2024 Europe Trip: Day 9, Brussels, Belgium to Chicago, Illinois, USA
Hmm, I feel like there is a not a lot to recap about the day we flew back to the states, but I say that now, then will probably write a zillion words. Here we go.
We flew back on Monday April 22nd. Our flight left Brussels at 10:15 am, so we thankfully didn’t have a terribly early wakeup call. We got to the hotel lobby to wait for our driver and I tried to ask the front desk about a large charge on my credit card and got nowhere with them and had to assume the charge would go away (it did, but ugh, anxiety). We rode to the airport and got there much faster than on our way in!
BRUSSELS AIRPORT
Our driver dropped us off in a special drop-off area that required a walk to the airport (fine with me, before I sit for 8 hours!), and we began our journey of getting through all the securities to get to our gate. There was SIX levels of security. We
- Had a United agent ask us a few questions about our trip while we waited in line to drop off our bags. She put stickers on the back of our passports.
- Scanned our tickets at a kiosk to get to security.
- Had our tickets scanned immediately after by a person.
- Went through security (ha, they found some random small metal rod Steven had completely forgot was in his briefcase from work).
- Went through passport control.
- Went through United security (this is when they looked at the stickers) to get access to our gate.
- Wait, did they check them again when we got on the plane?
Phew. It was very thorough.
We had a lot of time and searched for breakfast after passport control. I was kind of cranky and sick of having fig bars and sweets for breakfast. (I had a fig bar and later found a vegan croissant and got a chai. So much sugar!)
We were in boarding group 3, and they called 2 then went right to 4, so it was a bit of a cluster, but we had assigned seats, so it’s not like it matters!
FLIGHT HOME
I knew I was supposed to sleep so I could stay up when I got home, and I tried to for a minute, but couldn’t.
So I paid for an hour of internet ($8 vs $20 for the whole flight) with the intent to post to Instagram then try to sleep again, but when my hour was up I still had internet, and did for the whole flight, so I posted all my travel recaps on Instagram. I bet people were so happy to wake up and see NINE posts, each with ten photos, from me. Ha ha ha.
I was served vegan meals again, yay! Both curry themed. I only got up to use the bathroom once which is kind of a big no no with my clotting disease, but I had the window and didn’t want to move (and tried to stretch in my seat).
We landed in Chicago early, before noon, and actually got a gate! (Reminder, our flight left after 10:00 am Brussels time, so our bodies felt like it was the evening.)
GOING HOME
Going through passport control on the USA side took some time because there were so many people on our flight. I think I’ll get global entry for our next international trip. Our agent was really nice, and we grabbed our bags right away and got on the shuttle to our car. We drove home and were home between 1:30 and 2:00.
DO ALL THE THINGS
I am the “unpack and start laundry when I get home” type, so that is what I did. AFTER SNUGGLING ALL THE CATS OF COURSE! Our wonderful cat sitter Jessie took care of them while we were gone (coming twice a day). They adore Jessie (and so do we)! And they seemed happy we were home.
I put the artwork from our friends’ kids and our new magnets up
We put new pins in our travel map
I went and got groceries and Steven stayed home. I called him to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep! I was really hoping we’d make it to 8:00!
Steven cooked dinner (pasta! broccoli! fake meats!) much earlier than normal, and we watched part of Top Gun: Maverick for work movie club, and then called it shortly after 7:00, and yep, were asleep by 8:00! I didn’t feel exhausted, but fell easily asleep (then slept like crap for about a week, ugh).
I had taken the next day off (he went to work) and felt good all day, but even more exhausted that night than the long travel day, which was odd!
I bet you thought I was done with blogging about our trip. Not so fast! This is the end of this post, but I have a notebook with four pages of random thoughts from our trip. So… more to come!
It lasted three weeks
A significant portion of my full time job is issue escalation, as in my clients’ issues come to me after they’ve gone through every level of service and still haven’t been resolved. Clients also bring issues to me when they’re still at the first level of service and I don’t need to be involved.
The cool part about this role is that I have connections to every part of my company and a very good idea of how we do (most) things. It feels good to assemble teams to solve issues and to connect clients to the one person who can answer the question they have.
The not cool part about this is that SO MUCH of my job is people coming to me unhappy about something. Oops, I wasn’t even planning on writing that. It just came out.
