Best Western Atlantis Hotel Genk

... section which was through a separate set of glass doors. I sat down and had a pipe while I drank my water. Shortly after this I was joined by a couple who sat across from me and struck up a conversation (I think it was Dutch). I stoked another pipe and, not knowing the protocol in a coffee shop I did what we do in the UK - if you are smoking with peeps u don't know, pass it round. Both abstained (pipes are notoriously unpopular but I hate tobacco ...

... me missing As). Even this mistake was quickly corrected now that I had a map (I couldn't tell where the sun was anyway).
I crossed back into the Netherlands about 330 (although I don't remember the sign) and was in Maastricht around 30 minutes later. It has got to be one of the Nicest places I have yet been, and the full swing of late Xmas night shopping as dusk fell made the atmosphere even more convivial.
I was again heading for a hostel because I had ...

... and filling our heads with fairy tales. We then headed back to Emil's pretty great student apartment, before heading out for a Greek dinner (Emil, Claus and I) and then to a pub for some pretty good Danish beer. We were joined later by Claus's lovely girlfriend, Louisa, and her friend, Charlotte. It was a great evening with great company, and for those who may be wondering, both Claus and Emil are in fine form and doing very well. Odense is a pretty city, and despite the huge ...

... bad, but considering everything I did today, it was a long day.

Coming up the stairs I met our neighbor lady, Rosvitta. She is a talker, but very nice. She's the lady that cooked that traditional German dinner a couple weeks ago. I told her all about my day, and she was happy for me and kept telling me how my time here is just going to fly. She also said that if I ever get homesick I can always come back here to my family. That was ...

After popping into and out of Germany, we were now back in Belgium. It was beginning to get a bit dark, and we still had at least 200 miles left to drive.

Gaz's motor was struggling, and threatening to overheat, so we stopped to let it cool down.

With the vehicles all decorated with stickers, we attracted a bit of attention, and a Belgian couple took our ...

... on.

We stopped at one point, because the roadbook wasn't very clear, at which point Gaz and Charlotte came up behind us. They had been left behind by the V8s, as they were in a Series vehicle, so we said we'd stick with them.
At this point, Kieran noticed a strange noise from our engine, which was duly investigated by James. It was diagnosed as the fan belt tensioning pulley. But we didn't do anything about it at the time.

... money on alcohol and hang on the streets and try to make silly things with the things we had as disguise. Mainly, nobody reacted... they simply either ignored us, didnt laugh or had a bad mood. Stupid belgian. It was at least a relief when we managed to get a smile. Later Gil surprisingly called me to wish me a Happy Birthday, I was surprised and I wasnt expecting news from her... and that brought into me the will to meet her again before I would leave ...

... amazement we saw that the sign on the black iron fence above the enclosure confirmed it was indeed a ‘Tasmaanse Buidelwolf’.

Perhaps in a bid to prevent the Dutch caging us up like our presumed-extinct local friend, we decided to flee from the Netherlands entirely, though just for the rest of the day. After hiring bicycles we had barely pedalled our way out of the western edge of the town before ...

Dit is de start van een nieuw leven! Een jaar lang weg uit de omgeving die voor mij gedurende 18 jaar zo bekend is geworden. Die bekende omgeving ga ik nu verlaten en ga nieuwe horizonten opzoeken. Spannend? Eng? Ik denk een beetje van beiden. Maar dat wil niet zeggen dat ik het niet meer zie zitten.

De laatste dagen zijn hier wel wat vreemd geweest, de dag komt ook zo dichtbij. Afscheidsfeestje is geweest voor vrienden en familie. Want ik ga ...

... there at 10pm. We went back to the house, ate, wash, change and relax and came back to Leuven where I visited a bit the city with my map. After I met with the friend of Gil and we both went to knock at her door. We walked more in the city, tasted some beers, stand at some cafés and returned home. I got another date at 12h tomorrow... Im really in love but Im definitly fearing the answer: ''it could work but... we are far away etc...'' I'm sick ...