At last, it was Tuesday, November 19th, the day we would have to check out and go back to our regular lives in Germany. To be honest, as much as we enjoyed our stay at The Duke Suites, I think Bill and I were both ready to go home. I know we missed Noyzi and Charlie, and I was starting to run out of clean underwear. I can’t speak for Bill’s situation in that department.

We packed everything up before our final decadent breakfast, and at 8:00 AM, headed back to the Clubhouse Restaurant with the new butler on duty. I didn’t catch his name, but he was also very pleasant and cool. He said he’d talked to Marco the night before, so he knew about us. Once again, we were the only ones having breakfast, although I did see some people pulling into the parking lot to play golf, in spite of the rainy weather.

After yet another breakfast of yogurt, eggs, cold cuts, smoked salmon toast, fresh orange juice, coffee, and breads, we went back to the room and called the butler to help us get the bags to the Volvo, which he had helpfully brought to the front door. After we loaded the car, we went into the butler’s office to settle the bill. For three nights of lodging, we paid 1650 euros. We also had charges for the massages, The Charles Experience six course dinner with wine pairings, two dinners in the Clubhouse, and a couple of bottles of wine as well as other assorted beverages. All told, I believe the bill came to about 2700 euros, give or take.

Yes, it was a lot of money, but at this point, we can still afford it. While I would have liked to have done more touristy stuff during our stay in Nistelrode, the experience at The Duke Suites was unforgettable enough. And it was also very restful and luxurious after a work week spent at a considerably less posh hotel in Mons, Belgium.

Overall, we had a great trip to Belgium and The Netherlands. I enjoyed both components of our travel, and the visit to The Duke Suites really was a wonderful reward for 22 years of marriage.

Back in 2015, we did something similar with a couple of Bill’s work trips. At that time, he worked for a different contractor, and they usually didn’t mind if he drove our personal vehicle on business trips. That year, I went with Bill to Apeldoorn, a nice city in The Netherlands by way of a one night stay in Luxembourg. When the business part of that trip was over, we went to Haarlem, a city close to Amsterdam. I tried marijuana for the very first time on my 43rd birthday.

Later that year, Bill had to go to Vicenza, Italy. I went with him on that trip, too, and we stayed in Seefeld, Austria on the way down, and Vevey, Switzerland on the way back. The Swiss part of that trip was especially lovely, as we booked a luxury hotel for a couple of nights so Bill could visit Gruyeres and see the Giger Museum. I remember being wowed by the upgraded lodging in that situation, too.

As we’ve gotten older, and Europe is less novel to us than it once was, we tend to be more low key when we travel. We like to stay in very comfortable places, when we can. I definitely believe The Duke Suites qualifies as one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed, and we have stayed in some very nice places, indeed! Well… at least in Europe, we have. Our stays in the United States have been less posh.

After we paid the bill, the butler gave us a couple of bottles of water and mints for the trip, which he tucked into a branded container for us. He also gave us a beautiful book/brochure about the property. Of course, it’s in Dutch!

Our drive home was mostly uneventful, except I made another YouTube video in the car. I did it partly to try out the YouTube video function on an iPad, and partly because I wanted to respond to some guy who said he feels “sorry” for Bill, because he didn’t like one of my videos. I don’t think he needs to feel sorry for Bill. We’re both living our best lives.

In any case, I think I’d like to spend more time in The Netherlands. It’s a beautiful, civilized, clean, and safe country. I’d like to spend more time in Belgium, too, for different reasons.

So ends my series on our 22nd anniversary/work trip to Belgium and The Netherlands. Stay tuned for my ten things I learned post!