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Ahhh...the last trip of the year...it was a hot morning in Port of Spain...we had the bags down in the lobby by noon, then put on a flatbed cargo truck that was scheduled to transport them to the airport ahead of the team bus...same as when we arrived, some of the guys were a little nervous at having their personal bags on this truck (we usually place bags underneath the bus)...the guys go in to eat some lunch, and we're off by 12:30...
we arrive at the airport, with no site of the cargo truck...we tried to joke with some of the more nervous players, telling them the police had been called to look for a large truck carrying our bags...some guys bought it, some didn't...even so, it would have been a normal part of this year's trips...so, now the guys know the bags are supposedly on their way - we start checking in, looking up at the monitor above the desk - where it says, Flight #1668 - Delayed...kind of funny we thought, since we've become used to seeing that word next to so many of our flights...
It turns out we're only about 30 minutes behind...the flight to Miami seemed longer than the 3.5 hours they told us it would take, but at least we had plenty of space...some guys slept, and pretty much all of them at some point seemed to be playing on their PSPs...Denilson and Marcelo claimed four hours total - playing some kind of soccer game...Chase, Ricardinho, Jamie, Daniel - also played...Andrew, Dello, Wags, Blake and Scott had a long game of cards going...Dom, reading, as he normally does...
We land in Miami at around 6:30 pm ET - our first time change of the day...we get through passport control and find ourselves at baggage claim, looking for one missing bag...we soon find out that Ray had already picked one team bag up and had already passed customs, so we're good to go - all bags are accounted for...
Juan goes person to person giving everyone hugs - he's not coming back to Dallas with the guys tonight...instead, he's staying in Miami for a day and then flying to Colombia for the holidays on Wednesday morning...he assures all he's remain in touch over the next 4-5 weeks until he sees them again...Blake follows shortly thereafter - he's going to Tampa for a week before he heads to Germany for his surgery...Marcelo is next...he's got an even longer travel day than the rest of the group - he's heading to another terminal to catch a 10 hour flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil tonight...he's already scheduling a barbecue with Denilson and Ricardinho for next weekend...
The guys were looking forward to many things - one of those being pizza, which they quickly found...second, Starbucks - check!...next, the NFL - and they're all now watching the Monday night football game as we wait for our flight...we'll arrive at DFW around midnight...the guys that haven't had their exit physicals yet will do them on Tuesday at PHP...Denilson and Ricardinho then fly to Brazil later on Tuesday...Kenny's on his way to England on Thursday for a few weeks to train with Manchester United (we'll have more on this later)...we'll try to track all the guys this off season, and of course, as much as we can, we'll keep you up on their whereabouts...
we arrive at the airport, with no site of the cargo truck...we tried to joke with some of the more nervous players, telling them the police had been called to look for a large truck carrying our bags...some guys bought it, some didn't...even so, it would have been a normal part of this year's trips...so, now the guys know the bags are supposedly on their way - we start checking in, looking up at the monitor above the desk - where it says, Flight #1668 - Delayed...kind of funny we thought, since we've become used to seeing that word next to so many of our flights...
It turns out we're only about 30 minutes behind...the flight to Miami seemed longer than the 3.5 hours they told us it would take, but at least we had plenty of space...some guys slept, and pretty much all of them at some point seemed to be playing on their PSPs...Denilson and Marcelo claimed four hours total - playing some kind of soccer game...Chase, Ricardinho, Jamie, Daniel - also played...Andrew, Dello, Wags, Blake and Scott had a long game of cards going...Dom, reading, as he normally does...
We land in Miami at around 6:30 pm ET - our first time change of the day...we get through passport control and find ourselves at baggage claim, looking for one missing bag...we soon find out that Ray had already picked one team bag up and had already passed customs, so we're good to go - all bags are accounted for...
Juan goes person to person giving everyone hugs - he's not coming back to Dallas with the guys tonight...instead, he's staying in Miami for a day and then flying to Colombia for the holidays on Wednesday morning...he assures all he's remain in touch over the next 4-5 weeks until he sees them again...Blake follows shortly thereafter - he's going to Tampa for a week before he heads to Germany for his surgery...Marcelo is next...he's got an even longer travel day than the rest of the group - he's heading to another terminal to catch a 10 hour flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil tonight...he's already scheduling a barbecue with Denilson and Ricardinho for next weekend...
The guys were looking forward to many things - one of those being pizza, which they quickly found...second, Starbucks - check!...next, the NFL - and they're all now watching the Monday night football game as we wait for our flight...we'll arrive at DFW around midnight...the guys that haven't had their exit physicals yet will do them on Tuesday at PHP...Denilson and Ricardinho then fly to Brazil later on Tuesday...Kenny's on his way to England on Thursday for a few weeks to train with Manchester United (we'll have more on this later)...we'll try to track all the guys this off season, and of course, as much as we can, we'll keep you up on their whereabouts...
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6 comments:
I saw a few of you guys at MIA while I was dropping my mother-in-law off. She's flying to Sao Paulo, probably with Marcelo. I spoke to Dominic Oduro while he was waiting in line at Burger King, super nice guy.
What a cool surprise!
Thanks for the update . . .
Wow, seems like it was opening day just a few weeks ago, and now the season's really over (while it wasn't that same as watching the game live, it was fun reading about the trip to T&T).
Hope all of the guys stay safe and enjoy the break!
Can't wait until March!!!
P.S. Still looking forward to any more photos you might have from the trip and will need LOTS of tidbits on the Blog to survive until March. :)
Dear Hoplessfcdfanatica - Don't worry about the 'off season' - there will be so many other things going on that your head will be reeling...first the contract talks, then trades, draft day, the rumor mill, and before you know it, viola, it is pre-season.
FC Blog - Thanks for sharing all that you have so far, looking forward to the info you have to post after you get a good connection!
Chaz
Right on Chaz, expect that its voila (with the accent). Viola is a Shakespeare character.
Thanks blog ppl. Please keep us updated.
viola is also a violin like instrument! ;-)
And, my thanks to the FCD staff for keeping us "poor" people informed on our teams doings.
Dan
Great to hear that Kenny's going to train with Sir Alex & the lads. Hopefully he won't be their big January signing (or anyone else's). As awesome as that would be, (a) I don't see it happening, (b) I'd have to shell out $80 that I don't have for a ManU Cooper jersey, and (c) we'd have to find another striker.
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