By the end of 2022, I will have flown 402,632km since my first coaching job abroad. To make sense of it, that would mean if that were a continuous flight, I would have circumnavigated the globe ten times in eleven years. That's a lot of distance covered for something that was often disparaged by my teachers as simply eleven men chasing a ball. Football is a silly game, and it leads to nothing. Twenty years later, and because of football, I have achieved a lot, seen a lot, been a lot of places, and even met my wife. Not a bad haul if you ask me.
If you're like me, you like to keep records of things, and you like to travel. Chances are, you end up with lots of memories, and also lots of souvenirs. I love football, and I like to explore new cultures, countries, and languages. My first coaching job abroad was to work for Challenger Sports in western Canada in 2012. I was supposed to go to California the year before, but had to pull out due to personal issues. Ever since then, I've been keeping a record of my flights, regularly hitting over fifteen per year, peaking in 2017 with twenty-four flights that year. I thought it would be interesting to plot these on a map to see what each year looked like, and to see how far I travelled.
Some of these flights are for work, and some are for personal travel. Making another part of the world your home is a great experience, and one of the many benefits of it is that it allows you to use it as a base to travel and explore from. Let's get started.
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2012 - 15 Flights - 47,943km Flown
1.London - Amsterdam
2. Amsterdam - Calgary
3. Calgary - Seattle
4. Seattle - Memphis
5. Memphis - New York
6. Newark - Toronto
7. Toronto - Calgary
8. Calgary - Edmonton
9. Edmonton - Yellowknife
10. Yellowknife - Edmonton
11. Edmonton - Calgary
12. Calgary - Amsterdam
13. Amsterdam - London
14. London - Singapore
15. Singapore - London
Countries visited; England, Netherlands, Canada, USA, Singapore. Average flight distance: 3,196.2km
I was excited, because this was the life I wanted. Dreams were about to come true. But it meant leaving family, friends, saying goodbye to teams I loved working with, and also saying goodbye to a girlfriend. As great as coaching around the world is, it does exact a heavy emotional toll. The first flight was May 4th, which I was thrilled at because it was Star Wars Day. The final flight was in the beginning of September following a very short stint in Singapore that did not go well at all. You can read about that misadventure here. It's worth keeping in mind that the circumference of the Earth is only 40,075km, and I flew 47,943 in my first year (first five months really) as a coach abroad.
We went to different parts of Canada to deliver camps, including a flight up north to Yellowknife, which is home of the Ice Road Truckers TV show. Between that were frequent eight hour drives to different towns, showing how huge yet sparsely populated Canada is. In between that was a quick trip down to Seattle for my first MLS game to see the Sounders thump LA Galaxy 4-0. A team which featured David Beckham, Robbie Keane, and Landon Donovan. Then it was off to see my then girlfriend in New York, who was participating in a residency at an art college in New York, which allowed me to visit Red Bull Arena for the first time, as the Red Bulls defeated Houston Dynamo 2-0. As the Challenger contract was only for the summer, I secured the Singapore job while considering what to do next after Canada. When flying back to England, it coincided with an international break. My colleague and I bumped into David de Gea in Amsterdam, and then I entered the UK with Steve McClaren behind me in the customs queue.
The flight back from New York to Calgary via Toronto was the first time I had experienced lost luggage. Also the first time I really noticed the true might of Tim Horton's. The Toronto airport had both a Starbucks and a Timmies. Although Starbucks was empty, the Canadians queued for a good fifty yards outside Tim Horton's to get their coffee. I was eventually reunited with my luggage a week later, when it was flown back to Calgary. I very fortunately had my belongings spread across two smaller bags, so had enough undies and kit to get through a week of coaching, even if that did mean a little rationing had to happen. Upon my entry to Toronto via border security, the guard asked me what work I was doing. "Soccer coach" I told him. "Soccer, eh? I had a soccer player come through here last week. He also came from England." I turned it into a trivia game. He didn't know who he played for, but said he was a short black guy. "Junior Hoilett?" I asked. "That's him!" said the guard. He'd already played his last Rovers game by then, but I still thought it was pretty cool. Anyway, when my luggage eventually returned, it turns out it had been taken off the conveyor belt by security due to detecting a suspicious object in there, which happened to be a metal souvenir New York Red Bulls number plate.
