Work trip to Bornem, Belgium - 6th to 8th November 2006

Another trip to sunny Bornem, this one was defined by the incompetence of a certain British airline - that is almost their name in fact - British Airlines or something. They managed to cancel my flight, then to "misplace" my bag.

Never mind though, it only took them 2 days to reunite me with it, by which time I picked the bag up, and carried it straight back home again. In the meantime, there were at least a dozen flights between London and Brussels, most of which they failed to put my bag on. And, I also spent about 2 hours on hold on the phone to them, trying to find out what on earth was going on. So, a 2-night trip to a very small town, with just the clothes I was standing up in, and no toiletries - not ideal.

One experience I did unexpectedly have was of Belgian railways - who unsurprisingly seemed to be much better than their UK counterparts. Even a small town like Bornem, on a single-track branch line, has 2 trains an hour to connect to busier lines into Brussels and elsewhere. The trains are on time, clean, and reasonably fast given the number of stops they make.

The place was a good degree colder than London, with a real wintery air - foggy and crisp in the air. Coupled with the fresh country air, this was a good way to clean the system, even if I was unable to wear any clean clothes! British Airlines, you should be ashamed of yourselves!