What NOT to bring ...

Here are some things you should not bring with you when coming to Belgium.

Anything Carbon: Carbon fiber is great. It’s light weight, strong, but has a tendency to break here in Belgium because of the stresses of roads and racing. You best bet is go go with cheaper and stronger metal parts which will have a much longer lifetime expectancy than carbon. It’s nice to look like the pro’s but they don’t pay for their parts and when the do fail, the mechanic throws on a spare.

Spare parts: The reason is that you can either mail-order or locate locally parts (like tires, handlebar tape, etc.) that is the same or even lower cost to where you live. Bring only what you need to.

Large personal care items: Unless you have a huge preference to some particular brand, don’t bring large bottles of toiletries or other items. As with spare parts you can find them as cheap here in Belgium and you will save yourself the extra room in your baggage allowance.

Belgium is a first world country, so most anything you have where you live can be found here. For general, generic things, it is always best to bring as little as needed and then buy them as you need them here. This will keep you from also putting out money up front for something that might not be used (or fully used)