Saturday the Eighteenth:

 

Magun's Compass
Learn from the Travel Experiences of Others


The Pontiac Silverdrome is a long way from downtown Detroit; one and a half hours by bus.

The game is played early to avoid the afternoon heat; Michigan is in a heatwave, and the humidity is unbearable. The first World Cup soccer match to be played indoors is between the hosts, and Switzerland.

Grass has been brought in to replace the artificial playing surface, and the pitch looks unbeatable.

Unfortunately, the conditions defeat the players.

Towards the end they look tired, and drained. There is no air-conditioning, but worst of all, there is little circulation of air.

Fans at a football match take on new meaning in this stadium, as caps and programmes are used to waft some sort of relief into the faces of suffering spectators.

Swiss fans in Detroit

The conditions keep the crowd in apathetic control. There are painted faces, a few cowbells, and the occasional cry of: "U...S...A...", but there is very little creativity or enthusiasm in the songs, and certainly no jumping up and down, or conga lines to party to. [USA 1 Switzerland 1] about the summary of the day; both goals from set pieces!

Greyhound travel in Canada suffers little from overcrowding, apart from Coast to Coast. Not so in America. If you turn up at night, and expect to catch a bus out of Detroit in fifteen minutes, you will be disappointed.... FULL. Sometimes another bus is found, sometimes not. The night you try to leave for Washington, is the night there is no extra bus. A game will have to be missed!

 

[The Kick-Off]

[To Washington]

US Index.

Nomadic Gatherings - Travels in Asia and Australia

Travel on trains and buses in Asia, then jump into cars with complete strangers in Australia and New Zealand as Michel introduces you to a collection of characters that bring Nomadic Gatherings to life.

If you can't afford to buy a copy of Nomadic Gatherings, the chapters are slowly being made available online - for free.

You may even decide that it really is worth having a hard copy in your hands; a useful read for those long bus journeys being written about, and for endless waits at ferry ports.

Nomadic Gatherings - Online Chapters.

Find out more about Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, The Middle East, and The Americas.
Magun's Compass

Originally Hosted on Geocities - in 1996

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