A new adventure begins...off to South Africa for the World Cup
(When I've traveled in the past I've often shared stories of trips and adventures with family and friends via email. During World Cup trips, the list of recipients always grows, with friends of friends asking to me to add them to my emails. I've kept a bunch of the emails and will be editing and posting them to this site).
Thursday, June 10, 2010:
As most all of you know, I'm heading down South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
To say I'm lucky is an understatement. This will be my fifth consecutive trip to the world's largest sporting event. It will be the sixth continent I visit. It will be something like the 32nd country I've traveled to.
In 1994 I drove with my family and friends from Ohio to Detroit, and then to Boston, and then to Dallas to watch five World Cup games.
In 1998 I flew to France and saw four games, including the tense-filled Argentina vs. England Round of 16 game that Argentina won on penalty kicks.
In 2002 I attended nine games throughout South Korea, then flew to Tokyo, Japan for the final but passed on paying the high scalper prices. A few months later I was used those funds on a ticket to watch the Buckeyes win the National Championship game in Arizona!
And in 2006, I made it to seven games in Germany.
I don't take any of my travel experiences for granted. I know too many people who tell me how they wish they had the opportunities to see the places I've seen; to attend some of the sporting events I've attended; to be able to get out of work as often as I have to travel. And so with that, I will take a bit of each of you with me to South Africa.
Seven of us will be meeting in South Africa and staying in the About Guest Lodge in Pretoria for anywhere from 2-3 weeks (or longer?). We're arriving from all over the world over next couple of days:
• Corey went from Denver to LA, where he meet Jimmy and they flew together to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and then to Johannesburg.
• Curtis traveled from Chicago to Munich, Germany and then to Joburg.
• Ryan will fly from Washington DC to London, where he'll meet Brett, who is taking a train from Northern England - those two will fly together to Johannesburg.
• And Clint and I went from Denver to New York, stayed the night and are flying direct to Joburg this morning - expecting to arrive on Friday morning.
We all should arrive by Friday. We've got tickets for all the U.S. games and hope to see others in between as well. And, hopefully - finally - go on a safari.
We're at JFK now with fans from Argentina, Mexico, England, and of course plenty of US fans walking around.
We're on our way...
