A journey to Austria is not as straight forward as you think!
Certainly that's not the case for myself and Kit Manager Nathan Stanton who are taking the unorthodox route there.
Fans currently in England will have had the opportunity to see the Iron contingent including new signings Josh Morris and Duane Holmes against AFC Stamford this evening, but we're already over half way to Austria - Luxembourg to be precise - after setting off from Glanford Park at around 8am this morning.
The players will be joining us tomorrow (and potentially beating us there too!) as they take a flight from Stanstead Airport to reach the destination of Obertraun in Austria.
So how come we are already half way there and how come we are in Luxembourg, I hear you ask?
En route to Dover for the first leg of mine and Nathan Stanton's drive to (Austria flag) for the @SUFCOfficial tour. a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTI?src=hash">#UTI
— James Moody (@jamesiron95) July 8, 2016
The answer sees us turn to a Mercedes Sprinter van, a long motorway drive from North Lincolnshire to the Port of Dover and a ferry ride to Calais before negotiating our way through France and Belgium before finally arriving at Luxembourg; our checkpoint for the day.
The Iron's Kit Manager Nathan Stanton & the media team have arrived in Dover. Next up, 🛳 to Calais #IroninAustria 🇦🇹
— Scunthorpe United FC (@SUFCOfficial) July 8, 2016
Myself having never driven a van before and Nathan never driving abroad before, it was a learning curve to adapt quickly to the overseas cultures on the road. I succeeded - it's Nathan's turn tomorrow!
Saturday sees us continue our journey onto Germany before finally arriving at our destination - a total of approximately 1,100 miles from home and no less than nineteen hours worth of travelling ahead of a week-long of training to include two matches.
Keep up to date with our movements on our week long tour of Austria via social media and www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk and sign up to be a member of The Iron PlayerHD to view exclusive content every day throughout the week.
FRIDAY, JULY 8 IN BRIEF
08:15AM - After collecting the van on Thursday and loading all of the kit and luggage we began our four hour trek to Dover.
12:15PM - Arrival in Dover followed by checking in, customs and passport checks before awaiting our ferry.
13:55PM - Ferry across to Calais.
15:10PM (16:10PM in France) - Arrival in Calais before heading through France and Belgium before arriving in Luxembourg.
19:00PM - (Back in England) The Iron kick-off against Stamford AFC in their first pre-season friendly.
19:12PM - Duane Holmes scores his first Iron goal to it 1-0 to the Iron.
19:45PM - It's 2-0 to the Iron, with Holmes collecting his second.
20:10PM (21:10 Luxembourg time) - We reach our hotel in Luxembourg at the end of day one, covering over 500 miles of driving and just over 12 hours on the road.
20:11PM - (Back in England) 3-0 to the Iron with Madden collecting their third following a cross from Levi Sutton.