Belgium is a beautiful country. It was my second home for a while, I lived there for 3 beautiful years after I moved from Lebanon. I moved out of Belgium almost 6 years ago to start living in the U.S.A. Last month, I had to go to Belgium for work and it seems I was not fully prepared for the trip.
This post is not to complain about anything but to remind myself or others how to be best prepared before traveling from the US to Belgium.
You can keep the tips…to yourself
Yes, unlike the U.S, you pay exactly for the item price on the menu. You don’t have to tip anyone for the rendered service. I am not just talking about not tipping when you are eating out in restaurants; even your barista, cab driver, your hair dresser, your apartment cleaner, etc. Keep the tips to yourself or tip up to your discretion. That’s a positive thing in my opinion because those workers are getting a proper salary and not waiting for tips from clients.
In the US, you are expected to tip 20% of the total bill. Often times, when a party of 5 or more are being served then mandatory gratuity is applied. It can get very tricky and passive aggressive when you don’t like the service and you don’t tip enough. That sucks and is unfair towards the workers. I think the tipping mentality stems from the fact that it incentivises service workers to provide good service. If they do well, they get a fat tip. Well, if you are generous and happy you can still tip a Belgian waiter on top of his proper salary.
Pi$$ing costs money
If you want to use the toilet in Belgium, it is going to cost you some 40 or 50 Euro cents. In train stations you have to pay as well, but inside the train / during the ride, luckily, you don’t.
In restaurants, some will charge you even if you are having food there. Some will be free of charge as long as you sit and eat in the restaurant. Picking up a take-out order often times still requires you to pay to use the toilet. I am talking from experience.
All in all, keep some coins with you so you can use the toilet while on the go. While I don’t like this, I think they do that so that the homeless people don’t ruin the experience for everyone else.
Get the power plug adapter
Don’t forget your power plug adapter. Also note that the voltage in Belgium (like the rest of Europe) is 220 V. If you discover that you need a power plug adapter late, you can still salvage the situation and buy one from the airport, but know that you are buying it at a premium price (like most purchases from airport terminals).
Do you smoke?
If you smoke then you will feel at home. No one looks at you weird if you smoke while walking on the street. I felt the opposite: non-smokers stand out. You don’t have to step away 20 meters from an establishment before you could smoke. Additionally, you can smoke on your balcony. That’s not the case in most US rental properties who discourage tenants to smoke.
A funny anecdote related to smoking that I personally witnessed: while I was at a café, I saw a man smoking and drinking his coffee outside. He had his cigarettes pack on the table in front of him. A middle aged man approached him and asked for a cigarette. The man obliged and offered him a cigarette. Not 30 seconds later, another man approaches the same guy who was having his coffee and also asked for a spare cigarette. I looked and noted that if they see you smoking and you have your cigarette pack visible, then they will keep coming. Best thing is to hide your cigarette pack. I am not saying this out of frugality but just to save you from having to deal with a line of cigarette beggars.
Buy a beer and go for a walk
When I was drinking in a pub, I had to double check to see if I am allowed to grab my glass of beer and step outside. It was totally perfect. It is even legal to take your beer and go for a walk, sit on a bench under the sun (it is rarely sunny) and drink it. So, as far as I observed the law permits that and there seems to be no problems stemming from that fact. People did not get more violent because they drank on the street (moderately).
Know your credit cards pin codes
In Belgium, in small shops and restaurants, only credit cards with chip are accepted. Payment cards with magnetic strips alone are not going to work in 90% of the cases.
Depending on your bank, when you insert your card in the chip reader to pay you will most likely be asked to enter the PIN code. In the US, even if the chip code reader is used, you will rarely have to enter the PIN code unless you are using those cards in an ATM machines (for cash withdrawal). Therefore, if you don’t remember your PIN codes, contact your bank and have them send you the PIN codes by mail. I cannot stress that point enough!
In airports, since they are international, when you are paying with your chip card enabled credit card you will not need the PIN code. It is only when you are inside the country (as I said above).
…and btw, American Express is rarely accepted.
Manual transmission cars are the norm
The car market in Europe has more manual transmission cars than otherwise. This is kind of the reverse situation of what we have in the US. If you don’t know how to drive a car with manual transmission then your choice for cars with automatic transmission is limited.
I noticed that renting cars with automatic transmission tends to be more expensive and you have very limited choice. This is not the case in the U.S. Double-check that the vehicle you are renting is a manual transmission car and not an automatic one. Prices might go up for automatic transmission cars
Data roaming
Before your trip, make the necessary arrangements so you have free/affordable international data roaming plans. In the past, I was an (unhappy) AT&T customer. One day I accidentally left data roaming on while I crossed the border from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada and my email client checked the mail (downloaded around 2 MB). AT&T charged me close to 126$.
While AT&T was courteous enough to refund me, I could not wait to go back home and switch to a more modern operator such as T-Mobile. Good thing about T-Mobile is that you get free roaming with up to 3G speeds. If you are used to high speed internet on your phone, then you have to learn patience. In all cases, 3G is enough to open your navigation software and get by until you return back to your hotel.
Conclusion
Belgium is a beautiful country and I would love to retire some day in one of its cities on the countryside. I hope this article is useful so that you can make the best of your trip there!
You might also like: