Fancy joining us for a trip!?

2009 EFW Oktoberfest

Ever fancied joining us one one of our jaunts abroad!? Well, now you jolly well can. I'm proud to announced details of the very first 'EFW Oktoberfest'.

Our trip is taking place from Friday 23rd until Sunday 25th October. We'll be based in Tilburg in the Netherlands, which also just happens to be one of the centres of the footballing universe. Here's the deal:

Friday October 23rd

We'll be meeting up in a pub near to Tilburg Railway Station in the afternoon for a few beers before boarding a train for the short journey (15 minutes) to Hertogenbosch for the Dutch 2nd Division game between Den Bosch and Fortuna Sittard. Back to Tilburg afterwards for a film in the local cinema....just kidding we'll be having a few more beers.

Saturday October 24th

Saturday is now set aside for Rot-Weiss Essen v SC Preußen Münster. We'll be hopping over the border for Germany for this one. Seen as a local derby, fanatical fans, cheap beer, terracing for 18,500 and buttons to get in. This looks like being a classic EFW day out!

Sunday October 25th

On Sunday morning we'll be actually playing a match. Don't worry, the quality will be shocking with the emphasis very much on just taking the micky out of each other and having a laugh. The match will be played on a ground in Tilburg, so bring some kit with you. We're hoping there will be enough numbers for this to be England v Europe. Early indications are that we'll have no problems getting the teams together.

In the afternoon, seeing as we'll be in Tilburg, who fancies nipping downtown to watch Willem II v Heerenveen!? (yes please - Ed). Good news here is that I've negotiated us a group discount on match tickets and they will only cost us 15 Euros each. As one person put it to me this morning, that's cheaper than watching Forest Green Rovers!

Flights and trains

You can fly into each of the following to reach Tilburg depending on where you live and what's easiest:

Amsterdam - (1hr 22mins from Tilburg by train)
Eindhoven - (25mins)
Rotterdam - (47 mins)

For the record. We are flying out on Friday morning from Gatwick to Amsterdam. We're leaving on a BA flight 09:20 which arrives at Amsterdam on 11:35. So we should be in a Tilburg pub for around 14:00 at the latest.

We're flying back from Amsterdam on Sunday evening at 21:30 with Easy Jet.

There is an excellent (user friendly) Dutch train timetable - click me for Dutch train times.

Hotels

For hotels in Tilburg, look for the following:

Hotel Central Tilburg (for the record this is where the EFW team will staying)

Hetwapenvan

These two are in the street where the station is and close to the centre.

This one 'Mercure Hotel' is just in the middle of the nightlife.

This one is only cheap if you go and sleep with more people in one room 'Hotel Lindeboom' and it's in the street where the best pubs are.

Our hotel at Central Tilburg works out at 30 Euro a night for a room with 4 people and it's right next door to the station.

More details and discussion boards can be found on our European Football Weekends Facebook site which you really should join if you haven't already. Ask any questions you may have on there or email them direct to me (dannylast@hotmail.com).

Please confirm as soon as possible if you fancy coming so I can sort out match tickets.

See you there!

Danny