I had no idea high speed and night trains were included. For our trip we'll be splitting the car costs three ways so that is hard to beat, but this is something to keep in mind for future solo travels. When I looked up the A to B tickets they were 200+ euro's per person.

With how common these strikes are I wonder why people still book planes for vacations in the summer. Every summer there seem to be 2 or 3. It is basically playing Russian roulette with your holiday. Not that I look forward to my drive this weekend, but at least it is in my own hands. I just wish international train tickets would be priced a bit more competitive.

And to erase any doubt: Ryanair are a bunch of scum and the pilots have my full support.

There is a reason practically anyone who has a business that needs them to transport stuff drives a van in Belgium, more space, more practical. SUV's are the weapon of choice for the middle class suburban people, and make driving unsafer for every other person on the road. I can see a use case for people working forestry, but that's a very small percentage of the population. And that is the normal SUV kind. Those dumb trucks are unpractical compensation vehicles that are neither built for European roads, parking spaces or gas prices, and the only reason to ever buy one in Europe is being an idiot.