Great story and welcome to the fraternity! I remember my first ever trip to Birmingham and Villa Park and both the club and supporters went out of their way to make it a special visit. Certainly, not something I could see any of the glamour clubs replicating.
I recently wrote a blog post about foreign clubs developing a fanbase in Asia. It has a few Villa references. It's a bit on the negative side, so makes a perfect read for the Villa faithful!