dimoreien's blog

Tonight Steve and I are going on a date. Having a nice dinner at Da Vincis before coming home and chilling out. We WERE going to go see a film, but The Prestige is no longer playing at Livi, although it is in Edinburgh but we don't want to drive all the way out there...

Tomorrow morning I leave Livingston bright and early at 9:00am (well, it might not be bright, but it'll definitely be early for a Sat morn!) for Edinburgh. The train leaves for London at 10:00 a.m but I'm meeting Helen (one of my Stranraer buddies who is also going on the trip) at 9:45.

Arrive in London sometime around 3pm. (The official time on the ticket says 2:45pm arrival at London's King's Cross, but we'll see about that!)

I then make my way to Covent Gardens on the tube to the Strand Palace Hotel, where I stay overnight.

This is the official Itinerary for Brussels:

SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER

1.15pm We meet outside the Eurostar ticket office in Waterloo station

2.41pm Train departs.

6.03pm Arrive Brussels Midi Station and transfer by bus to NH Hotel Grand Place Arenberg

7.45pm We meet in reception of the NH Hotel Grand Place Arenberg to walk to the Bedford Hotel (in Rue du Midi for dinner.

8.15pm Dinner

MONDAY 4 DECEMBER

8.30am Depart NH Hotel Grand Place Arenberg for NATO

9.15am Arrival at NATO

9.45am Welcome and introduction

10am Briefing: NATO's Transformation into the 21st Century, by Dr Knut Kirste,Information and Liaison Officer for the UK and Germany, Public DiplomacyDivision

11am Tea/coffee break

11.30am Briefing: NATO's Current Operations, by Rob Ayasse, Operations Section,Operations Division

12.30pm Informal buffet lunch in the restaurant

2pm Briefing: NATO's Role in the Fight Against Terrorism, by Jonathan Parish,Policy Planning and Speechwriting Section, Political Affairs and SecurityPolicy Division

3pm Meeting with a representative of the United Kingdom Delegation.

4pm Completion of the visit evaluation form and departure for Gare du Midi

5.56pm Train departs for London Waterloo

7.28pm Arrival at London Waterloo.

That night, us from the Stranraer group that are going (Me, Helen, Natalie, Jo, Russell, Lynda, Sumpurna, and Anna) are all staying at the Travelodge Inn at Kings Cross.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go to the Canada Shop tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning. It would make sense to go tomorrow afternoon as its just like two streets away from where I'm staying at the Strand, and I THINK Ill be okay to take this stuff to Belgium since I'm only going overnight and not staying for any length of time. Hmm. We'll see.

So I'll see you all on Wednesday with lots of pictures