St Petersburg

irishmufc wrote: Butch wrote: There will be direct flights to the Russian cities that we will play in Is that statement based on conjecture or what you think could happen charter flight wise?

Can't say a whole lot at the moment but people are working on it at the minute should we secure qualification then the flights will go a head . Also safety issues have to be addressed and some runways are being upgraded as we speak to deal with the influx of football fans

There will be multiple routes taken like always but I can see the direct approach being taken up in big numbers . A lot of lads will take the week and try get the 1st 2 or last 2 games in . And knock it on the head at that , knocking around Russia for 2 weeks will not grab the imagination of 1000s like France . I know there will be the usual suspects who will do the lot . My 1st World Cup & the chance of not getting married next summer ,... I'll take my 2 weeks on the chin

In a place called 'The Templet Bar'.

Will I tell them...?

Hickster74 wrote: Before I forget or decide not to for fear of the Algarvers looking down. The last archway on the left on the wrong side of the canal that leads towards the Church of the Saviours Blood. Clubs with rapper wannabes that stay open til 8am and a shooting range that opens at 9 to shoot a Kalashnikov before bed.

Hope you are making contacts re future sccomdation

I hope ill see you guys in Petersburg

https://youtu.be/6Ar6459jYGc - White Nights

If you want to go very, very cheaply overland the route is as follows:

Option 1:
Sailrail to London (don't crap out and fly) €47 taking the slow boat, including the train fare to London.
Dublin 08:05 - 11:30 Holyhead
Holyhead 12:52 - 16:37 London
London 18:04 - 21:05 Brussels (from £44)
One night in Brussels

Brussels to Prague - from €21 (!):
Brussels 08:24 (+1) - 11:30 (+1) Frankfurt
Frankfurt 11:54 (+1) - 14:03 (+1) Nuremburg
Nuremburg 14:37 (+1) - 16:22 (+1) Cheb
Cheb 16:34 (+1) - 19:41 (+1) Prague
Some of the connections may seem tight, but if you miss one because of delays, there are still plenty of ways of getting to Prague on time - even a delay of 3 hours, or two individual delays of one hour and two hours along the way, can be made up. You could be an hour late into Frankfurt, two hours late again into Nuremburg on a second delayed train from Frankfurt to Nuremburg, then, if you've missed the 16:37 train to Cheb, take the 17:43 train to Schwandorf to meet the Munich to Prague train, have twenty minutes to change, and you'd still get to Prague almost half an hour before the Kiev train leaves. Frankfurt 12:54 - 14:59 (16:59 with a two hour delay) Nuremburg 17:43 - 18:48 Schwandorf 19:09 - 22:41 Praha. You can't book to go that way via Schwandorf, but if you get stuck because of delays and miss the earlier connections, they'll let you take it without paying extra. And the Germans may occasionally be delayed but the chances of that f**king up are very slim indeed. For Brussels to Prague, €21 is unbeatable. And they're not bad trains: they're ICE trains from Brussels to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Nuremburg, albeit it's a local train to Cheb, before a Czech Intercity train from Cheb to Prague.

Prague to Kiev - 2 nights - from €65 (including a bed in a three bed sleeper compartment)
Prague 23:09 (+1) - 07:43 (+3) Kiev

Kiev to Moscow - overnight - about €90 (including a bed in a four bed sleeper compartment)
Kiev 20:33 (+3) - 09:48 (+4) Moscow

All that is under €300 (booked far enough in advance), and there's no f**king about with Belarus transit visas, as the Kiev to Moscow train doesn't go via Belarus.

Option 2:
This is much quicker, but more expensive and a fair bit more hassle to organise, even if it is less hassle when travelling:

Sailrail to London €47
Dublin 08:05 - 11:30 Holyhead
Holyhead 12:52 - 16:37 London

Either an evening Eurostar to Paris and a night there, or a night in London and a morning Eurostar to Paris (from £44)

Paris 18:58 (+1) - 10:07 (+3) Moscow (leave Paris Friday only) - €300 on the direct Paris - Moscow Russian Railways train.

You need a Belarus transit visa if you go that way, which is €60 (and a fair amount of hassle, likely, because you'll not be able to apply for it until you have your Russian visa or "Fan ID", and having to send your passport to the Belarussians about a month before the World Cup could be stressful).


If we do qualify, I will go overland one way or the other. Probably the first way, and not just because it is cheaper, but because of the hassle and extra expense of getting a Belarus transit visa, not to mention the fact it is not clear if they will accept a Fan ID for the purposes of issuing a visa, seeing as they usually require you to show you already have a Russian visa.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 14 Aug 2017 at 12:47am

So long as Vlad doesn't start dicking about

hope we are in kaliningrad for at least one game

SuperDave84 wrote: Not a f**king chance. It would be another Bordeaux and a nightmare to get tickets to it, with every alickadoo in the country wanting a ticket to it. We would sell our full allocation no matter where the games were; I wouldn't really fancy the mad scramble if we were to end up in Kaliningrad, especially if we were to have to play another European team there, because the same would apply for their fans too. If it was a game against a side from outside Europe, then it might be alright. Still, it would be a nice problem to have!