• take the road less travelled: side roads, left, right, or straight without maps, makes it more fun to see more of the country side.
• never back track: on any hikes, driving or biking, we never go back the way we came. Sure, sometimes we go the long distance or go around in a circle but we never travel back.
• flip a coin: if we're not sure which way to go, flipping a coin makes the journey a little more interesting.
Our rules have taken us through some great journeys whether its in another country or just in our own neighborhoods. We've stuck by these rules for quite awhile and they have yet to fail us although this past weekend, we hit the trifecta of bad luck with these three rules.
• We randomly decided on a Saturday night to drive into Southern Belgium so we can do some snow hiking and castle touring.
• We randomly ended up in a small town called Bastogne to sleep for the night (we had no GPS or maps so we had to cross our fingers that we found a hotel)
• We woke up Sunday morning to the whole town covered in snow (and looking beautiful)
• We got into the car and randomly chose a small mountain road heading for La Roche, Belgium
• We drove into a small town called Bertogne and going down a small hill that involved a corner turn, the car decided to lose traction and wrap itself around a small brick wall...oops.
What made this even more "exciting" was the town: Bertogne where no one speaks English or Dutch...only French. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, we had to wait over six hours for the tow truck from the Netherlands to come. The weather was also -3 degrees Celsius (with snow intermittently)! We had to sit in the back of the car with the windows open to allow the airbag stink to get out.
On the plus side, we met an incredible woman (whose house was next to the crash) who welcomed us into her home for coffee and for us to use her bathroom. She kept coming out to check on us and would bring us warm waffles. Of course, we couldn't communicate with each other but she was so friendly and warm that we were really happy to have come across her path.
We also stumbled across a small pub (that opens at 2pm) where everyone helps themselves to their drinks and cash register, it was the honor system in a pub! Although we were the only guests that were not allowed to partake in this honor system but then again, I'm sure this town of fifty did not get too many tourists in their pubs!
It was a long day of sitting in the back of the car, watching everyone drive by and stop to ask us if we were OK (all in French, of course) but it ended up being a decent day. We were both safe (Marijn actually was totally fine while I ended up with all the bumps and bruises that will heal) and we both had the chance to really appreciate the kindness in strangers in a small village in Belgium.
I just think that on our next ventures, we might have to revise our traveling rules a bit :-)
• snow flowers - wanted a happy picture instead of a crash picture :)
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