One of the great pleasures in my life is going abroad to Europe to watch LFC play. We’ve been to lots of major cities and towns and also some smaller more out of the way places. Sion springs to mind
And Maribor
When the draw for the league stage come out (usually about the end of August) we are in effect given locations for some city breaks, focused around a football match. Everyone waits with anticipation to see where we are going to go, and when. Once this is known preparations get underway, starting with travel arrangements. You have to move fast to get decent prices for convenient flights- but the airlines move even faster to put up the fares for the relevant days. Sometimes we even find that the price increases during the booking process! To avoid paying extortionate prices for flights which would normally be cheap as chips, many people take rather convoluted journeys. Once we’ve all arrived there is a little informal competition to see who got there cheapest and who got there via the most ridiculous route.
After travel, accommodation needs to be sorted. This is usually less of a problem and in recent years we have successfully used Airbnb which makes for a more relaxed and social experience than a hotel does.
And finally, tickets for the game need to be sorted. Years ago we were advised not to organise travel or accommodation until we had tickets but that’s not feasible anymore and indeed we have to say where our accommodation is as part of the ticket buying process. Which itself is getting more and more challenging with each passing season.
So, this season we have : Istanbul (Galatasary), Frankfurt, Milan and Marseille.
Istanbul is first, with the game this coming Tuesday evening. In terms of travel, I’ve gone for the convoluted route. Leeds Bradford to Bucharest and then to Istanbul main airport, on the European side. Coming home it’s a flight from the other airport (on the Asian side) to Bratislava and then from there to Leeds Bradford. Four different airlines, one of which is Ryanair, so plenty of opportunity for something to go wrong.
Galatasary have a poor reputation amongst English football fans of all persuasions and indeed the information and instructions we have been given so far don’t fill us with much optimism about the logistics for the match. On the other hand we have made contact with the Istanbul branch of the Overseas Supporters Club and they have what looks like a fun party arranged for us, on the Bosphorus
So, it’s up early for me – Denis gave me a lift to the airport and now the adventure begins. Watch this space ….
Pearl Blog 3 