The Community Life Team is excited to kick off planning for a new edition of the Weekend Getaway ! Our goal is to organize another fantastic Friday to Sunday trip outside of Brussels, giving us all a chance to escape the hustle and bustle and truly connect.
We learned a lot from last time’s challenges with finding suitable, affordable accommodation, especially when we left it too late.
So, let’s get ahead of the game! We’re starting with a conversation and a poll to gauge interest and availability. Your input now is key to helping us avoid any “unavailable gites” scenarios and ensuring we find the perfect spot for our growing group!
I am proposing the 8th August as a deadline for receiving your input (hope this message will reach people on break too ).
Tell Us When You’re Available!
Please use the poll below to indicate which Friday-Sunday weekends work best for you. You can select multiple options if you’re flexible!
October 10-12
October 17-19
October 24-26
October 31 - November 2
November 7-9
November 14-16
I can’t make any of these specific weekends, but I’m still interested (Please specify your availability in a comment.)
I’m interested but would only come for the Saturday-Sunday (Please choose which weekend(s) in the poll/more details in a comment).
I’m interested but would only come for the day (Please choose which weekend(s) in the poll/more details in a comment).
0voters
Important Details for Planning
To help us have a clearer picture of logistics needed, please also let us know in the comments:
Bringing kids? How many, and would you need one or more extra rooms?
Got wheels? If you have access to a car and are willing to help with carpooling, please let us know! This is a huge help for transportation.
Our aim is to keep costs reasonable, targeting around €40-€50 per person per night for accommodation. We’ll also factor in a small amount for shared transport if needed (which shouldn’t be much more than a train ticket).
Accommodation Ideas Welcome!
Do you know of a great place that could host our group? Perhaps a big house or gîte outside Brussels you’ve enjoyed or heard good things about? If you have any suggestions for suitable accommodation, please share them below!
Let’s make this second weekend getaway a resounding success! We’re excited to hear your thoughts and see who’s in!
Hi @LuciaM already looking forward so much
For the deadline: you could always send a message on Signal if you notice quite some people haven’t responded yet as the deadline approaches…
i am taking the intermediate nvc course and that’s happening on friday morning till 13:00 in october - november. The only weekend I could make the 3 days is the weekend of 7- 9 november as I don’t have course the 7th.
@reeflings
Get ready for a fantastic weekend together on 14-16 November. Please go ahead and save this date in your calendars. We’ll be sending out more details about the location, schedule, and packing list soon.
Hello @reeflings,
We are excited to share the house we booked for our getaway weekend ! Get ready for a relaxing and fun-filled retreat at **La maison de la Warche*.
It’s a beautiful, spacious place (450m2), with 9 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a fully equipped kitchen and is packed with amenities to keep everyone entertained, including a recreation room with billiards, table football, and air hockey. There’s also a cozy fireplace, a BBQ, and a large garden.
We chose this house because the layout is cozy and allows the whole group to connect in the common spaces, while the separate sleeping arrangements offer privacy for each household. We also love the beautiful, natural setting, which will allow us to disconnect and enjoy some time away from the city. The location also fits our budget, which was a key consideration.
The full booking details are available on NextCloud.
We believe this house will be a great base for our weekend together. However, if you have any objections, please let us know by the end of the week.
Hello Lucia,
As I have to find a dogsitter for Doug, do you already have an idea of the departure time and location, as well as the timing in Brussels for the return?
Thanks in advance
Dear @reeflings,
The location in Robertville is paid and confirmed—no going back now!
The entire weekend is officially themed as our ‘Reef Rehearsal,’ a weekend of living like it’s five years from now: Play, Eat, and Meet (handily, our 15th of the month plenary could happen than weekend).
We’re currently wrestling with the logistics—no small feat given the size of our fantastic group! Please help us finalize the details below by filling out the form as indicated.
Transportation
Given the distance, our primary aim is to provide carpooling from Brussels to Robertville for as many reeflings as possible.
We need a few more cars to make this work smoothly. Please use the form available here, sheet “Fill in- Transportation” to indicate:
Whether the information already filled in for drivers of own car is correct.
Whether you have a driving license and you can drive a rented car. Indicate max. seats of the car you can drive.
The times you are available to leave Brussels on Friday and return on Sunday. @Chantale : I am not sure I can answer your question at this time, as it all depends on the transportations arrangements - can you plan for dogsitting from Friday afternoon to late evening Sunday to cover all situations ?
Looking for the chefs out there
We need volunteers for our cooking slots! Please fill out the separate sheet in the same worksbook (Sheet: FILL IN cooking slots) to indicate if you are available or particularly interested in cooking for one or several slots.
If your food contribution is something other than a main course (like snacks or treats for tea o’clock), please specify it in the Remarks column.
For beverages, we thought it would be easiest and most personalized if everyone brought their preferred drinks and alcohol to enjoy or share!
Accommodation
We are currently working on the room allocation and we’ll be back at you as soon as possible on this, but for the time being, please foresee to pack your pack your sheets/sleeping bag and towels!
Hi Lucia! Thanks for organiza using this. We put ourselves (Richard, little E and myself as “only going for the day”), but we are wondering if it would be possible to stay one night, it may not be realistic thinking that we can go an come back.
Hello @LuciaM , and sorry to further complicate matters! Lee and I think it would be good for me to take a break from my break and actually attend the weekend. So, if it would be still possible we would both attend for the full weekend. For now we will be filling the form under the assumption that this will work.
Even merrier no complication, there is precisely enough room for everyone having already expressed even the slightest interest in coming in polls or otherwise - if name is not specifically mentioned it’s because we did not want to assume/pressure.
I have a small concern about filling in the programme of the weekend, namely …
for you: that it’s a lot of responsibility to take care of this, and
for us: that we might feel a bit like little Cub Scouts going on a summer camp without having much agency …
And so I wanted to check whether you have given some thought to how to fill in the programme, and whether you’d be willing to involve @reef-facilitation to see whether they can possibly set up some leisurely variant of Open Space Technology (or something alike) so that we can somewhat co-create the agenda together? Just an idea of course.
).
I have a car and would be happy to take others! (3 more people comfortably - 4 more people max)
WEEKEND GETAWAY UPDATE: Reef rehearsal is a GO! 
Transportation
Looking for the chefs out there
Accommodation
- if name is not specifically mentioned it’s because we did not want to assume/pressure.