Yup, it's that annual thread where I try to talk people into going on a trip.

Full road schedule:



Obviously things are wide open at this point, but I want to highlight a couple of possibilities:

June 2, San Antonio
New team, usually reasonable airfares, could stay Sunday and watch the US game on June 3 with the supporters down there

August 4, Edmonton
Normally, I'd toss this aside--despite the Flyover Cup connection--since round-trip airfares to Edmonton have been in the $600+ range. However, it looks like United is currently offering fares starting at $404. This would be the second of the Stars' two trips to Edmonton, the first being April 22. (FCE is at the Nessie on August 25 and September 8; we should talk ESG into coming down here for September 8 for a proper hand-off of the cup.)

Of course, I'm always interested in going to Puerto Rico (July 28 and Sept 15), but with my Australia trip this year, I won't have many days off of work, and I don't think I'd want to go to PR for just a weekend. If someone else wanted to organize such a trip, you should totally go for it.

So... thoughts? The earlier we plan, the earlier you can start saving up money and requesting time off.

I say San Antonio.

I know I and Stephan are interested. And we'd be driving down (since it'd be cheaper than flying/renting a car) (and I love road trips).

Early disclaimer: No matter where we go, superrookie does not get to pick the hotel.

Hah! Superrookie gets blamed for something that is essentially my fault, I love it!

Seconded.

I'm not sure I'll be able to manage a trip this summer, but I would like to look into the possibilities of the trip being more than just the Stars. Is there a World Cup Qualifier near any Stars games (in both geography and timing)? Maybe the Twins? Even an extra MLS game on the way back could be fun, depending. An updated pic from Toyota Park with Surly replacing the New Glarus might be nice.

USA vs Scotland in Jaxsonville on May 26th

Rumor has it that the Rowdies are trying to move the Stars at Tampa to May 25th.

Two games. Price of one plane ticket.

Florida again?

It is (according to Google Maps) a four-hour drive between St. Petersburg and Jacksonville.

(FYI, I added the full away schedule to the first post.)

I suppose that, given where the other teams are located, that's the closest opportunity to do multiple things like that. None of the other USMNT games line up with the Stars' away schedule.

Only two of the markets have MLB teams: Atlanta and Tampa. The Twins don't play the Braves; they only make one Tampa trip: April 20-22. San Antonio's sorta close to Dallas, but again, the Twins' schedule doesn't line up.

I suppose we could look into driving, so that there'd be more things "on the way". But when I look at the distances, that looks less interesting to me:
(Starting point NSC; ending point the stadium in question. Source: Google Maps)

Atlanta: 1,133 mi, 19 hrs
Carolina: 1,217 mi, 21 hrs
Edmonton: 1,222 mi, 21 hrs
Ft. Lauderdale: 1,762 mi, 30 hrs
Puerto Rico: (hee hee)
San Antonio: 1,257 mi, 20 hrs
Tampa Bay: 1,609 mi, 27 hrs

Call me a wimp if you want, but driving any of those sounds awful. My time's worth a lot more than the relatively small difference between gas money and airfare.

I love driving, and San Antonio could be had well below 20 hours.

Well, yeah... we all know that in reality the trip times end up a bit shorter than what Google says is "legal".