Brussels Train

We left our hotel around 9PM after dropping off our bags in our room and went back across the street to the airport to catch the train into the city center.

The ground floor was Level 3, so we took the escalators down to Level -1 where the train station was located.

My father knew the ticket kiosks wouldn't work with the credit cards he had in his wallet. Fortunately, the ticket counters were open and accepted our credit cards.

For €8.50/adult, we had tickets for the next train. Children ride for free (as they should). The bar code on the ticket was required to scan through the gates to head down to the platforms.

The train was waiting at the platform a few minutes before the scheduled 9:13 departure time.

As you can see, it may not be completely obvious which train you should take, so you're best off doing research on their website in advance (or just asking someone).

We boarded early and found the car to be almost completely empty. The seats were set up as 4 person sections, each with a small table. Much better than the E train taking you from JFK Airport into Manhattan! Also note: we were wise to keep our tickets with us after boarding, because eventually someone came around to check them.

The Songer Girls going into the city for a Saturday night out.

After 20 minutes and 2 stops later, we were pulling into Central Station and heading to the famous Brussels Grand Place.

Flying Brussels Airlines

Our flight to Brussels was supposed to depart Tel Aviv at 3:55PM on Saturday. Knowing how long security lines can take at Ben Gurion Airport, we arrived a bit after 1PM to make sure we had enough time to clear 3 sets of security.

As it turned out, we only needed about 45 minutes to check in, so we decided to spend some more time with my grandfather who drove us to the airport from Haifa.

Our flight ended up being unofficially delayed as we didn't board until 3:40PM, well after the 3:05PM posted on the boarding pass.

Nevertheless, we took our seats when boarded started and came prepared for a 5 hour flight without meal service, in-flight entertainment units, Wifi or electrical power outlets. We took our seats in the Economy section in Row 13. This airline had the European style "slim" seats that were perfectly comfortable, though meant we didn't have personal entertainment systems in the seat backs.

The rows weren't that close together according to my father, but that might be more attributable to his abnormally short legs rather than thoughtful spacing by the airline.

I, on the other hand, wasn't so concerned about legroom. Upon boarding, I was immediately given a nice little kid's welcome package by the flight attendant. Plus, my grandfather also bought me a Disney Princess coloring/sticker book. What a great way to keep me well-behaved!

Some "surprises" on board during the flight itself.

The Good: everyone getting a surprise dinner. Chicken, cous-cous and steamed vegetables.

The Bad: the overhead monitors never showed any entertainment - just the route map.

The Ugly: a fully grown 36 year old father playing 5 hours of Bubble Witch on his iPad.

Since we didn't board on time, it was 8:40PM by the time we landed - about an hour after we were originally scheduled to land. That meant one hour less for my family to spend in the city that night before the last train back to the airport. But on the positive side, we were able to quickly clear customs and check into our hotel within 15 minutes of landing. Not too bad!

Planning for a Brussels Layover

By the time most of you are reading this, we have likely departed Tel Aviv on our return flight home. To save some money, we decided to take a connection, stopping in Brussels, Belgium for the night before getting on our 10AM Sunday flight back to Newark.

Because of how the westbound flights are scheduled, we'll have to overnight in Belgium, so we booked the Sheraton Brussels Airport hotel for $104 Saturday night. Given the hotel was just "39 steps" from the airport and providing complimentary breakfast for being SPG Platinums (valued at about $30 USD), this hotel choice was a no-brainer.

It also meant that we might be able to sneak in a few hours visiting downtown Brussels, but a lot would depend on if our flight would arrive on time (7:45PM) and if we could clear customs and check our bags at the hotel quickly enough.

Fortunately, there's a train from the airport into central Brussels (Gare de Bruxelles-Central) that took less than 30 minutes and costs €8.50 ($9.50 USD) each way for adults. Kids under 12 years old are free. Cash and major credit cards are accepted.

TripAdvisor has some guidance for travelers:

"Make sure you have a ticket that includes the Diabolo supplement, that is required for all journeys to/from the airport. 

A train to all 3 main Brussels stations (Nord/Noord, Central/Centraal and Midi/Zuid) runs from the airport station located at the -1 level of the terminal. When you get out of the arrival hall, take the lift or escalator on your right to go down, and you’re there. 

 Tickets can be bought at the counter in the train station hall. In case they are closed, a ticket can be bought from vending machines (they only accept Maestro cards). If boarding a train without a ticket, it can be bought on board, but notify the attendant when getting on the train, to avoid paying a fine. You can also order tickets online (but if not a Belgian citizen, they must be printed out) at www.nmbs.be"

Assuming we're able to buy tickets from the counter (we don't have Maestro cards), we'll walk 5 minutes from Gare de Bruxelles-Central to the Grande Place (main square), which looks beautiful at night.

The challenge will be finding a nearby place to eat that with mussels (even though they're out of season) that isn't a complete tourist rip off - think annoying vendors flaunting plastic laminated menus available in multiple languages.

