VASCO

I'm not complaining, as I deliberately restricted myself to the three aforementioned grounds and to matches prior to the quarter-finals). On the days on which there are games for which I don't have a ticket I'll take a wander down to the city centre early on and try and a blag a ticket.

I applied for 14 tickets (13 up to last 16 and one for final) and got 9. I restricted myself to Marseille, Lyon and St Etienne, all of which I which I visited at Euro '84. I can, to a certain extent, understand why I didn't get a ticket to the final, to the France group last other match (A2-A3) in Lyon, and to the last 16 match in St Etienne, which features the runner-up in France's group. Not getting tickets for B4-B1 in St Etienne and the last 16 match in Nice was just unlucky, especially as I have managed to acquire a last 16 ticket for the winner of France's group.

Sheremetyevo at 4 a.m. will still be busy. As I said previously, if you really want to, go for it. If it were me, however, I'd just stay in the airport.

Derek, Bear in mind that it will take time to get through visa and customs, and you presumably have to book in for your connecting flight a couple hours beforehand. It's a fair trek into Moscow, no matter what method you choose, and you'll have to spend the same time on the return journey. You might believe that it's worth the hassle just to say that you've been there, but I'm not so sure. Moscow is certainly not dodgy, but it can be expensive, especially around Red Square and the Bolshoi Theatre. I cannot answer your visa question, as you don't indicate waht kind of visa you'll be travelling on.

Rinn mi e an doigh agam fhin Literally means " I did it my own way", so I've been told.

In 2009 our group stayed in the Prince Hotel above Shinjuku station (world's busiest) - http://www.princehotels.com/en/shinjuku/Cracking heated lavvy seats in rooms! Purely by chance when Marion and I went to Tokyo over Christmas and New Year in 2011 we stayed at the same place, only because the Expedia deal was the cheapest. Nothing you read or hear about Tokyo prepares you for what's in store. The place is mental, space is limited everywhere, from hotel rooms to noodle bars to trains. We went up Mt Fuji on New Year's Day 2012 and were lucky enough to get further up the mountain than anyone had been for 5 years due to the good weather. Bite the bullet on this one and go on an organised tour. It's well worth it. The information we got from our guide would not have been possible from books. Our tour also took in a trip on Lake Ashi. As for beer, Kirin is really good, and Sapporo I found tasty, but everyone of us on both trips, including Marion, boaked at the Asahi. It's foul.

I had Baines to score first goal @ 12/1 and at any time @ 4/1. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

It doesn't really matter what era we are talking about. The general principle is still the same. For limited number of stopovers use pre-booked discounted tickets. For extensive travel and to see as many places as possible use the Railcard. I'm assuming the original poster is interested in the latter. For our tour of Germany during the World Cup last year we decided on pre-booked Saver tickets which worked out slightly cheaper than the Railcard. That was only because we had a limited itinerary (Bremen-Frankfurt-Rostock-Cologne-Essen-Berlin-Bremen). As for overnight trains, supplements have always existed, but I was talking about non-couchette, non-sleeper travelling. In other words really slumming it!

Forget hostels/hotels. Travel overnight on trains. Like the last poster said, don't plan. Do whatever takes your fancy and travel with a similar outlook. Ignore all comments about cities. Go and make your own mind up. If you're starting in Bilbao head eastwards, stopping in possibly Marseille, then on to northern Italy. Again, as MikeyHead states, you'll find Italy fascinating. The beauty of the Inter-rail card and big countries like Italy and Germany is that you can be in a city in the north one day and in the south on the next day (or vice versa). I used the Inter-Rail card in 1974, principally for the World Cup in West Germany, but I also travelled to Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In 1977 I managed West Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland. In 1980 I travelled mainly in Italy for the European Championships, as I did in 1990 for the World Cup. I did not use a single hostel/hotel during the latter two trips. Single country rail passes are also useful, as was the case in France 1984, West Germany 1988 and Sweden 1992 (European Championships) and Morocco in 2010. You'll be amazed at just how much more money you have available to you for other things, like beer, if you do not go down the hostel/hotel route.

For someone my age, 60, there will never be anyone quite like him in a Scotland jersey!

I'm going over from 17th December until 23rd to watch the World Club Championship. I was there last year when Bayern Munich beat Raja Casablanca who had beaten Atletico Mineiro, Ronaldinho and all, in the semi-final. This year I'm only going to catch the second semi-final involving San Lorenzo from Buenos Aires and final and third place play-off. The Ibis at the railway station is o.k. Kamil (Kalim?) is the manager and is right into football. I'm staying this time round the corner in the Akabar in Hivernage. Flights cost me £76 return, as you say, direct from Glasgow. Despite this being my third trip to Marrakesh, I've yet to explore the medina to any great degree, preferring to have long lies and early beers. Each time I've been in O'Mulligans I end up staying for 5 and 6 hours at a time. Marrakesh is a sprawling city and walking around for any length of time can be quite tiring, although rewarding. List of pubs here http://www.madeinmarrakech.co.uk/pubs-and-bars.html Never buy anything right away. The price can always be reduced through bartering, although it's not a process I enjoy. I hope you have a good time.