Our journey to Belgium started in earnest with a trip to Washington D.C. In order to apply for a Visa, and ultimately residency in Belgium, an embassy-approved doctor must certify you to be in good health. Sounds easy enough, but there are only eight such doctors in the U.S. The closest for us happened to be in Washington D.C., so the journey begins.
We found out about the requirement on a Monday, called for an appointment on Tuesday, and they booked us for the visit that Friday. The quick timeline had us scrambling to arrange the best travel plans. We ended up with Tyler driving down from Cleveland, and Molly flying from Cincinnati to Baltimore. Tyler picked Molly up in Baltimore at midnight on Thursday, and we drove to Bethesda, MD to stay the night close to the doctor’s office. The hotel we stay at was a new concept brand by IHG called EVEN Hotels. The theme of the entire place is fitness and health. This means that about a third of every room is designed as a work out space complete with exercise bands, foam stretching cylinders, floor-to-ceiling-mirrors, and yoga mats. Even the first 30 TV channels are recorded workout routines created specifically for the space and equipment in the room. We both thought this was a great idea and hope the concept expands. Having said all that, we didn’t exercise one bit.
The next morning, we arrived at the doctor’s office on time, and we were promptly handed the obligatory stack of forms to fill out. However, they called Tyler back before he was even done with the first page. It turns out they don’t care so much about paperwork if you aren't becoming a patient or involving insurance companies. The medical exam was fairly routine (blood pressure, EKG, blood samples), except for the Tuberculosis test. The test involves injecting some kind of testing fluid into your forearm and circling the injection site with a ballpoint pen. The idea is the area will show some sort of reaction in the next 48 hours if you have been exposed to or are infected with TB. We believe the test is supposed to be reviewed by a medical professional, so either the doctor figured we didn't look particularly Tuberculosis-y or he figured if our arms started looking gross we would call him back. So in less than 2 hours, we walk out with a couple very expensive signed pieces of paper that say we are medical approved to live in Belgium.
Later that day we had plans to meet up with a close friend (Jared) that was living in the DC area, but first it was lunch time, and we were starving since we had to fast for the blood work tests. We drove to the National Mall area and Yelp led us straight to the perfect post-fast lunch: tacos. District Taco is a local taco chain with a simple build-your-own or select-from-our-recipes style menu. Now keep in mind that 18 hours without food or drink may have colored our opinion, but Review: pretty darn good tacos! And this is coming from a couple that eats a lot of tacos. They also have a surprisingly good cup of coffee.
Jared was able to meet up with us a couple hours later, and we decided we needed a typical Washington D.C. tourist experience. That ended up being the National Archives, home to original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The site is laid out well with a first-floor museum in the bottom portion explaining the history of important documents, ultimately leading up to the “Rotunda” on the second floor where the main attractions sit. Review: the documents were far larger than expected, probably 1.5 ft x 2.5 ft (apparently when the Founding Fathers wanted to write something down they didn't want to have to start a new page very often), but sadly, we didn't get to revel in the sense of awe we were expecting but rather just felt like we were looking at old, faded pieces of paper. Still worth a visit, but we wouldn't put it at the top of your D.C. “to-visit” list.
All in all, a successful and fun last-minute, whirlwind trip. Thanks Jared for the hospitality!
We don’t have Tuberculosis by the way (according to our expert opinions).
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