- There was a hoax bomb threat in Brussels, Belgium, when I visited for the first time in March.
- Even though I was safe, the situation made me more anxious than I had anticipated.
I visited Brussels for the first time as part of a solo reporting trip on March 8, 2023.
As I boarded the train to Belgium's capital city from Luxembourg, I felt a wave of excitement thinking about what the next three days would entail. I was planning to visit museums and historical attractions, try the famous chocolate, and embark on rail adventures.
But when I arrived at Brussels Central Station, I knew something wasn't right.
An announcement in French blared from speakers, but I couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. It was loud and sounded urgent. I don't speak the language, so I had no idea what was being said.
I didn't panic at first, as everything seemed normal. There were people on the streets — some were rushing to catch a train, while others flurried into nearby cafes and shops to avoid the rain.
When I arrived at my hotel 10 minutes later, an employee at the reception desk broke the news.
"There's been a bomb threat on the metro," she said, before I even had the chance to check in.
My first night was spent scouring the internet for updates
The employee said the threat was likely to be false, but advised me to stay away from large crowds until we knew more information.
After being shown to my room, I scoured the internet for news. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported the European Commission had alerted police earlier in the week that it had received an email in Russian, which threatened a "massive terrorist attack" as well as the "elimination" of LGBT+ and other minority groups. The email went on to reference a planned attack on the metro on March 8, Le Soir reported.
However, Brussels' crisis center said an attack was "unlikely" and police had carried out a metro sweep as a precaution, according to Le Soir and Reuters. Meanwhile, The Brussels Times referred to the threat as a "hoax."
I didn't know what to think — or what to feel about it all. Looking back, I was probably in shock.
I called my manager to let her know about the situation, and her response was incredibly thoughtful. She assured me that the company would help arrange for me to get out of the city if that's what I felt most safe doing.
But I ultimately decided against leaving. I didn't want to overreact and make a decision I'd later regret — especially if it really was a hoax.
The experience has changed the way I think about solo city travel
Thankfully, there was no attack on March 8.
But even though I was supposed to feel safe with that knowledge, I didn't. I found myself engaging in what I now recognize as anxious behaviors, including researching and ruminating over Brussels' history of terrorism attacks and as well as calling my family and partner to ask for reassurance that I had made the right decision to stay.
The night before I was due to fly home, I was so anxious about missing my flight and being stuck in Brussels that I barely slept.
Most people living in Europe know that terror threats aren't rare; in 2021, there were 15 terror threats in EU member states, according to the European Council. There have also been several high-profile terror attacks in the UK in recent years, including the bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people in 2017.
Law enforcement has also historically been able to stop many terror plots throughout the years. According to statistics published by the Home Office in December 2021, UK police stopped seven late-stage terror attacks since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Even though I was already aware of situations like these, it didn't feel as real until I was in Brussels, hearing it for myself, contemplating what could have happened if things had gone differently.
It's certainly made me reconsider my approach to solo travel.
While I would have previously researched a city's overall safety and friendliness for solo travelers, I've now started looking into terrorism threat levels ahead of time. That way, I'll be more informed, level-headed, and hopefully less likely to anxiously research during the trip itself.
I've also started keeping a physical copy of all important phone numbers, emergency contacts, and travel details in case something happens to me or my phone while traveling, which gave me some peace of mind when it was time to embark on a solo reporting trip to Sicily a couple of months later.
I've found that the greatest thing that has helped is time. Months later, I can now look back on the experience with a sense of neutrality, rather than the looming anxiety that I felt immediately after returning home to the UK.
I won't let this experience stop me from doing what I love. And I can take the main lesson I've learned — to expect the unexpected — and turn it into a positive as it helps me prepare for future trips.