Pre-match nerves?

The World Cup has officially started! But what on earth has this got to do with travelling to America later in the year? You’d be surprised how many similarities I’ve been able to draw between the World Cup and our travel plans.

Firstly, I had been offered a position in South Africa about this time last year by a guy who works with Ambassadors In Sport and was heading to South Africa to help run an evangelistic soccer ministry. He had asked if I was interested in training up young coaches for soccer ministry. Had things worked out differently there would never have been the plans to go to America and join Duncan in his travels.

Second of all, as a guy, you tend to get pretty excited about big things. The World Cup is a big thing: 64 games, 32 teams, the best players in the world, 3 games a day… the list goes on. I have been counting down the days to the World Cup for a couple of months now. Memories of past classic encounters sailed through my mind. I needed to prepare for the World Cup by watching the top goals from previous tournaments; reading the reviews of top matches from previous tournaments and just generally remembering how much fun it was.

Similarly, I am excited about America, and many memories of previous trips there start to pop into my mind when I think about the States. I am a bit worried that I am starting to count the calendar days for America – Duncan leaves in 44 days, and myself in 75 days.

For the big game last night we had prepared the flags in the lounge, bought in the beers and the snacks and invited some friends round. It was a dire game, void of chances and just generally lacklustre. It was quite disappointing after all the excitement – the big occasion had failed to deliver after we had given it so much hype. I will no doubt prepare equally well for America knowing full well how much fun it has been in the past, with previous experiences directing my expectations as the trip gets ever closer and I remember how much fun it has been in the past.

I was going to write all that last night, but as is the case with jet-lag, you tend to feel a lot better after a good nights sleep and a day of acclimatising. As was the case with the World Cup - while the games today weren't amazing, they did at least offer a glimmer of footballing hope for what is to come, and reminded me why I get excited each time it comes round. So should day 1 of America seem like a pale replication of previous adventures, I'll happily head to bed and get some sleep and rest knowing full well that jet-lag tends to pass quickly and what follows tends to be pretty awesome.

It's official!

Today was a very good day - well apart from the fact that I woke up with a headache which felt like it had been attacked by, well, you know the question: which would you rather be attacked by - a horse-sized duck or an army of duck-sized horses? I awoke to feel as though both, throughout the night, had taken it in turns to bang my head against the wall whilst jumping up and down on it. Which meant that I didn't make it in to work til 4pm for an experiment which had just been done for me by supervisor. Anyway, I digress...

Thursday 26th August I fly into Detroit, MI via Amsterdam, from Aberdeen.
Thursday 4th November I fly out of Detroit, MI via Amsterdam, to Aberdeen.

I'm so pant-wettingly excited.