Seeing a football match was a major item on our UK to do list, but I never thought I’d be heading to one of the biggest tournaments on the planet bar the FIFA World Cup. On top of that I had no idea how much of a whirlwind trip it would be. 36 hours across the other side of the English Channel, driving from Milan, Italy to a little village in France, and back again the next day all to see England take on Slovakia.

It was an early start on the Monday, having to get up and leave for the train hours after getting back from Exeter to see Elton John. Meeting my brother Adrian, who flew over from Slovakia to support his team, we headed off to the airport for the flight to Milan. Before you ask, yes I know EURO2016 wasn’t being held in Italy but with trains and flights to anywhere near St Etienne where the game was being played already booked out, it was the cheapest/easiest way to get to the little village.

After landing, we got in our rental car and hit the road west, driving for around six hours to a little village called Annonay about an hour south-east from St Etienne. The journey wasn’t without its hiccups. Our first pit stop after leaving the airport was to try and find some lunch. Of course in New Zealand you’d find a McDonalds, or perhaps even pick up a pie from a servo to keep you going for the afternoon.

So when we came across a service station driving down the motorway, I naturally thought there would be some okay food. However, I was mistaken, as they had a chiller full of sandwiches. Okay, not too bad I thought - could always be worse, the eternal optimist believed.

It was. They had probably been sitting in the chiller for a few weeks, and for all we knew they might’ve been expired. Either way they tasted terrible and even the bread had a very odd texture to it. Looking back now, was it even bread?

The other thing about driving around Europe which I was unprepared for is the amount of toll routes, especially in Italy. It felt like every five minutes we would come across a toll booth, asking for another three or four euros. Or in the case of the Fréjus Road Tunnel connecting Italy and France under the Alps, 50-something euros!

We crossed into France and it felt like we were nearly there, with only a few hours to go. We kept going east until we got to Annonay to check in, drop off our bags and then hit the road again to St Etienne.

Arriving at the parking lot 20 minutes away from the ground, it was nothing like I’d ever seen before for a sporting event back home. There were fans everywhere standing by their cars and campervans enjoying a hot dog and a beer or three. It was also surprising to see everyone getting along, in contrast to scenes seen on the news after Russian and English fans clashed just over a week earlier. There were fans from both sides dancing in the street, having a laugh and enjoying the afternoon.

Speaking about the atmosphere, once we were in the stadium (which was one of the smaller venues of the tournament) it was on a completely different level to any All Blacks match. Every fan belted out their national anthem, chanted for the whole match trying to spur on their team, and showed passion that you can only get at a European football game. You hear the chanting on TV, but actually being surrounded by it for over 90 minutes is something else. Even the video below doesn't do it justice!

The next day, it was time to make the long trip back home. After croissants and coffee in Annonay’s town square, we hit the road again but with a bit more time up our sleeve for sightseeing. After driving through Grenoble on the way there, we thought it would be a good place to stop for lunch and to see what was around town.

After a little walk around the city, we hopped on the cable car up to Bastille – a stone fortress built in the 16th century on the Chartreuse mountain range, with stunning views of the city. It’s amazing to think these structures, built on the side of a mountain hundreds of years ago, are still standing and are so much older than little ol’ New Zealand. Luckily for us it’s much easier to get up there now than it would’ve been back in the day – no long trek up a hill for us!

Before hitting the road back to Milan, we had lunch in this lovely little restaurant called Pain et Cie. It’s about a five-minute walk away from Jardin de Ville and had the most delectable tartines (a kind of open sandwich on toasted bread). Nothing like relaxing with an ice-cold drink with a goat’s cheese and a type of parma ham on a hot day.

It was then time to hit the road to make it back to Milan airport, with millions of tolls again (but had pre-paid for the Fréjus Road Tunnel), before flying back to London. While it was such a quick trip covering hundreds of miles, it was definitely worth it to go to my first major football game, and with great company too.

Tips for driving around Europe

• Beware of tolls – go to autoroutes.fr to check how much extra your trip will cost. It’s a French site but will calculate tolls, and also guess how much fuel will cost you.

• Fréjus Road Tunnel – if you’re driving through it and coming back within seven days, save a bit of cash and get the return toll instead of the one-way fare.

• Service station sandwiches – just beware in general in my opinion. In fact, go find a Maccas instead.

• Try Waze as your GPS system– was great around Europe for accidents and roadworks reported by the public and authorities, and recalculated our route accordingly.

• And of course, look for a good roaming deal from your mobile provider (and check they offer 4G overseas - trust me, using 3G is annoying when trying to load Spotify), or get a local sim card to save an expensive phone bill.

#Edward #France #Italy #Grenoble #StEtienne #Euro2016 #Football