Best holiday destinations

[Lupo]

Going to Scotland in May for a couple of nights in Edinburgh, a couple of nights in Fort William

Currently in Carlisle, heading up to Fort William tomorrow for 4 nights then 4 nights in Aviemore

 

[sycophantia]

Currently in Carlisle, heading up to Fort William tomorrow for 4 nights then 4 nights in Aviemore

Skiing?

 

[Lupo]

Skiing?

No chance, never skiid in my life. Just bases for travelling around The Highlands

 

[sycophantia]

No chance, never skiid in my life. Just bases for travelling around The Highlands

Me neither, a bit of a regret, especially since I spend most of my holidays in mountainous areas.

 

[Lupo]

Me neither, a bit of a regret, especially since I spend most of my holidays in mountainous areas.

I do like mountainous areas though, my dad is from a small mountain town in Southern Italy so they do appeal to me

 

[sycophantia]

I do like mountainous areas though, my dad is from a small mountain town in Southern Italy so they do appeal to me

Southern Apennines?

 

[leedswolf]

I do like mountainous areas though, my dad is from a small mountain town in Southern Italy so they do appeal to me

Guernsey?

 

[Lupo]

Southern Apennines?

A bit further south, the Cilento mountains, Val de Calore. The town is called Felitto

 

[EpsomWolf]

Unreal atmosphere as manager and River Plate club legend Mareclo Gallardo signed off with a 3-1 win. 85.000 crowd never stopped from beginning to end and what a racket. Lucky enough to get 3 of the goals at our end too.

Have to say River was all tree lined boulevards, nice bars and restaurants. As amazing as it was, headed to Boca the next day for some rawness, and what a place that is. One person’s crumbling sh*thole is another person’s paradise and wow that place embraced its people and community and exuded passion like no other. Stunningly beautiful in such a strange way, not somewhere you’d want to walk around in the dark and the stadium itself is intimidating even in silence, but a truly humbling experience.

Happened to bump into two Stockport lads who were on a football pilgrimage and craving the earthiness of Boca tagged up with them and went to see Club Sportiva Dock Sud play in the Argentinian 3rd division. Fucking nuts as the police had no idea what to do to ensure the safety of 4 pasty brits so let us in for free and marched us past the ultras before tucking us in along the side behind barbed wire. Can confirm they don’t use our wanker sign and I’m not quite sure what it was but pretty sure the messaging was the same.

Anyway, what a place. Had no internet when out, no knowledge of more than about 6 words of Spanish, no English spoken, I mean in some parts absolutely no English spoken on principle. Felt quite vulnerable at times but in retrospect was 100% the better for it.

What a place, loved Buenos Aires.

River:




La Boca district:




A footballing temple:



Third division madness:

 

[White Wolf]

Love the pictures Epsom. How safe did you feel at River Plate and did you go by yourself? It's on my list but was considering paying one of those overpriced group tours as wasn't sure how safe it is solo. I did a match in Jakarta last summer which was mad but South America looks next level.

I'm in Prague right now, caught a Sparta game which was a great experience. Sparta won 5-2 although it was 3-1 going into injury time. The game even got suspended at one point due to the amount of flares let off by the away fans, couldn't see anything but smoke. There were some very cool pre and post-match displays.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Love the pictures Epsom. How safe did you feel at River Plate and did you go by yourself? It's on my list but was considering paying one of those overpriced group tours as wasn't sure how safe it is solo. I did a match in Jakarta last summer which was mad but South America looks next level.

I'm in Prague right now, caught a Sparta game which was a great experience. Sparta won 5-2 although it was 3-1 going into injury time. The game even got suspended at one point due to the amount of flares let off by the away fans, couldn't see anything but smoke. There were some very cool pre and post-match displays.

View attachment 16323

Hi White,

The Primera season is a bit odd as it’s divided into sections and subsequently not all of the fixtures and dates can be confirmed in advance which can make planning a little tricky. That said, we met lots of people who’d managed that and were taking in several, including one guy managing 5 games in 5 days! We got lucky as had planned a South American adventure months in advance and when the second phase of the Primera fixtures were announced got lucky in finding RP were playing just 5 hours after we were due to arrive in BA!

As for safety and tickets, River and Boca sell out every time (and could sell many many more) so the only way to get tickets is through a 3rd party. We used Homefans, who were very good indeed, very organised, handled the paperwork, set up a WhatsApp group, meeting point, a beer or two, safe entry to the ground and got you to a convenient place afterwards for you to Uber home.

Worth pointing out River have the latest facial recognition technology. There is no ticket, your identity is assigned to your seat for that match and you just walk in. Registering your facial ID using passport etc in advance might be a bit of an ordeal but Homefans organised that in advance meaning it was a piece of cake. Independently, can’t comment.
(A note here about what’s coming to the U.K. (already starting), the end of sharing season tickets, passing on membership numbers for ticket purchases and so on)

That said, River felt very safe indeed and you could easily travel by yourself if you somehow acquired a ticket independently. It’s in a very nice district and considering the absolute racket the fans made, it’s lots of families, very little alcohol at all, and away fans have been banned for a number of years so no problem there. At Boca you’d certainly feel less safe but it could be done. I’d imagine it was an awesome district to be in pre-match but I’d want to be sure I could get home pretty quickly after the game and not hang about searching for a bar or a taxi. Homefans would cover that sort of thing. You may well be find independently and it’s those sort of more risky adventures that give it the extra layer of excitement it probably deserves, but only the individual can make that call. As for the 3rd division game, that was turn up and pay, but bloody hell, anything can happen at those sort of games in those sort of districts but again, most likely all be ok and what an adventure if you’re feeling brave.

Lastly, the clubs and stadia very much represent their communities giving rise to the passion they’re renowned for, but also representative of the safety (or lack of) you would feel in the streets outside too. I wanted to visit Maradona’s house where he was raised until he was 18, in the shanty town of Villa Fiorito, but it’s one of those places that is simply too dangerous and taxi drivers won’t even take you there. The natives well known for taking care of anyone daring to enter.

Given that place is still a slum whereas it would’ve been turned into a version of Gracelands in most other countries, while River Plate fans can dine in fine restaurants says an awful lot about Buenos Aires generally.

So yeah, it can be done and would highly recommend. It’s a long way to come so definitely either make it part of a general South America tour, or if sticking with Buenos Aires cram in as many games as you can. You’ll likely hook up with others doing the same and it’ll take on a direction if it’s own.

Cracking image of the Sparta Prague game you posted and what a result too. Looks like you had a blast and got your money’s worth on that one for sure.

Anyway, some info and food thought there, hope it helps ️

 

[Lupo]

I love how you call him 'White' like its his first name

Seriously though, great read chaps. I sometimes look up Villa Fiorito on Google Maps to see the streets that El Diego came from, rough doesn't do it justice. It makes sense to me that out of all the cities in Europe, Naples was the one where he felt most at home.

I was up at McCaig's Tower in Oban a couple of weeks ago and there were some women speaking Spanish. From the tone I felt they weren't actually Spanish and maybe Mexican. Got chatting to them and turns out they were Argentinian though one of them was living in Glasgow and the more she chatted, the more Scottish she sounded!

 

[Kenny]

Sorted out the travel visa for Canada.

A whopping £3.85. Ta muchly for not ripping me off Mr Canada

My only gripe, sort out how you want to describe where I am from in your drop down menus.
First menu - Great Britain
Second - United Kingdom
Third - England