Europe 2023, August 24

Last Antwerp run back up to the ports again. I finished breakfast and was packing up when I saw one of the wheels on my suitcase looked damaged. I tried to wheel it across the room and half of it fell apart within seconds, so I can only assume it got broken some time during my stay.

It seemed unlikely I could have broken it without realising, such as my kicking it, so my guess is the hotel cleaners with those big trolleys could have bashed into it. I think the outer plastic casing of the wheel may have already started to split in half some time ago, but now it got completely cracked and broken into several pieces.

I had just enough time to try a patch-up job with my running compression tape - which is definitely not intended for this purpose. I didn't want to risk losing parts of the wheel so I carried it the 10 minutes to the station instead. The suitcase was probably only around 15 kilograms but gets heavy very quickly when carrying it one hand at a time.

Thankfully I made it to the station with no problems and got the first available train to Breda across the Netherlands border. Had a short 20 minute wait for the next train going to Eindhoven which was the same Belgium-Netherlands "IC" intercity train brand but was brand new and amazing quality.

At the final stop I finally had to use a ticket for the first time so far in Europe to exit the station at Eindhoven Central - they must not be as trusting as Belgium people. I could see the hotel from the station entrance but wasn't sure the quickest way there due to the many roads, bike paths, and underpasses.

I tried rolling the patched up suitcase wheel on the footpath, but it broke apart within a couple of minutes so I was back to carrying it again after collecting all the loose pieces. I got to the hotel quite early around 12:30pm and was relieved just to be able drop off the broken suitcase. The good thing about that is nobody could possibly steal it.

I walked over to the centrum area back near the train station which had most of the shops and food. My first goal was to find something more appropriate like duct tape for repairs, which is not too easy when you're in a foreign country. I tried the biggest supermarket around that was an Albert Heijn brand and luckily they did have some tape on the shelves. I went to the check out only to find they incredibly only support Mastercard - so it was lucky I still had a 50 euro note in my wallet for emergency after all.

I don't remember as far back as the last time I was in Amsterdam but apparently it's a whole thing where Netherlands are very anti-credit cards and personal debt in general. After that problem was solved I kept walking down towards the canals and DAF museum area to get a better understanding of the city layout, then it was time to return to the hotel and check-in.

Since it was late in the afternoon I didn't think I had enough time to visit the Philips museum before they closed. However I thought I'd have enough time for a quick visit to the museum at PSV stadium, but when I got there all I found was a team store. It appears the museum is now only provided as part of the stadium tour and not a standalone entry.

On the way back to the hotel I went to some other express supermarkets at the train station and thankfully they accepted visa cards, being more tourist friendly.

At the hotel I went to the first floor to see the pool but it was closed, there wasn't even any water in it. The hotel check-in process was bit average, they didn't mention anything at all like if breakfast was suitable or any of the facilities like gym, laundry, pool etc.

Overall it was just a day for things to not go well, but nothing too bad.

• Broken suitcase wheel
• Credit cards not accepted at the supermarket
• No museum at the football stadium
• No pool at the hotel
• Not sure about breakfast and laundry facilities at the hotel

I had a first attempt at fixing the suitcase wheel with duct tape while watching the nightly World Athletics championships - had the BBC channels again.