What I was going to say is that the not cool part of this is that I really struggle with an unwarranted sense of urgency at work. When an issue comes in I want to resolve it ASAP and get it off my desk. Before ASAP, if possible.
But I can’t. Especially if I am relying on another person or several people for assistance and resolution. And you know how it is trying to get a group of people together.
[There is a lot of self talk going on at my home office – “wait to respond,” “this isn’t urgent,” “this can wait until tomorrow when so and so is available,” etc. And note, sometimes things ARE legitimately “this needs to be resolved now!” urgent.]
So, in a long roundabout way, I would like to announce that my vacation good vibes are gone and work stress is back. The vibes lasted a solid three weeks. I’m getting so many random issues thrown at me. Too many f*cks are now being given.
Deep breaths.
[And as I am rereading this before I post, it’s not lost on me that I struggle to sit with uncomfortable things at work, like I do with my emotions about non-work things too. Hmm.]
COMPLETELY unrelated, but what’s a post without a photo?! Yesterday was upper body day at the gym and a classmate told me “You look swole as f*ck! You look nice!” and it made me feel good!
Busy May!
I have a lot going on this month! I should actually document it, huh?
LAST WEEKEND
I didn’t take many photos (I’d say oops, but it wasn’t an oops, I was enjoying the moments), so you’ll get words – on Friday Bobbi and I saw The Fall Guy and got dinner at Red Robin after for a belated birthday celebration. I really enjoyed the movie and chatting after. We see each in class sometimes, but we don’t properly catch up there.
On Saturday I ran a 5K, and in the evening we went out to dinner with Jen, Troy, and Declan. It was fun to get together and chat with them.
I worked a lot last weekend, blah. But I was trying to get ahead since this month is so busy.
THIS WEEKEND
On Friday I had dinner with Birchie at Twisted Plants in Milwaukee. She was out here exploring the area and I’m so glad she reached out to me to see if I was available! It was lovely to meet in person and really connect. You get to know someone through reading their writing and leaving each other messages, but in person is always best, right?
Our food was delicious and we went for a walk along the lake and in the woods after dinner. It was a great evening!
On Saturday Steven had the day off (yay! that rarely happens!) so we had a really lazy morning where I got some painting done.
In the afternoon I went to Milwaukee and tailgated with Rachel then we went to the Brewers v Cardinals game. We hadn’t seen each other since the 10K we ran together in the fall and had a lot of catching up to do! Tailgating weather was beautiful, and the game was fun – it was Star Wars night and we got a double-sided (light and dark side) shirt, and there were characters, and lots of fun Star Wars themed games/etc on the big screen. We had a wonderful evening (I always do with Rachel!).
No social plans Sunday but I have to share a photo of the necklace the cats got me for Mother’s Day!
THE REST OF THE MONTH
My marathon is next weekend, and Ella’s 2nd birthday party is the weekend after. Then it will be June. AHHHH!!!!!
2024 Europe Trip: Day 8, Bruges, Belgium
Day 8, Sunday April 21st! Here’s my short recap from Instagram:
Day 8 (April 21) – ever since seeing In Bruges we’ve wanted to visit, so Steven, Dunja (@waclarissima), and I took the train there on Sunday! We walked around, had brunch, reenacted a scene from the movie 😂, then met up with Anita and her husband and three kids to go up in the tower! Then Dunja had to go and we ate and walked our way across Bruges, as we do.
I was so happy we got to spend so much of the weekend with Dunja. We loved talking to her and made such a connection. And it meant the world to me that Anita drove 3 hours each way with her husband and 3 young children to see us again. I got to see her on the first and last day of our trip and feel so grateful.
All the friends we spent time with there are amazing people that make me feel so much joy. I’m trying to be grateful for the time we had and not sad it’s over!
Taper & speedwork
This marathon taper, I tell ya. It’s interesting that running so much less can make me feel so tired. I’m just beat every night around dinner time and feel tired when I wake up. I know this is 100% normal but BLAH. Nine more days until the marathon!
Called it quits at mile 7 of my 10 miler today. I felt super sluggish (doing lower body class before my run didn’t help with that!).
Let’s talk after the marathon. A couple of weeks ago when I arrived at HIIT class a few students “warned” me we’d be running. I laughed – that’s exactly what I want to hear on HIIT day. That’s something I feel confident doing!
And I loved warming up with some running, but the drills in between sets with sprinting? I sucked at those! I still enjoyed them, but had no pickup. I have stiff long run legs.
