In Pursuit Of Real Football: The Soccer Fan’s Ultimate Travel Guide To Attending EPL Matches In England By The Gaffer First Edition, published July 2008 by EPL Talk. This ebook is free and you are welcome to copy it, print it out, post it and share it with friends. Please don’t sell it or alter it. The links in this PDF file work... just click on one to go to the web. The electric atmosphere of a Champions League match at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Dedicated to Stephen Nigel Harris TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Pros And Cons Of Package Tour Operators 2. When To Go 3. Where To Go 4. Money Saving Tips 5. Getting Around 6. Local Culture 7. Stadium Tours 8. Official Football Websites 9. Supporters Clubs In The United States 10. About The Author 11. Copyright Information Built in 1892, Everton's Goodison Park is nicknamed The Grand Old Lady. Think about the most recent Premier League season and picture some of the exciting matches you watched on television. Incredible goals, roaring fans, the unbelievable comebacks and the teams fighting for Champions League spots or to avoid the perils of relegation. No wonder so many sports fans consider the English Premier League one of the most exciting soccer leagues in the world. But stop for a second and contemplate how much more incredible it would be if you could experience those matches in person instead of just on television. The thrill of sitting among 25,000 to 76,000 fans in some of the cathedrals of English soccer, some of which date back to the late 1800's. Hearing the songs bellowing from the crowd, seeing world-class players up-close, and feeling those shivers running down your spine when you hear the ball smack the back of the net and the fans erupting inside the stadium. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it can be yours. I know what you're saying. You can't afford to fly to England. Even if you could, you wouldn't be able to get tickets or you wouldn't know what to do, or how to get around England. Sure, you'd love to go, but it's impossible, right? Absolutely not. In the next 24 pages, I'll show you how you can make your dreams come true and how you can save more than a thousand dollars to see your favorite club in- person this season. PROS AND CONS OF PACKAGE TOUR OPERATORS There are many companies in the United States and around the world that offer travel packages to see matches in the United Kingdom. The services that XL Travel and PSG Sports provide are excellent but the price you pay for these packages can cost more than $3,000 for a 9-day trip (airfare not included). Here are examples of how much a typical package tour would cost through XL Travel and PSG Sports: If you prefer to go with these group packages, that's fine but realize that you'll be spending inflated prices. Instead, in this ebook, we provide you a step-by-step guide of how you can save more than a thousand dollars and schedule the trip when you want to go, giving you a lot more freedom and flexibility to customize the trip to your needs. In fact, I've already done a trip like this myself, so I know from first-hand knowledge how to do it. In contrast, here's how much it cost me the last time I went to England for a 10 day trip, where I saw Everton against Bolton, Blackburn versus Spurs, Arsenal v Hamburg (in the Champions League), Fulham against Reading, and Manchester United versus Chelsea: PSG Sports's Premiership 2009 Fan Tour is the closest comparison to my Premier League tour. You would have saved $1,085 by following the tips provided in this EPL Travel Guide. Plus you don't have to worry about sharing a hotel room with a stranger! Package tours are not for everyone. If you want the flexibility to plan your own tour, pick the matches you want to see and save money, then a package tour isn't a good idea. But if you want to save more than a thousand dollars and take the trip of a lifetime, take a deep breath, grab a pen and paper and let's get started. WHEN TO GO 1. Pick the best time of the year to visit. The Premier League season runs from August through May. Typically the most expensive time to visit England is during the summer months between June and August. Airfares to England (London or Manchester) are usually the cheapest between September and March. 2. Be creative when asking for time off work. You'll need to factor in how many vacation days you can take and how to seek permission from your boss to take the time needed. If you're like most of us, taking time off work is usually a challenge, but here are some helpful tips. • Tip: Schedule your vacation time around a holiday. For example, if you live in the United States and you don't mind missing that Thanksgiving turkey, late November is an excellent time to visit England. To give you an idea of what's possible, here's the itinerary from my November 2006 trip (complete with a map, pictures and an audio travelogue): View the interactive map from my trip so you can zoom in on the stadiums. • Friday, November 17: Worked 9-2 and then caught the plane from West Palm Beach to Manchester, England at 5:40pm ET. • Saturday, November 18: Arrived in Manchester at 9:40am GMT and rode the train to Liverpool (read article). Attended Everton v Bolton match at 3pm GMT (hear audio and see photos). • Sunday, November 19: Spent the morning visiting Liverpool's Anfield stadium and the Hillsborough Memorial (see photos). Departed Liverpool by train to Blackburn. Watched Blackburn against Tottenham match (hear audio and see photos), and then stayed the night in Manchester. • Monday, November 20: Took train from Manchester to London. Toured Arsenal's Highbury Stadium (see photos). Hear audio travelogue from the day's adventure. • Tuesday, November 21: Went on an amazing adventure to south east London to find the remains of Arsenal's Invicta Ground from 1894 (see photos). Then visited The Valley ground, home to Charlton (see photos). That night, went to Arsenal against Hamburg match. Hear audio travelogue from the day's adventure. • Wednesday, November 22: Took the Emirates Stadium tour (see photos), went to the Arsenal museum (see photos) and then took a trip to Tottenham's White Hart Lane (see photos). Hear audio travelogue from the trip to north London. • Thursday, November 23: Traveled around London. First stop was Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium tour (see photos) followed by a trip to Fulham's Craven Cottage (see photos) and West Ham United's Boleyn Ground (see photos). Listen to the audio travelogue from my adventures around London. The rear of the Craven Cottage at Fulham's ground in west London. • Friday, November 24: Day off for rest and relaxation at my cousin's house in the suburbs of London. • Saturday, November 25: Spent the day at Craven Cottage to see Fulham against Reading at one of the quaintest stadiums in England before heading to Manchester by train that evening. Listen to the day's experiences on the audio travelogue. • Sunday, November 26: The final match of the tour was the biggest one yet: Manchester United against Chelsea at Old Trafford (see photos and hear the audio travelogue). The Gaffer and friend Charles Walters at Manchester United's Old Trafford. • Monday, November 27: Caught my flight from Manchester back to Florida. Now you can easily plan a trip like mine or make it your own. Here's how to do it: Look at the calendar and write down the date of the Friday before Thanksgiving. If you head directly from work to the airport on that Friday evening, you can leave that night to fly to England (most flights to the United Kingdom are overnight from the U.S.). You'll arrive on the Saturday morning usually around 8-9am UK time. That gives you plenty of time to leave the airport and head to a football match. Remember, most kickoffs in the UK don't begin until 3pm, so you have approximately six hours to get to your hotel, check in and head over to the ground. The next day, Sunday, usually offers a few different matches you can watch around the country. Then Monday through Friday of that week can be spend exploring England, going to mid-week matches, experiencing stadium tours or whatever you'd like to do. You can return home from the United Kingdom the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day and arrive back in the States that same afternoon. If you work in corporate America and your company pays you holiday time for Thanksgiving Day and the day after (better known as "Black Friday"), the only days you'll need to use for your vacation time are the Monday through Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving Day. That means you'll enjoy nine days of vacation while only using up three vacation days. Nice deal, right? In a typical week such as the above itinerary, you can squeeze in approximately four to five professional matches pretty comfortably. If you're not able to travel to England during the week of Thanksgiving, take a look at other national holidays to see how many days you can take off without impacting your vacation time too severely.