Since I went to sleep relatively early Tuesday night, I woke up early Wednesday morning. I was at the hostel’s free breakfast as soon as it opened at 7:00 am and was on the train back to Manchester at 8:00 am.
Once again, I was nervous that I would need to pay a one way fare from Glasgow to Carlisle since I only had an England BritRail pass, but, once again, the conductor glanced at my pass and went onto the next passenger. I had successfully taken the …

In order to get to Ibrox Stadium, I took the subway from downtown Glasgow. I arrived at the Ibrox station around 4 pm even though the game did not start until 7:45 pm. My plan was to hang out at a few pubs in the neighborhood.
Obtaining TicketsAs soon as I got off the train a man selling Rangers souvenirs was offering to sell his two tickets to the match. His tickets were priced at £37 each. He would have sold me one for face value. Instead I chose to see …

Once again I was on an early train. And, once again, I was hoping I would not have to pay for a one way ticket to Scotland. This time I was taking the train from Manchester, England to Glasgow, Scotland. My plan was to attend the Rangers and Sevilla FC Champions League match on Tuesday night.
I took the 9:46 am train from Manchester and had to change trains in Preston, England. I was safe taking that train since the train only traveled in England. It …

After booking my hotels, I decided I needed some exercise plus I wanted to check ticket status for the Manchester City game I was planning to attend Monday night. I was in Manchester in February 2007 and remembered that the walk from the Manchester train station to the City of Manchester Stadium is 1.5 miles. I decided to run to the box office.
Obtaining Tickets to Manchester CityI arrived at the City of Manchester Stadium’s ticketing center and tickets were available for the night’s game. Also, since I …

My room at the Britannia Hotel in Manchester was excellent. It was £39 per night and after spending three nights in a hostel sharing a room with others it was great having my own bathroom and privacy. I went to sleep as soon as I checked in on Sunday night.
I still had not booked hotels for Glasgow (where I was traveling to Tuesday morning) and Birmingham (where I was staying Monday, October 5). I saw in my room that the Britannia had a hotel in Birmingham and …

My entire day was planned for Sunday. I was taking a morning train from Edinburgh to Newcastle, taking the metro over to Sunderland, attending the Wolverhampton at Sunderland game at 4 pm, heading back to the Newcastle train station where I was taking the train to Manchester Sunday evening. The best part of the journey was that the train would only cost me one day on my BritRail pass. The worst part was that I was not sure if the conductor on the train would accept my rail pass from …

After the Hearts match I walked for 15 minutes over to Murrayfield. I have never attended two games within such a close proximity to one another. On my way back, I passed Roseburn Bar which is actually a Murrayfield pub more than a Tynecastle Stadium pub.
Obtaining TicketsRather than go to the pub I decided to check out how much tickets were at the ticket center. Tickets for the game were £20 for an adult ticket. However, since I had my student id I could pay £10 for a student ticket. …

As I thought, I would not be able to check into my hostel until later in the afternoon. This meant I would not “actually” check in until after the Edinburgh rugby match I planned to attend Saturday night.
Since the Hearts match versus Hamilton kicked off at 3 pm and I could not check into my hostel until 1 pm there was no time to wait until 1 pm and then head off to Tynecastle Stadium. I wanted to hang out in a pub before the match.
The guy at the front …

This morning I woke up and showered in my hostel. Since the bathroom was not in the room and down the hall I had planned to shower in my hotel in Manchester. But my change of plans to travel to Edinburgh meant I was most likely without a room for most of the day.
I showered, checked out of my hostel and walked to the train station. Remember my train pass is “technically” only for England so I was hoping it would work for Scotland as well. …

One of the difficulties with planning a sports trip is trying to determine all of the possible sporting events that one could attend. This is why I always buy a local newspaper when I arrive in the country I am visiting.
My original plan for today was to attend the Premier League match between Hull City and Liverpool at Anfield. However, last night as I was sitting at The Hiding Place, I pulled out my fixtures for the week. While reviewing the league schedules, I realized there were …