🇧🇪 Fam Trip to Belgium 🇧🇪

Fam trip to Ypre - Belgium

27th - 29th Feburary 2024

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

As a lot of you know I work for a coach company and as part of that I help organise school trips abroad including the battlefields. A trip came up for us travel agents to Belgium and of course I jumped at the chance! I had only worked for the company for 5 weeks, luckily I have amazing colleagues who took me under their wing! I've never been to Belgium before and what a good way to build my travel knowledge by experiencing it first hand!

I am so grateful to be working in an industry that I love and being able to go on trips with my work is definitely the cherry on the top of the cake! We left on 27th Feb, got the coach to dover. As a coach company we transported some of the other travel agents, making a few stops on the way to Dover. We went on the P&O ferry (My first trip on a ferry - sea sick 🤢). The boat rocked a bit as the water got rough at times and I didn't enjoy it too much but P&O kindly gifted us the club lounge where we were offered a glass of bubbly! The lounge then provided us with a fish and chip lunch - it was AMAZING!

I was so hungry by the time we had boarded the ferry so I was even more grateful for some food! Once we arrived into Belgium we got back onto the coach and travelled to the hotel - I got a lush double room to myself!

We checked in and had a little bit of time to unpack in the room before heading off to In Flander's Fields Museum where there was a short introduction around what they offer for our school groups and then we were allowed to explore the museum ourselves - We also got name badges with our itinerary plan for our trip.

The museum was really good, I found it super interesting and learnt a lot about what went on in the battlefields. The museum was very interactive and the staff were so knowledgable.

Once we had taken some photos and explored the museum we went into the museum cafe for a reception. This is where our partners from visit Flanders, Tourism and In Flanders Museum done a talk and we had a really nice nibble board too!

We headed back to our hotel room for an hour or so and got changed into something nice and then we had dinner at depot. Dinner was really nice and we enjoyed a glass of wine before heading over to a local pub to try the local beer! We were given a voucher at dinner for a free pint, would be rude not to! We didn't stay out too late as we had such a busy day ahead so I had a quick shower and jumped into THE BIGGEST AND MOST COMFORTABLE bed you ever did see.

Day 2 was our main day, this included lots of other museums, attending the last post ceremony and dinner at Yperley - very posh!

We started with breakfast in the hotel of course, I had a really nice fry up and some orange juice, my blood sugars had been playing up since I had been away so I did sneak a choccy milk into my bag for later.

Boarded the coach at around 8:30am and headed to Passendaele Museum 1917.

I LOVED passendaele, I have always been interested in the war as my grandad was in WW2 and my great grandad was in WW1. They have this new immersive experience which we got to look at and it was very good. The room felt like you were on the battlefields and gave a really raw and realistic view of what happened during the war.

We spent a couple of hours at Passendaele, they had some trenches which we walked through, it felt very strange picturing the past while we walked along. we had a guide who showed us around and gave us a lot of information regarding the museum.

At around 10:45am we all boarded the coach to our next museum to visit - Hooge Crater.

Hooge Crater is a private museum in Ypre which has a new viewing point called The Front Eye - This viewpoint shows the Hill 60, Hill 62, Sanctuary Wood and Hooge Crater Cemetery.

After having a good look around the museum we all gathered to have some lunch. We had a lovely Cheese and Ham sandwich with salad - The biggest pieces of bread I have ever seen! I would have taken a photo but I was so hungry.

Once lunch was done we all headed back to the coach ready for the next visits. We visited Hill 60, Caterpillar crater, Tyne cot and The Yorkshire trench. Here we had a guide and took time to take in the information. It felt very strange walking on the exact fields where thousands of soldiers were killed, I felt really emotional.

Next up was Talbot house - A unique British World War 1 Soldier's club that still holds the authentic atmosphere of the time. We had a look around and again we had a really knowledgable guide who took us around the house and we were shown the places they ate and relaxed. You can actually stay at Talbot House, it is like stepping into history. I really enojyed Talbot house, I think as it is all laid out like it was in WW1 you could really feel what it was like back then. I would definitely recommend if you're in Belgium!

We enjoyed some lovely tea and cake at Talbot house before finishing our tour around 5pm. We boarded the coach back to Ypre and visited Chocolaterie Peter De Groote, This is where my colleagues have been sending our school groups for a long time so our company has a very good relationship with them.

It was nice to meet them as I am obviously new and it was my first time visiting - He made us up a little goodie bag each with lots of different chocolates and ginger bread. - they were AMAZING.

I headed back to my room after the chocolate shop as we had sometime to chill before attending the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate.

The Last Post, the traditional final salute to the fallen, is played by the buglers of the Last Post Association in honour of the memory of the soldiers of the former British Empire and its allies, who died in the Ypres Salient during the First World War (1914-1918).

It is the intention of the Last Post Association to maintain this daily act of homage in perpetuity.

Every evening at exactly 8 o’clock, the police halt the traffic passing under the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in the Belgian city of Ieper to allow the buglers to play their simple but moving tribute. Everyone can attend this Last Post Ceremony free of charge, without the need for prior reservation, unless you wish to actively participate.

At around 7:45 we met in the hotel lobby and headed to the Menin gate to attend the last post.

I found the last post lovely - I think it is amazing that they do this daily to remember the fallen. I had a tear in my eye! After the Last Post we headed to Yperley - This was our last dinner of the trip, it was very posh!

Dinner was amazing! We had a lovely 3 course meal. I had a few drinks with some of the girls from the trip, I made a few friends which was lovely. I was lucky as I had my colleagues, some of them travelled alone! We went into town for a few local beers but I didn't stay out late, the last day consisted of the hostels which we sell to the school groups and the last thing I wanted to be was hanging!

I had a lovely sleep, can't beat a king size bed!

We enjoyed another nice breakfast at the hotel before checking out - I felt sad to be leaving but my father had been taken into hospital so I did want to get back. We left the hotel at 08:30am! No such thing as a lay in on this trip!

The groups were split into 2 as some of the others were in Belgium to visit hotels - They were travel agents for different companies.

Me and my colleagues headed to the first hostel by foot (it was only around the corner)

We visited 5 different hostels that we sell - These aren't the only ones we sell but the main ones.

The hostels were Salient 1&2, Poppies 1&2 and De lep. We then headed to one more hostel before heading back to the ferry.

We then arrived at Peace Village at 12:30pm our group was split into 2. one group enjoyed a free drink while the other had a tour and then we swapped. On the tour the hostel owner showed us around and we looked at the different facilities the hostel has to offer our groups. There was this amazing statue by the entrance of soldiers shaking hands.

We then headed to the dining room for some much needed lunch. This was a cold buffet with chicken, pasta and lots of different meats and breads.  - I struggled with controlling my sugars as there was a lot of walking. There wasn't any shops in Ypre either so finding sugar was difficult unless you wanted Belgium chocolate lol. luckily I did bring a bag with some Jammie dodgers to get me through the trip!

We boarded the coach at around 14:00 for Dunkirk, we travelled back with DFDS. I loved raiding the duty free for my Chloé perfume.

Once boarded we then went into the resturant on board the ferry for some dinner. The ship was very unsteady coming home, there was a lot of shaking which I hated. It put me off food as I was scared I would throw it back up. Luckily as we got food the rocking stopped, I had Fish and Chips.

After a short journey on the ferry we were back in the UK and headed home on the coach, we had lots of stops so it was a very long day but I had the best time in Belgium.

I really enjoyed the trip, it was very tiring but I learnt so much. I am really sorry for the longest blog but I wanted to share everything I got up to!

Keep an eye out for my next blog - I am trying to catch up and share each trip I go on!

Chloe x