I gotta get back to speedwork. It’s been years.
So my plan after I recover from the marathon:
- Speedwork one day a week
- Ride my bike one day a week (I dropped it off yesterday for its yearly tuneup!)
- (MOST IMPORTANTLY) Stop eating so freaking much
Random Thoughts Thursday 450
- Good news! We paid off my car! Fingers crossed nothing happens to it so we can enjoy NOT making a monthly car payment for as long as possible.
- We noticed Khaleesi had a sore on her mouth Monday last week, and were keeping an eye on it. By Thursday it had gotten bigger and redder so I made a vet appointment for her for Friday morning. Thankfully, it was only an abscess she likely got from bumping it, and it popped at the vet (so so gross). The vet gave her antibiotics and she is feeling so much better! Phew! I hate seeing my babies in pain.
- We planted some seeds last Sunday – cucumbers, basil, cilantro, green beans, pea pods, and carrots. We will plant green beans again in June and July. We had a surprise cilantro crop, but sadly, we had sprayed chemicals that morning so we pulled it all and put it in the compost pile.
- Bobbi and I saw The Fall Guy last Friday and loved it! I laughed so much. It was a perfect movie to see in the theater with all that action. I can never focus on those as well at home.
- All my Europe Shitterfly magnets came in so I completely redid the fridge (I only put magnets from the last year on there and the rest go on the basement freezer). It’s cheesy, but looking through all these photos of our loved ones and fun adventures over the last year made me feel really happy. The flying photos especially made me excited to fly with Steven this summer after he gets his license.
- I painted this week after taking a month off! It felt good to paint again.
- A friend asked me what I am up to this summer, and I actually had plans to share – the Denver marathon (technically in the spring), Stephany visiting and The Popcast Live, a trip to Vail, trips to the river, the Fly-In at the river, wherever Steven flies me for my actually birthday… so much going on. My May is super busy too. This month is going to fly by.
- Did anyone else read The Idea of You and watch the movie? I cannot believe how much they changed for the movie!!!!
2024 Europe Trip: Day 7, Brussels, Belgium
Day 7, Saturday April 20th! Here’s my short recap from Instagram:
Day 7 (April 20) – Amy (@crawshawamy) was our tour guide! Amy is a blogging friend of mine from the states who’s lived in Belgium for 30+ years. I met her in person once in the states and had such a great time I made sure Belgium would be a stop on our trip!
Amy took us all over and it was fabulous being with a local who knew what was what (and the language)! Thank you Amy!!! She and Dunja (they’d never met before) got on fabulously and we all had a great day together!
Kinda forgot about that!
Last week I ordered a new Road ID for my watch band. The elastic had become loose on the one I had, and I wanted to update the blood thinner information on it. When I first went on blood thinners in fall of 2022 I didn’t know which I would be on, but wanted that information on my ID, so I just put “ON BLOOD THINNERS.” Soon after that, I permanently switched over to Warfarin, so I’d been waiting for a reason to update it.
I made the change and placed my order in the morning. During my after work run, I was thinking about my new Road ID as the old one slid up and down my watch band. I thought about all the medical acronyms the Road ID system suggested as I made my new one and it hit me – I have an immune system disorder (Antiphospholipid syndrome) that has an acronym (APS)! I had completely forgotten about it as I made the new ID.
Similarly, I was having a conversation a few days earlier with someone about an immune system disorder they just found out they have and in my mind I was like, “Oh yeah! I have one too! Huh.”
So part of my brain was like “Good work, Kim! APS has become a backstage part of your life. You’re taking care of it but you’re not thinking about it, so much that you forgot you even have it!”
For real, that feels like a success. I was on the struggle bus in late 2022 and early 2023 with this.
The other part of my brain was like “YOU IDIOT! You should have put that you have APS on your Road ID too! DUHHHHHHHHH”
Gah. When I ordered it, the website was like “ArE yOu SuRe ThIs Is FiNaL?!!!” And I was like, “Yeah! I’ve had over a year to think about this change I want to make.”
Apparently I needed to go through the process and order it. Short version of the story,* I was able to change it!
And now it doesn’t slide up and down my watch band! Woo hoo! (And I ordered it in black – my last one was silver.)