Based on some research, the best place to go is Chez Leon near the Grande Place, which is a well recommended restaurant on many of the travel websites. But if it's crowded on a Saturday night, we're not sure if we'll have time to wait for a table, given the trains back to the Airport stop running at 11:25PM.

A taxi to the airport will cost about €50 ($56 USD). So clearly getting that last train is the best option unless we're really enjoying our time in Brussels. We'll just play it by ear. [Update: It seems like UberPop is available in Brussels and will cost just €16-21 one way to the Airport. We love Uber outside of NYC.]

Worst case scenario, I'm sure we can find a place that sells late night Belgian fries or waffles.

Researching New Airlines - Brussels Airlines

Flight #112 - Brussels Airlines 3290
Tel Aviv (TLV) – Brussels (BRU) 
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Depart: 3:55PM / Arrive: 7:45PM
Duration: 4hr 50min
Aircraft: Airbus 320
Seat: 13A, 13B, 13C (Economy)
Earned: 2,022 miles 
Lifetime Miles: 206,861 miles 

Later this afternoon, I'll be flying back from Israel via Belgium. While I've flown several of the Star Alliance Airlines (Aegean, Air Canada, Asiana, Lufthansa, Swiss, Thai, Turkish and United), this will be my first time flying Brussels Airlines.

While the flight is relatively long (almost 5 hours), there aren't many large planes in the Brussels Airline fleet. On this particular flight from Tel Aviv, we're on an A320 aircraft, which runs pretty small (~175 passengers). Normally, we don't really care what kind of plane we're flying on (provided it seats more than 8 passengers), but we did care about what our on board experience might be like.

Specifically, we wanted to see what flight amenities (or lack thereof) we should prepare for, so my father jumped on Seatguru.com earlier this week.

Scrolling down, we saw that our Row 13 seats were right behind the exit row in standard Economy seats. No huge red flag so far...

But then we went over to the side to see the In-Flight Amenities and clicked on Video. Uh oh...

1. Video
The small A320 didn't have individual entertainment systems for this 5 hour flight. Apparently, this aircraft still has the "shared video monitor" system that opens from the ceiling.

I'm not a fortune teller, but I'm pretty confident saying that they won't be showing "My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic" on the big screen.

So we'll just have to make sure that all our iPads are fully charged and loaded with a few hours worth of movies/shows for this flight segment.

2. Food
When you click on the Food tab on Seat Guru, we saw that there was only a snack given to Economy passengers. We could have also seen the absence of an on-board meal on the View Reservation page on United.com.

So while slightly disappointing, at least we know in advance that we need to (a) try to eat before we board and (b) bring snacks on board in case we get hungry. Ideally, we'll have a big enough lunch where we can hold out for a late dinner in Brussels (~9PM Tel Aviv time), but chances are, my toddler tummy will start grumbling well before that.

3. AC Power Outlet (or lack thereof)

The challenge with not having individual video screens will undoubtedly put pressure on our iPads to keep us entertained for the 5 hours flight. Now, I don't know about you, but my father can only play Bubble Witch for so long before he gets frustrated by Morgana.

I suppose we could download a few full length movies, but chances are, our batteries will not last more than 1 film, so having an AC outlet would be huge. Unfortunately, it would also be unavailable. Nothing worse than getting to the final 15 minutes of a movie, only to have the power cut out.

4. Wifi (or lack thereof)

The other main in-flight amenity that we were looking for was wifi. However, there was no tab for this feature, so we'll just assume the aircraft is not equipped for it. Not a huge deal as there's not that many productive things to do on the internet for 5 straight hours.

So this Brussels Airlines flight will probably be a good reminder to appreciate how spoiled we've been flying on well-equipped United flights and the occaisional premium cabin award flights!

Dado Beach with Grandpa

We wrote last year about the great Haifa beaches along the Mediterranean Sea. People love talking about the French Riviera and the Greek Islands, but Israel's not to be overlooked either. So when we visit my mother's hometown, we just have to spend some time at the beach.

The weather here on our trip so far has been pretty mild for June standards. Not super hot enough to want to run into the water. But 80 degrees is perfect for some nice walks along the beautiful promenade area of Dado Beach.

Here are some photos from my recent day at the beach with my grandfather.

 

Shawarma Amir

Last year, we posted something about the delicious street food you will find in Israel. I'm not going to re-hash the details, but one of our favorite meals here in shawarma (also known as doner kebab in some cultures).

For those of you that don't know what shawarma is, it is meat roasted on a rotating spit where it is then shaved off into a sandwich or wrap. The meat can be lamb, beef or chicken. Lamb seems to be most popular here, but that's not based on any statistical evidence a 3.5 year old could track down.

Introduction
Whenever we visit my grandparents in Haifa, we always make a stop at Shawarma Amir, located on a busy road (Hahistadrut Blvd), across from the Lev Hamifratz shopping mall and the Yes Planet movie theater.

