The national team: That's why I travel with the football boys

The national team: That's why I travel with the football boys is written by Jens Anderson

The ultimate combination

I am obsessed with two things: football and travel. I hardly dare think about how much of my life has gone with one of those two things. Fortunately, both have given me the greatest experiences of my life - and often at the same time.

Whether it is a real obsession in question, I can not judge, but I can feel very clearly in myself that I get it bad, if I do not have a journey lying ready at some point out in the near future. Or at least a plane ticket somewhere.

As for football, I get restless and can't concentrate on much else when my team plays. I agree with many teams, but the Danish national team is of course at the top of the list. When there is a national match, there is a national match, and then everything else has to wait.

I'm really interested in all sports. It almost does not matter if it is basketball or bowling, pool or paddle; I follow it all. But football is number one.

True to tradition

Many have a firm tradition of going to the Park with friends or family, and there are few experiences that surpass a really good international match at home in a sea of ​​red-white colors and hoarse voices.

But the national team only plays about half of their matches at home; the rest is played all sorts of other places in the world. These are the fights I go after.

When the national team's program is announced, it does not take many seconds before I have my nose buried in the calendar in one hand and flight search engines, accommodation portals and transport providers in the other.

How to get from Gibraltar to Georgia in September? I have no idea, but I'll have to find out. That's just how it is.

Never alone when traveling with the national team

Most of the time, I only book for myself, so I do not have to reconcile travel plans with someone else and maybe miss out on cheap or good tickets while the calendar is being synchronized. I know I'm gonna leave, so I might as well just get it all done, and then we'll find out the rest afterwards.

Even though I travel alone, I am never alone when there is an international match away from home. Luckily, there are many others like me who can't help it either. Outdoor trips are something you become addicted to, but fortunately the addiction is not harmful. On the contrary. The atmosphere before, during and after an away match is not comparable to a home match.

When I'm off in the red and white sweater, I'm part of something bigger. All Danish fans like to have fun, party and experience local culture - often on tap - and there is always an atmosphere for a Danish party.

It does not matter if we stopped spontaneously at a rest area in Rustenburg in South Africa, whether we are five men in a cafe in Yerevan or 2-3000 in a giant pub in Dublin: There will probably be a red and white party!

Unique travel experiences with the national team

The travels with the national team have taken me to cities like Elbasan in Albania, In Almaty Kasakhstan and Olomouc i Czech Republic, to finals in countries such as South Africa, Ukraine og Russia and to legendary stadiums such as Wembley, Luzhniki and Råsunda.

For a football nerd like me, there is nothing greater than stepping into the historical arenas and thus becoming a part of history. And as a travel nerd, it is a privilege to be 'forced' to otherwise overlooked destinations such as Lens, Kharkiv and Saransk. There is always something exciting to come after, football or not.

Of course, it's the most fun to travel to an international match if the national team wins, and luckily they often do that at the moment. The support from the traveling Danish fans plays into the good points hour, but common to all of us who travel with the team out on the world's away pitches, is that the result is ultimately only a small part of a great adventure.

An away game with the national team can really gather the people, and I am very much looking forward to getting going on the next trip. I look forward to greeting familiar faces, meeting new away fans and feeling the community and euphoria when the team - of course - wins again. I am so ready!