AJ

Silly crackodile.

My flight is booked, my accommodation is sorted, and I have tickets to the Man U game arranged. I still have to get currency, and hopefully get tickets to Villa Park for the Leicester game. Before this thread, when my dream was just a fancy, I was flying blind. @chappy, @villa4europe, @sharkyvilla, @Mandy Lifeboats, @tomav84, @juanpabloingram, and @Morley_crosses_to_Withe, thank you very much for your valuable input, and helping me be less clueless. I am very grateful. If we should meet in person, I would be happy to share a pint with any of you ( my shout). I hope to pay forward my experiences and inevitable knowledge through mistakes, to those who wish to go over. I think I am done with this thread, and it probably warrants a spin off. A blog that nobody will read .

For the away games just 1. I have found that Thomas Cook Sport provides packages for Chelsea and Man U, and that there are plenty available. The Chelsea one is a bit pricey, but at least they throw in a night for a hotel, and I get to watch it from the Captain's Bar lounge, if that is actually worth anything. I just want to be there. For the Leicester game, last night the missus piped up and said she might be interested in going, so maybe 2 for that one. My plan for that was to pounce as soon as tickets became available, go through the official site, and hopefully have them delivered to the hotel in London. At this stage, nothing is set, until maybe tonight. The GF is asking her boss today if she can go. It should be OK, and once we have the word, it should all happen. Plane tickets, Thomas Cook, accommodation, and then a lot of patience.

That is absolutely great news.

Yeah, not very good. It just looks like two bollocks with big rubber bands wrapped around them. If I didn't know anything about football, I would think that BCFC underneath that mess would mean " Buys Crack For Children".

With hotel prices ridiculously expensive and not very good value on the city edge ( Regents Park and St Pancras), I have found a nice place in Camden that is reasonably priced, and quite nice. It is about 400m walk to West Hampstead Station. Its also about halfway between Stamford Bridge and London's city centre, and it is rated 9.2/10 on the booking site. The price on the room works out to be about less than 60 pound a night, and it comes with all the extras. @villa4europe, good call.

@tomav84 and @Mandy Lifeboats, thank you very much for the advice. What is probably most critical for me to go ahead with this, is how my chances are getting tickets. The Chelsea and Manchester away games look like a challenge, but it seems I should be fine getting a ticket for the home game. I checked out the official site, and it seems that tickets become available about two weeks prior to the game, so maybe I can call them prior to leaving here? There are suggestions I get in touch with the Lions club, but I don't think they can help me here. A wonderful organisation that does a lot of good within the community, but I don't think they will be big on securing tickets to international sporting events. As for setting a base location, the main consideration is for my girlfriend. Convenience is the main factor here. Things like a safe area, plenty of convenient shops, and easy to navigate to the touristy places, and not too far. As far as myself is concerned, I just want a place to sleep. I believe if I am on holiday somewhere new and I am spending a lot of time at the hotel, then I am doing it wrong. The things we want to do outside of football include Big Ben, Hyde Park, visiting Buckingham Palace and hypothetically planning our B &E and how we would get away with it, London Eye, Picadilly Circus, that big footbridge over the river that we saw in 28 Days Later, and for an adventure for myself a stroll through Bethnal Green, just to check it out. Another thing we would like to do is go see some live bands. A survey through the old CD collections show that we both favour English bands nearly 4 to 1 opposed to everywhere else. ( No Spice Girls, One Direction or anything like that. They can all do one.) All that would still make a good holiday, but my own main priority is football, and being at Villa Park is the number one goal. Everything else is a distant second. So you can see my time will be divided. One side, the happy, GF appeasing tourist, the other side being a man on a mission, willing to infiltrate such seedy, insidious places like Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge just to see his favourite team play. I am at this stage optimistic about achieving both tourist and football fan ambitions, and with the very useful advice I have received from everyone so far, it is already looking to go smoother and more cost effective. If this all comes off really well, I cant thank everyone enough.

I would liked to have picked Jack, Tyrone, and Wesley, but have taken the sensible decision to pick none. Every time I play fantasy football, my players either turn into crap, get a season long injury, or are sold to a team in another country. I know if I pick Villa players, I will jinx them.

I tried and it didn't work for me. I went through Google Play for the app. It says it is installed, but its not there. I gave up.

2-2, with Jack giving us a late equaliser.

If it came to that, I would be playing that tourist card well. You know. Little Johnny Foreigner on his first time in Big Bad England, getting a taste of English culture through football. I would sit there quietly amongst the Mancs or Chelskians, not bothering anybody, just taking the whole experience in like soaking up sunshine at the beach. Until we are at least two goals up, I will then rip off my coat to reveal my Villa shirt and start break dancing in my seat.

So I just jump on the Benny Hilltler to Manchester?

@villa4europe, where would you recommend to stay in London?

The missus came home, and I put it forward to her. She's excited. Looks like it is all go so far!