This place is my father's favorite. First, because their shawarma tastes great and fresh. Second, because the place is always kept very clean. Third, because the workers there speak English.

And also, because the staff members seem to "remember" my father as a loyal, returning customer. I use quotes, because we always think they remember my distinctly Asian looking father whenever we come in, but then they always ask questions suggesting they really don't, such as "Hey! Did you just arrive into town?" when we were actually there a few nights earlier. Nevertheless, we'll keep going back.

Oddly enough, Amir doesn't seem to have a website or internet presence at all. Not even on my father's beloved TripAdvisor. So on this trip, we decided to take a few photos and write Amir's first review.

Location
As I mentioned, Amir is located on a busy street (Hahistadrut Blvd) across from the Lev Hamifratz shopping mall and the Yes Planet movie theater. In fact, if you ever wanted to find this place, searching for "Yes Planet Haifa" is probably the easiest way as you cannot find Amir on Google Maps.

Plus, the storefront is quite nondescript and would not be easy to find unless you could read Hebrew. There's limited parking outside

Interior

Whatever the exterior lacks in "welcome factor," the spotless interior really makes my American-side feel comfortable as there's always a worker constantly cleaning up each table after a patron leaves (unlike many other shawarma places you're lucky if there's only a few pieces of food on your chair). And speaking of chairs, there is plenty of seating available at Amir. 

Ordering
Since the place only has shawarma, it's not too hard to order, but here's the menu (in Hebrew) just in case. Apologies about the glare, but that's where you would start reading. Going from the upper right corner and reading left, the first item is shwarma with options for pita (sandwich) for 31 sheckles, laffa (wrap) for 36 sheckles or platter for 47 sheckles. That would be about $8.23, $9.56 and $12.48 USD at current exchange rates. So definitely not cheap by street food standards, but infinitely better than going to McDonald's.

My father orders a pita each time as the laffa is pretty big. After you tell them the size, you tell them what toppings you want (like at Subway). A variety of vegetables come with the shawarma which include: cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, eggplant, parsley, pickled turnips, pickled gherkins, pickles, rhubarb and cabbage. Amir has a large variety of toppings, including several sauces (including garlic, hummus, amba and hot oil).

Customer Service
After you order, while they're packaging the food, one of the workers there will offer you a complimentary shot of Arabic coffee. Seems to be an Arabic tradition at shawarma places. My mother loves the strong Arabic coffee. My father loves the "free" part.

We ordered take out, so they filled a bunch of containers with the popular vegetables, such as pickles, olives, pickled cauliflower/carrots, cabbage, tomatoes and onions. We also ordered a side of french fries and asked for a few cups of tahini and amba sauces.

The Food
The photo here won't do the shawarma justice because it's hidden inside a fresh pita along with a coating of hummus, cabbage and hot sauce. But trust my father when he says it was absolutely delicious.

And just in case my father wanted to explore a second career...

Michelle Falafel

After having one of the best falafel's my parents have had at Ha Ezkenim the other day, my father was curious to try the next-door competitor across the street, Michelle Falafel.

Here are the reviews on TripAdvisor, which ranks it as the #5 restaurant in Haifa.

My mother didn't understand why we would venture to try a different falafel place when we knew that Ha Ezkenim was so good, but my father's epicurean curiosity wouldn't subside. So they went back while they were running some errands in the city.

Unlike Ha Ezkenim (which is more authentic "hole in the wall"), Michelle is newly remodeled and has a more commercial feel like a frozen yogurt chain. I know many of you millennial readers will gag reading that, but rest assured this place is not a chain. In fact, the owner lives in the back in the connecting apartment.

The positive side of the bright green decor was that it was immaculately clean, slightly more spacious and welcoming. If my mother had not been not raised in Israel and used to it, I'm sure she would pick Michelle because it looks a lot more sanitary and had better seating for guests.

However, she also immediately picked up on the fact that Michelle was a lot more earnest and not as "over the top" outgoing-friendly as the team at Ha Ezkenim. To be clear, it wasn't a negative vibe at all. It was more that you felt like you were going to a nice place to have a snack at Michelle, versus going to your long-time family friend's falafel place at Ha Ezkenim.

Just like at the other place, my parents were given the free sample falafel ball to try. My mother gave it a thumbs up approval, so we knew we were in good hands at Michelle.

They had a similar toppings bar as well, though Michelle also had beets as a topping. Additionally, and most importantly, Michelle had a wide variety of sauces above and beyond the standard hot oil, including harissa (a Tunisian hot chile pepper paste) and a green garlic sauce. Lots of sauces really make my father's day.

Prices were slightly higher here than Ha Ezkanim (literally just 1 sheckle more, aka $0.35). Plus, Michelle also accepts credit cards (Visa and Mastercard).

 But it's hard to complain when you can get a very filling half pita for 9 sheckels ($2.38 USD).