Paul has already blogged about the stylish privacy-breaching arrangement in the basement of Belgo Belge...
Further to that, I offer the following (skip this if you are particularly fastidious or suffer from vertigo):
On the train from the Gare du Nord to the Airport I had occasion to use the equivalent facilities. Like most UK trains, the 'flush' is operated by a large rubber button on the floor. Unlike most UK trains, though - when I pressed said button, a small trapdoor hinged open and I was treated to a top-down view straight down the pipe and onto the rapidly-passing clinker beneath. It was a novel perspective.
Leaving these visceral matters and returning to the more familiar topic of airport security:
There are signs of the times even in the humble carrier bag. What with all the new restrictions on taking fluids onto aircraft, Brussels airport has subtly upgraded the carrier bags at the duty-free shop. The bags now have a peel-off strip which allows them to be sealed shut in a tamper-evident way with your booze and chocolates inside. One side of the bag is now clear, so that the contents (and the carefully-inserted receipt) can be inspected.
It's sad, but neat.
The number one travel accessory for the busy traveller is once again... the humble ear-plug.
All hotels must, by some undisclosed international law, have at least one room located directly over a point where a truck-full of shouting men have a bottle-flinging contest some time between 2am and 4am. The bottles may be packed into crates, but may also be in a giant recycling bin, or (optionally) a few dozen individual bottles for an extended period of 'freestyle' flinging.
Interestingly, at least one such fixture must take place on the first night of your stay... though similar contests can also occupy subsequent early-morning sessions.
I have not yet established whether the traveller, too, can participate by flinging empties of his own out of the window... but if I ever forget my earplugs, I'm going to find it extremely hard to resist.
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