Brussels Airport

An Uber ride with a Brussels Airport worker

The Uber driver taking us from Brussels central train station to our hotel was on duty  Wednesday only because he couldn’t go to his regular job out at the airport.  President Donald Trump was scheduled to land in Air Force one at Brussels Airport on his way to attend a NATO summit meeting and the driver said his airline had canceled flights for the day.

I asked him if he had been working at the airport the day of the terrorist attacks last March.  He had. And had lost a friend who was working the ticket counters that day. It took him six months and a lot of therapy to get back to work, he said, and he knows many passengers are still choosing not to travel to through Brussels.

I didn’t ask him if the Manchester terrorist attack was giving him new nightmares, but as we drove through town, past clusters of police and armored vehicles in the streets in advance of Trump’s visit, he said he couldn’t wait till this visit was over.

 

Airports after Brussels

Brussels image

Brussels Airport remains closed today – and tomorrow – in the aftermath of Tuesday’s terrorists attacks at the international airport and at a metro station in town which killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more.

Security remains heightened at airports around the world, so be prepared for possible delays at the security checkpoints.

Airport/metro attack in Brussels

Check for live updates on the BBC and elsewhere, but the sad news of today is that
there have been coordinated deadly terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport and at the city’s Maelbeek metro station, with more than two dozen people killed between the two sites.

Airports, airlines and transit systems around the world are on high alert, so you can expect delays, cancellations and increased security presence.

A sad, sad day.

Free audiobook downloads at Rome, Milan, Brussels airports

Here’s a promotion that I hope catches on elsewhere:

Through the rest of 2009, travelers passing through Rome, Milan or Brussels airports can now download audiobooks for free.

library-book-cartThe promotion is courtesy of the Oneworld airline alliance (American Airlines, British Airways and others) and the Oneworld Travel Library.

The library has about 40 titles and includes fiction, business, culture and travel in English, Dutch, French, and Italian. Right now the choices include Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and other current titles.

To access the library, you’ll need a laptop, smartphone, PDA or some other wireless-enabled device and access to the Wi- Fi network in one of the library-airports.  Once you download a book, you’ll have 14 days to read it.

For more information, and to reserve your books, visit the Oneworld library.