our F O U R country day

It was supposed to be a quick day trip to antique shop in Tongeren, Belgium.
This could probably be a five-part series on how not to travel.
Instead, I am putting it in one to maybe paint the picture of how long a day it was...

We got up early. It felt really early especially staying up the night before watching a Highland Scotties football game online.

Ty had to work, so we decided to take the little guys plus the dog.
Ugh.

Oh, well.

It was supposed to be under three hours and looked like a straight shot on the map. With Jim in Alabama, he took our GPS. 

I borrowed a GPS from a friend with only the German maps. I knew this, but thought after looking at the corner of Germany to our intended destination in Tongeren that I could get us there- no problem- using a real map.

That was my first mistake. I should have known it was not going to be a straight shot.
Nothing in Europe is a straight shot. I know better.

The drive was pleasant until we left Germany and knew we might be a little off track. We kept driving {past our expected ETA} then noticed a sign welcoming us to the NETHERLANDS.

Oops.

We were only planning on Belgium, not another country.
No biggie- it was another check on the list- our {first} bonus country. 

After several other wrong turns, a gas-station stop to ask a Dutch attendant for help, no TONGEREN signs and driving in circles, we got back on track and actually made it to the flea market. Problem was we were there with less than an hour left in the market. I think we might have even had less than a half hour.
Our two-and-a-half-hour trip was now probably up to almost five {or more} hours one way.

The littles were not happy.

Everyone was hungry- including the tante. I had to keep reminding them {all} that surely we would stop at the first McDonalds that we found.

We decided I could come back any time- mom and Marine needed to get out and shop.

We found a parking lot at a grocery store and carefully backed in to the itty-bitty space. Coleman, Caden, Lady and I slowly made our way up to the market to find something to eat. 
Food always helps everyone when we are traveling.

We found a nice Belgian waffle place which helped almost everyone.
Mom and Marine found some really cool treasures in spite of power shopping.

We made our way back to the car and ran into even more troubles getting out of the parking lot. The arm of the exit went up and down before I could drive out.

Of course, it would not work again and we were stuck in front of a long line of cars trying to leave the parking lot.

This is Europe- most things are somewhat difficult especially with a language barrier.
Finally, an impatient man behind us got out of his car and swiped his card to free us.

We were on our way.

No more than five minutes down the road, we heard a loud clang. Realizing Lady's metal water dish was left on top of the van and was now bouncing down the old Belgian road was the least of our concerns.

It was good for a laugh.

Oh, our fun was not over.

Getting back into Germany proved to be even more difficult.
I did not think that was possible.

Gas on the economy is extremely expensive- at least double the price we pay for our rationed gas which about $4.10 a gallon. We can get our rationed gas at Esso stations in Germany.

I thought we had plenty of gas to make it to our planned lunch stop: Bastogne, Belgium. Why not throw some history into a trip we were already taking?

We would buy a little gas on the economy to get us to Germany, then fill up at an Esso.

What we did not know was that Bastogne {a major WWII city} was super small in the middle of no where.

We passed up an exit thinking there had to be a city center. Lunch would be good. We would have gas and be on our way.

It didn't work that way. We buzzed past Bastogne.

No lunch. No gas.

We were in the middle of no where and took a chance taking the next exit.

No gas there either and the gas light was now on.

I'm known for getting low on gas, but even I was a little nervous at this point. I am not sure I have ever driven with the light on for so long.

Remember, at this point- we were still in Belgium with no GPS.

All we could do was try to go in the right direction.

Plus, it was a Sunday- everything was closed.

At a small cafe, we stopped and asked some ancient Belgian Opa's where to get gas. They pointed us down the road. At this point, even I was worried we would run out of gas.

The grandma, the aunt, two littles, the dog and I headed down the road.
Ahh, we found the gas station. We made it, or so we thought.

We waited our time in line, the pulled up to the pump. Without an attendant, it was sort of like a pay at the pump if there is such a thing over here.

There was one machine at the end. We watched a man in front of us fill up after several attempts at getting his card to work.

I noticed from his license plate that he was from Bitburg- an army base Germany.
Another American who spoke English, what a relief.

We asked if he would wait until we made sure our card would work before he left. He graciously stayed with us to watch our card {or any of our five cards between Mom, Marine and I} would work.

None worked.

By this time, the line to pay was backing up. We still had no gas- you have to pay ahead. They were impatient {more french-like than german} and getting restless.

One lady told us to get to the back of the line. He calmly said we were not getting in back.

We tried to use his card, which would not work either- in spite of the fact that he had just used it to fill up.

A woman behind us agreed to use her card, we would pay her cash. Hers did not work either. Unbelievable.

She said there was another gas station down the road, we could follow her if we wanted to. Of course, we were already coasting on fumes, but we had no choice.

We finally made it to the second gas station where Marine's card worked just fine. We pumped and were on our way with directions to what we thought was a McDonalds just down the road.

Not so.

Not only did we not find a McDonalds, we found nothing but a beautiful cathedral. Yes, the boys were thrilled when I pointed it out to them.

Hungry, tired and kinda lost- we kept on.

At least we had gas.

About this time, we saw a sign welcoming us to LUXEMBOURG and call from Ty asking where we were. We were supposed to be picking him up from work. He was more than a little surprised when I instead told him we were trying to get back into Germany.

"You're not in Germany?" was his reply.
Nope.

Adding Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany- it wasn't a four-star day, but  a four-country day. 

I told Ty to get a taxi home, we would eventually make it back.

Following the signs and the map, we did make it to Germany and eventually home.

We had Ty order and bring home food from our Burgerstube down the road.

A McDonalds or any other fast-food restaurant was no where to be found.
No Sonic in every small-town village over here- that's for sure.

Seriously, this is Europe. 

I couldn't make their entire trip so easy. This was my life for the first year we lived here!

Our schnitzel and flamkuchen was delicious.

We were exhausted and relieved to be home.

I think Caden might perhaps be scarred.
He did let me know more than a few times if I had gotten gas when he told me to {back in Belgium} that this would have never happened.

He is his daddy's boy and his brother's {Justin} clone.

I don't think when I go back to Tongeren that anything I might say can convince them to go.
I'll take my man instead- he missed out on this party.

Always an adventure.
Always.