Today is the National Holiday of Belgium. On 21 July 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha took the constitutional oath to become King of the Belgians. The 21st century is now 25 years old. In January 2025, the newspaper De Morgen looked at how the country has changed in a quarter century. Quite a…
Tag: Single
Tourism Flanders to tackle illegal Airbnb accommodations amidst housing shortage reality
Holiday accommodations will soon need to submit a conformity certificate from their local council before they can be recognized by Tourism Flanders (Toerisme Vlaanderen). The Flemish Government is strengthening its oversight in a bid to reduce the number of illegal short-term rentals, which includes a growing number of Airbnb accomodations, the world’s favourite tourism villain…
Belgians book Asia, vintage travel and boutique hotels for spring and summer 2025
Overtourism? Inflation? Worrying world events? What are those? According to the Association of Flemish Travel Agencies or Vereniging Vlaamse Reisbureaus (VVR) Belgians have already booked more holidays in 2025 compared to the same period last year.
SOLO TRAVEL | More expensive, but also some advantages
In the advent of Valentine’s Day 2025, Gazet van Antwerpen (GvA) analysed the situation of single people. The number of households consisting of one person is on the rise. While ‘living alone’ isn’t the same as ‘being alone’ (romantically), it’s an indication. GvA looks into housing, the fiscal situation… but also travel. Travelling solo is…
MONTREAL | Dining solo at Monarque felt like being part of a tv show
In May and June 2023, we travelled from east to west across Canada. From Halifax in Nova Scotia to Montreal in Quebec, to Toronto in Ontario, to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia. Along the way some night trains and commuter trains, the Niagara Falls and – imagine this – a bus journey. A true…
Night train advocates: VAT exemptions would result in much more attractive sleeper ticket prices
“A family of four making a return journey from Brussels to Vienna can save up to 139 euros on their night train ticket, or 15% of the original price”, Back On Track Belgium argues. On this return journey, the train saves 1.8 tonnes of CO2e compared with air travel for the whole family, or almost…
Antwerp Pride 2022 made big impact with Queertopia, monkeypox highjacked the festivities
It’s that time of the year again: Antwerp Pride and Antwerp Queer Arts Festival. Pride focuses on the second weekend of August: from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14. AQAF runs from 5 to 28 August. In 2022, Antwerp Pride turns 15 and looks 15 years into the future under the banner of ‘Queertopia‘. AQAF hasn’t…
Bratislava on a rainy Monday
Autumn 2021. In theory we could travel to other continents, but destinations we had in mind such as Japan or the United Kingdom were impossible to plan ahead. Instead we organised a rail trip to Eastern Europe, travelling to Berlin, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, Bratislava, Poprad, Vienna, Linz and Salzburg. By travelling to Germany,…
Hotel room for one
Autumn 2021. In theory we could travel to other continents, but destinations we had in mind such as Japan or the United Kingdom were impossible to plan ahead. Instead we organised a rail trip to Eastern Europe, travelling to Berlin, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, Bratislava, Poprad, Vienna, Linz and Salzburg. By travelling to Germany,…
SINGLES DAY | Why everyone should travel alone sometimes
Today is Singles Day. I am single. Sometimes I want to go somewhere but I can’t find a travel buddy to accompany me. That’s okay. Sometimes it’s good to travel on your own.
Trip By Trip 