So you want to go to the UEFA Champions League final do you? Nick Miller takes you through the options.
Nick Miller investigates how to get to Champions League final
So you want to go to the Champions League final do you?
Well in short - good luck!
The first major hurdle for any English fan travelling to Moscow is obtaining a visa to get into Russia.
Under normal circumstances, anyone wishing to get into Moscow would need to pay £95 for a visitor's visa, and would require the applicant to have a hotel booked, or to provide the full address of where you're staying if it is with a kindly Russian.
However, with more than 40,000 English football fans making the trip from Blighty to Russia, plans are afoot to speed things up a little.
The mayor of Moscow mooted the possibility that one would require only a match ticket to gain entry, but after the Russian Ministry of the Interior (not the friendliest bunch at the best of times) told him to hush up and stop being a silly boy, it looks like that idea has gurgled down the toilet.
UEFA spokesman William Gaillard (who can usually be trusted about as far as you can chuck him) told
Sky Sports News: "We are finalising an express way to get visas", which may or may not involve getting a private company in to fast-track applications.
Updates
Nothing has been finalised on that score yet, and supporters have been advised to check for updates on the Foreign Office website. There is a 'visa information hotline' to ring if you want. Dial 0208 242 4104.
Now for tickets to the game, but if you're reading this and haven't already got one, then it's the black market for you. Both Chelsea and United fans had to apply some time ago, and if you were successful then you'll already know about it by now.
As for dodgy geezers, then if you have deep pockets then you might be able to pick up a basic seat, but don't expect to get much change out of £1,500. Not that we'd encourage that sort of thing. Especially given that you might be getting a napkin with 'European Cup' written on it for your money.
If you've got your visa and your ticket, you'll now need to get there. You're probably a little late to make things quick and easy for yourself in terms of flights. At the time of writing you can get a return flight, leaving Heathrow on Tuesday 20th May and returning on Thursday 22nd May for £785, not the £1,500 that is being quoted in some quarters.
The catch there is that it isn't a direct flight - you have to change in Warsaw on the way and Dusseldorf on the way back. Far from ideal.
An alternative - and much cheaper - option might be to fly to somewhere like Estonia or Latvia and make your way to Moscow over land. A direct flight from Stansted to Riga will currently set you back a mere £115. However, it's a hefty jaunt of 500-odd miles from Riga to Moscow, and while there is apparently a train service, it takes 16 hours. Pack some Jaffa Cakes for that one.
Probably the only option at the moment if you want a direct flight is official charter flights. If you do have a (legitimate) ticket then both clubs are running flights, but be quick about getting in because they're selling fast.
Expensive
If you have a couple of days spare then there is a cross-continent train from London to Moscow. That takes the scenic route via Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin and Warsaw, and will take a shade under 48 hours.
Now you're there, you may want somewhere to stay. Again, prepare to fork out plenty.
Moscow is pretty darn expensive at the best of times, and if you believe some of the scare stories then you'll end up forking out a pretty penny for the most remote, flea-infested hole you can imagine.
And that's if you're lucky. A quick search of a few travel websites reveals exactly zero rooms free for the night of 21st May, but don't despair. A good portion of those rooms will probably have been booked up by Liverpool fans and people before they had secured tickets, so there may be cancellations aplenty.
If you make it through all of these barriers, then well done to you. Alternatively, you could spend exactly no pounds and follow it with
Sky Sports and
skysports.com.
What? It'll be just like being there!
