This thread is meant to provide you with all the info you'll need for the coming Belgium bash, which is being held from the 15th of April to Monday the 18th of April. I will fill this thread with as much info as I can, but I'm prone to forgetting things so I'll update it every now and then, and I encourage everyone to ask stuff so I can figure it out whilst I still have loads of time.
General
As stated above, the bash is being held on the 15, 16, 17 and 18th of April in my parent's house in Belgium; my address and personal details will be handed out via PM, xfire (or similar) or email to all bash attendees.
In my previous thread I said I didn't mind people coming earlier or staying longer so they could get the most out of their holiday, and while I still don't I do realize now that I probably won't be around to show everyone around as I'm currently on a course where I have to work a full working day. If you can keep yourself occupied and supply your own food/clean up after yourself feel free to bring your missus over and crash around for a bit longer. I haven't discussed with my parents on how long they have to leave the house so let me know as soon as possible. (but you still have some time)
-Sleeping amenities
If my brother is away during the bash weekend there should be 6 beds available of which one is a double, for those of you that don't mind sleeping next to another man (or are too drunk to care) for the others there are two army-style field beds available and a small number of sleeping bags and camping mattresses and a large couch (which is very expensive so no fatties. sorry.) It depends on how many people show up but it's very likely that I can't give everyone something to sleep in. So unlike Grimbash where beds are distributed on a first come, first serve basis, you can reserve a sleeping place in this very thread so not everybody has to bring sleeping things and drag them across England and half of Belgium. I've decided to give one bed to Grimmie, prof and Bobbins (should they come) since Grimmie has paid for my food several times and given me a bed to sleep in at Grimbash, and prof and bobbins because they transported my sorry ass to Birmingham on several occasions. The other beds, you claim it you get it. Keep in mind that two of them might not be available, but I will do my very best to make sure that they are.
Transport
One of the very few advantages of living in Belgium is that due to it's size nothing is far off, and you will usually only be about 45 minutes away from where I live if you arrive by traditional means. Due to me being the only driver (provided I get my driver's license by then) I have to ask everyone to go to the station in my town first, where I will pick you all up.
-Eurostar
My preferred mode of transport, as it's fast, cheap and takes you right into the heart of Brussels (Brussels-South railway station) from where it's only 35 minutes by train to the station nearest my house. If you order your tickets well in advance a return trip will cost you around 55-70 quid (if you're under 25, otherwise it's about 10 quid more). If you order later I'm estimating it at around 100.
Update: You used to be able to travel to any Belgian station with your Eurostar ticket (on day of arrival and departure) but now they sadly charge extra for it, at the price of 5.50 pounds. If you simply buy a ticket at the ticket stand in Brussels you'll probably save some money, as it's about € 3.40 single journey to my town. If you pay the charge you might buy some time in order to catch a train (there are not that many trains going to where I live, about once per hour and twice per hour during busy hours), so it's up to you.
-Airplanes
If you come by airplane, make sure your destination is brussels airport, since cheaper companies often send you to what they call "Brussels South" which is actually in Charleroi and you really don't want to end up there.
-Boats
To be honest I don't really know much about the boat services to Belgium, except that there's a boat going to Oostende (Ostend) and Zeebrugge. I don't really expect anyone to arrive by boat though.
-Coaches
Another cheap option is the trusty coach. It's uncomfortable, smells of tramps, drives through France first and will take a decade to arrive. But it's cheap! I don't know much about companies that come here but your destination should be the Brussels-South railway station, same as where the Eurostar arrives. From there it's the same as when you would arrive by Eurostar. Train details will follow closer to bash date.
Stuff we can do
This is something that I'll have to update a lot but for now I'll just leave you with this link, I don't really know if it's any good but have a look and let me know. If you found other good websites just post them here and I'll add them. If you want to do something in particular, shout out and I'll look into it.
Theme Parks:
Since it seems to be a 5punk favourite, I'm going to post a short description of various theme parks. Theme parks might be a bit expensive, and there's too little of us to get a group discount, but I'm throwing it out there anyway. An added bonus is that you can get a train ticket which includes your ticket, entry to the park and going back home (more info here). I feel like I don't have enough driving experience to actually drive long distances yet, so train might the most viable option. We'd be stuck in traffic most of the time anyway.
-Efteling
A pretty big theme park with a fairy tale theme, but has lots of things adults can enjoy as well. A bit of a favourite of mine. The downside is that it's in Holland and getting there takes a while, so we'd have to leave real early. It is near the border though.
train ticket + entry is 39,60 EUR for under 25's or 42,90 for older. Not the cheapest option
-Bobbejaanland (site currently out)
Another favourite of mine, this is one of the oldest theme parks in Belgium and was founded by a musician with a thing for westerns, so it's mostly a western themed theme park. Not enormous but you can easily do everything in one day even if the queues are long.
