An associate of mine who was living in Belgium kept pestering me to visit. I was doing a bit of cycling but nothing too serious, so I basically said "WTH" and went.

The trip was rather poorly planned, but turned out to be a lot of fun anyway. As far as I'm concerned, it's the perfect way to explore an area, since you're covering a decent amount of territory (40-70+ miles a day) at a moderate pace. So, you get to interact with the locals, really experience the scenery, and get in shape as well.