...in my experience, the surfaces of (most of) the Belgian motorways have improved dramatically over the last few years. (Driving a motorhome with a track that nearly matches the lorry ruts, and a wheelbase that is badly-suited to the joint-spacing on the concrete ones, believe me, you notice!).
The driving skills of the Belgians, however......... (though, TBH and maybe surprisingly, my view of the Dutch is much the same)
As regards driving long-distances on the Continent vs flying, then if it is to be Motorway/Autobahn/Autoroute/Autostrada/Autopista or WHY all the way then for me it would be fly every time.
Taking one's time, and the "road less travelled" then it becomes part of the holiday, and can be just as, if not more, enjoyable as the destination. It will be slower, though (no bad thing if treated as part of the holiday).
The main downside of the slower "back road" (and by this I mean avoiding motorways and the main arterial roads, not necessarily secondary main roads) routes over the last few years has been the proliferation of speed cameras. Whilst the very concept of taking the slower route doesn't actually envisage speeding, it is relatively easy to ping multiple cameras if one isn't concentrating nearly all the time. In the motorhome, I'm not exactly foot to the floor (but not dawdling either) and though I've escaped over the years so far, I've had a few close shaves in Germany, France an Austria (to the extent that I might have expected a ticket to arrive once home).
The main attraction of such a road-trip to me is/would be to select a few sights off the international tourism trail, and savour the local ambience.
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