*Long version of the story – I finished part 1 of my run and was waiting at my car for Steven to come for part 2 and tired to pull up the order confirmation email I KNEW was still in my yahoo inbox. It would NOT show up in the inbox or anywhere in my email and it was making me freaking IRATE, so much that it kind of soured my run. Awesome, right? I have another post this week that mentions I need to work on not letting nonworking technology make me so angry. Sigh. When I got home and could use my computer, it was right there, in my inbox, and there was a link where you could look at your order then make changes.
2024 Europe Trip: Day 6, Dresden, Germany to Brussels, Belgium
Day 6, Friday April 19th! Here’s my short recap from Instagram:
Day 6 (April 19) – travel day 🫠 DRS 👉 FRA 👉 BRU. When we arrived in Brussels we were like “um… this just looks like any large US city, where’s all the historic stuff?!” But then we walked a couple minutes and found it 😂
My good friend Dunja (@waclarissima) traveled from her home in Germany to spend this weekend in Belgium with us! She’s another friend I was meeting in person for the first time, and of course, she’s lovely and we had a wonderful time chatting with her!!! Meeting up with local friends like this made this trip really special for us 🥹 I wish I could do it more often!
Empower Run 5K Race Report
I ran my first race of the year yesterday – the Empower Run 5K for A Safe Place, a local crisis center that provides housing, court advocacy, referrals, and counseling programs for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. I found out about the 5K through my gym, WWM. WWM was a sponsor and a bunch of the gym members were participating.
The race was at Independence Grove, our county’s showpiece forest preserve, with a huge man made lake, several miles of paved and crushed dirt trails (with access to longer trails), and several different venues. I’m two weeks out from my marathon so I made the 5K part of my long run. I had originally planned to run there from the house and get another 20 miler in, but I didn’t get enough sleep to do that (nor did I really want to anymore) so I drove there when it opened and ran 10 miles before the race started.
My 10 felt good! I was worried about running so much on pavement (I usually run on crushed stone), but my body did great, except for my left foot “catching” every now and then (for real, I need to watch that so I don’t trip during the marathon).
I watched them set up the race while I ran loops (several people commented after on how they saw me “warming up” and how impressive that was. Aww, thanks.). I stopped to get my packet in the middle of my 10 miler, then I kept on running.
I finished my 10 and got back to my car and changed my shorts and top, put on more sunscreen, and ran right into the group while they were taking the group photo. Good timing!
I hung out with WWM friends and then the race started around 9:00. I noticed right away that we went the wrong way on the course and wondered if our mileage would be off – we were supposed to leave the start and run the paved trail but we took the crushed stone trail. We completely missed the WWM sponsored water stop that was set up at the mile 1 marker (I had passed it several times during my 10 mile run). I really didn’t care if the course was short, just felt bad we were going to miss the WWM sponsored water stop!
I started with friends but was almost immediately by myself. I started toward the middle of the pack and passed a lot of folks in the first mile.
It was a gorgeous day! Low 60s, low wind, 80% humidity. Would have been too warm for a longer race, or a fast 5K.
My breathing was even and the effort felt easy. My first mile was 10:33.
I was happy to get off the crushed stone and back on paved trail. I carried my own water bottle and kept taking swigs of it. This park has almost no shade and the sun was intense! My second mile was 10:00.
I was running around kids and it always cracks me up how they sprint then walk. One kid took water at the mile 2 stop and tried to run with it, and I told him “It’s okay to walk and drink your water!” and he actually listened to me.
I felt really good at the end and saw one of my WWM friends ahead of me and ran up to her to encourage her. She stuck with me for a bit then I went ahead and finished the last mile in 8:48, passing another woman right before I finished. I thought I might have a chance in my age group (since most of the people seemed to be walking) but the age groups were 15 years, not 5 years, and I was 6th in 31-44 age group.
My final time was 29:43 for a 2.99 m course. I felt great when I finished, and proud of my effort. Being able to run a fast 5K (my average pace for my 10 miler was 11:35) after a long run felt encouraging for the marathon.
I got my medal, hung out with WWM folks and cheered everyone on, then got some snacks and left.
I just love this community I’ve found at WWM. It’s such a wonderful, supportive group.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention! Lorena (my friend and nail tech) was there and walked it with her daughter! I just love this pic she got of the three of us. Lorena joined WWM in the winter and has been consistently going since! I am so proud of her.
After the race I got groceries, and just left my bib and medal on. I had some fun convos about that at Aldi.
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
