's just a country next door from the UK where we live in.We decided to travel there through the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge,while the night was long-a 13 hours sail across the English channels.The food was good,music equally fantastic,which got everyone on board singing along,it felt like a mini concert. Reality started to dawn on us that perhaps we might have chosen a destination where money,money and money is all that counts and a lot of it.When the ferry finally docked in zeebrugge we requested a taxi for a short drive to Bruges train station.He(driver) was very polite,yes!The Belgians are one of the most polite people I have ever met,but they just asked for too much money,what a shock after the short drive to the station,we were billed 18 Euros,ok we said that only cost just 5 pounds extra of the same journey in the UK fair enough,then the train tickets for another journey from Bruges to Brussels cost around 27 Euros,wao!That would not cost more than 19 pounds in the UK if at all it cost that much. Away from the tickets issue every single taxi journey costs minimum 10 Euros regardless of how short the distance,one Uber driver even behaved funny by requesting cash,ok we said fine as long as you take us to our destination,it's cold outside!One can't really argue too much!Just as I made to pay the agreed fare of 10 Euros,the greedy ‘shylock’ attempted to snatch an extra 5 Euro from me,wao!Is money making that serious in Brussels?Why this desperation?Certainly we have met greedy cab drivers in Sofia Bulgaria who adjusts the metre to make you pay more and one funny clown who refused to give us a change in Prague saying its a tip for himself,funny but shocking,it still doesn't come close to this one in Brussels. Ok so we settled down at the apartment we booked on Booking.com,our host by the name David Lustman,who actually was not lustful,but helpful came to show us around the house and was very polite and welcoming.After a little rest we decided to go to Lidl to shop for groceries,another nightmare in terms of pricing awaits,although the people were very kind and voluntarily helped us to pack,the roof high prices just ruin it all making us to wonder if we hadn't made the wrong choice of destination,certainly by now the luxury on the ferry have completely waned.Reality is that with our two-year old baby we started to trek everywhere in the cold,sometime 40 minutes long walks,in Brussels the public transport drivers don't give you changes,so that if you give them 5 Euro for a journey that cost 2 Euros you get no change,you have to present the exact amount,wonderful! The last straw that broke the Camel's back was when I went into the Pharmacy to buy Paracetamol that cost 50 penny in the UK only to be told it 7.30 Euros in Brussels!Lord have mercy was all I could scream,certainly when next we travel we will have to research the cost of everyday living in a destination before heading there to avoid another rude shock,although the Belgian lovely chocolates offer a little consolation.