The Never Ending Away Trip
They call following Newcastle United the Never Ending Tour, but for me personally as a fan of the club and a journalist, being here in Kansas City has to be the longest ever away trip I have ever made.
Setting off on Sunday morning from a wet North Shields, ever since it has been pretty much like the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles - without the comedy value sadly!
A flight from Newcastle to Gatwick on Sunday lunchtime was switfly followed by a trek across the Smoke to Heathrow for a little layover before boarding this morning's Continental flight to Newark and then on to Kansas City - so let's just call it about 5,000 miles!
Basically, those memories of sitting on buses coming back from defeat after defeat in London seem like a walk in the park compared to this one.
Obviously, I'm not complaining, this is basically a road trip and a half with stops at Orlando and Columbus still to come.
But the cold rain on the back of the neck on Tyneside on Sunday suddenly feels a long time ago as heat of 95F at 7pm at night in Kansas greeted me this evening.
It's heat that the United players have trained in twice already and to call Wednesday night's game with Sporting Kansas City a workout is a bit of an understatement.
Don't forget Kansas are mid-way through their season and unbeaten in five games.
However, the locals know we're coming as one bloke sat next to me on the plane said.
With the American nation still recovering from the US Womens team's penalty defeat to Japan, the focus, here at least, turns to the Magpies at the Livestrong Stadium.
You can follow the progress of the Mags in America on Blog on the Tyne and on Twitter @lee_ryder.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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Sounds like your getting home sick.
can someone send a stottie out for Mr Ryder ?
looking forward to seeing the lads play in Columbus on the 26th, there is a bunch of us coming from Toronto. not expecting much of a match but its really a celebration of being a Geordie & hooking up with fans from all across North America. cheers.
You should've got a BA flight from Toon directly into Heathrow Terminal 5! It's hardly cheaper to do the Gatwick flight and a pain to get from Gatwick to Heathrow!