Around 35 EUR for both under and over 25's
-Walibi
I've never been here myself, but it's been a six flags before, and before that it was Walibi, and now it's Walibi again. I don't get it myself.
Anyway, it's reasonably close but I can't recommend it as I've never been there.
Around 30 EUR for both age groups
Animal Parks
No rides here, but there are animals and 5punkers love animals, right?
-Zoo of Antwerp (no English language site, sorry)
Simply referred to as 'the zoo' by most Belgians, this is a fairly small zoo, but somehow they've managed to cram a reptile house, a bird cage, an aquarium, a dolfinarium, a noctuarium and a bunch of other things. Plus, they've got aardvarks.
A big bonus here is that it located right next to the Antwerp Central station and is therefore located in the heart of town, so if we're bored of the zoo we can just go grab some drinks or whatever in town.
About 25 EUR for both age groups.
-Para Daiza (no English here either)
Despite the stupid name, my favourite animal park (of the ones that I've so far visited). Started off as a bird park with only large bird cages and a lot of different birds and a bird of prey show. These are luckily all still there, but the park has expanded to include many more animals including the usual fare such as elephants and giraffes, but also otters, penguins, several 'monkey islands', an giant boat that is actually a reptile house and the newly opened Asian section of the park, I haven't seen what's in there yet. They also have macaws that fly around the park.
Around 25 EUR for both age groups.
Food and Drink
We'll need food, but seeing as how there's no front door delivery here we're going to have to take the car for everything bar one thing. As it happens there are exactly eight bikes in our garage so if people feel like taking a bit of exercise (pffft), we can do that too as all the bikes are in good shape, courtesy of my dad (or as I like to call him, bicycle repair man)
Dinner
-There is a Chinese restaurant right next to the station, the food isn't very good but it's very cheap and the restaurant is usually quite empty, I probably won't even have to make reservations. Alternatively we can order it and can pick it up, that gives us a 10% discount.
price range is between 10-20 EUR
-A bit further down the road (from the Chinese restaurant) there's an Italian restaurant, it's your classic Italian food, pretty good and the prices are between reasonable and somewhat pricey depending on what you order. It's usually full of people so if we decide to eat there we're going to have to make a reservation.
Take-away is possible, they do a bunch of pizzas (baked in a woodfire oven, om nom nom) and some pasta dishes, mostly between 10-25 EUR.
-Something we simply have to do is go and eat Belgian fries. The place I usually go to can be done on foot, but it's probably a bit too far, especially if it's raining. Belgian fries are traditionally somewhere between 'French fries' and chips, but recently they've become a lot thinner, I don't know why. The place I go to still does them pretty good mind.
I don't know absolutely certain about prices but it's probably the cheapest option.
-There's also kebabs. I don't need to explain kebab since it's the same everywhere you go.
-There's a 'proper' restaurant/ tavern not too far away, it could even be done on foot but it's a better idea to drive/cycle.
The food is pretty good, you've got a monthly menu which is pretty good eatin' normally but pretty expensive. They have a normal menu as well, this is a cheaper option with some less fancy food in it, such as croque monsieur (basically a ham and cheese toastie with some raw vegetables, comes in a variety of options), spaghetti, stew, etc...
It's also a very cosy place with some options for drink so we can just go there for drinking if we want to (or stay to drink after dinner). If we eat there we'll have to make reservations though.
prices vary, monthly menu food is usually around 20-30 EUR, normal menu between 15-20.
-If we want to make it even cheaper we can cook as well, our kitchen is fairly large and several 5punkers can cook in it at once, all we have to do is go and buy some stuff to cook and some brave soul can prepare it for us.
If the weather agrees with us we could even barbecue something as we have a big barbecue to cook stuff on. It works on charcoal though.
And off course there's all sorts of food to be had in the cities, knowing 5punkers this is most likely what will happen if I take you there.
Snacks, drink and breakfast
-For snacks, you can bring your own if you're willing to take it all the way here, but I'll probably do a snack and beer run on Friday, everyone who gets here on time can join me and choose whatever food and drink you want. I'll get our breakfast bacon here as well. We've got our own chickens so we usually have a large supply of eggs.
-Drink!
For our alcoholic drinks, I'll buy a couple crates of cheap beer since you lot will drink anything, but for every other type of beer there are two options:
A) We go to a cafe. Most cafes don't have a very large selection of beers, but I know one place that has over 300 kinds including very exclusive stuff. It's fair while away so we're either taking the bus or driving there (I'm still trying to get my license before then but it's looking less likely)
B)We order it from this place. They usually supply to restaurants, cafes and the like, but you can buy stuff individually as well. The site is sadly not in English, but if you want to look at the beers just click on 'bieren', there are the prices either per fles (bottle, in a crate) or vat (barrel). We only need to look at the crates because I haven't got anything to tap beer with.
That's it for now but I will update this thread when I've looked into more things. In the meantime, ask away!
Belgium Bash general info thread.
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Belgium Bash general info thread.
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