Rovers were relegated just three days after I landed in Canada. For the first of two times they would be relegated on my birthday. The club chair promised me that myself and my colleague could come over to watch the game. We went to the house to watch, but they were out, and none of them were answering the phone. We sat on the porch waiting for them to come back. Maybe there were out and got delayed? Still nothing. My colleague was able to forge a slight Wi-Fi connection because he had been there before. We got it on my laptop, but it was sketchy. There was no alternative. Our house had no Wi-Fi, no satellite TV, and there were no bars or restaurants we could go to. A small town of about two thousand people, forty-five minutes from civilisation, with only a Dairy Queen and a Subway. And that was that. Rovers were relegated, and I was the other side of the world, able to watch the odd scrambled shot on a dodgy feed. Great.
The friendliness of the Canadians meant that Calgary instantly felt like home. I became an avid fan of the Calgary Flames NHL team, and began a relationship with Orange Crush, Tim Horton's, and poutine. Then a week in New York showed me a glimpse of what I wanted in life. The people were cold and cynical, much like myself. I felt at home there too. Most of America is in your face, super positive, and very friendly. New York felt like a dream come true for an introvert, as you could be surrounded by people, but none of them cared, and nobody paid attention to you. There was also a level of sarcasm and self-deprecating humour that was hard to find in other areas of the USA.
Then going to Singapore, despite it being a scam, was eye-opening. People were referring to it as "Diet Asia" because for a westerner, you wouldn't be too far outside of your comfort zone, and could ease yourself much more gently into a new culture and climate, surrounded by so many of your home comforts. A country that regularly finishes near the top on all the best global ranking metrics, with still a huge colonial imprint upon it, it's easy to see why Singapore was so sought after by job seekers abroad. 2012 had set a very high bar. It was a great first year, and showed me exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. After the Singapore debacle, now in love with New York, and a girlfriend back in Calgary, I had to plot how to get back out there.
If you're considering USA or Canada for short to long term coaching opportunities, Challenger Sports are who I initially went with in 2018.
I was made to work a lot in Canada, refereeing in addition to coaching.
This was my first full-time coaching job. We did so much coaching, and it accelerated my development. That's why I heavily recommend stints abroad like this.
Sometimes you have to act like a clown on camp. The kids got to put me in a dress, a bra, and a tiara. What that has to do with football, I'm not sure, but apparently it increases attendance on camps.
In our first few days in Canada, we stole a traffic cone, put some sunglasses on him, and named him Jimmy Bollard. He came everywhere with us, and the kids loved playing with Jimmy.
At the end of camp, the kids typically want autographs.
I covered by bag in little souvenirs and trinkets. Every town wanted to give us something special, and the kids wanted to give us bracelets and keyrings.
It was heart breaking saying goodbye to this team and this town.
A quick stop in Seattle to see the Sounders beat the Galaxy of Beckham, Keane, and Donovan 4-0.
A trip to New York for my first game at Red Bull Arena.
This was a local pitch in Singapore, between all the apartment blocks.
By far the most interesting football pitch I have ever seen.
2013 - 13 Flights - 43,064km Flown
1. London - Calgary
2. Calgary - London
3. London - Washington DC
4. Washington DC - Newark
5. Newark - Calgary
6. Calgary - Newark
7. Newark - London
8. London - Warsaw
9. Warsaw - London
10. London - Dubai
11. Dubai - Kuwait
12. Kuwait - Dubai
13. Dubai - London
Countries visited: England, Canada, USA, Poland, UAE, Kuwait. Also drove to visit friends in Lille and watch football, adding France to the list.
Average fight distance: 3,312.6km
Second year coaching abroad, and again I flew more than the circumference of the Earth. Again, this is without factoring in the huge driving distances that would have been accrued as both a coach and a football fan. Again, mainly in North America and Europe, with a trip to Asia for good measure. The first flight was back to Calgary for Valentine's Day. I saw some old friends, watched NHL for the first time, seeing the Calgary Flames obliterated at home by the St. Louis Blues (if this were a movie, it would be called foreshadowing). The temperature was minus ten degrees and there was snow everywhere. Canadians, tired of snow and never thrilled by the prospect, thought I was silly for being so mesmerised by it, as I ran around throwing snowballs and making sculptures in the snow.
I was tolerating coaching in England, knowing it was only temporary. Perhaps my heart wasn't in it, as I was desperate to get back out again. This came in the form of working for United Soccer Coaches, who were based in New Jersey. I applied for several coaching companies, and turned a few down, as this was the one I wanted to work for. Ironically, they initially turned me down, and only brought me in as someone else dropped out. Funny how life goes, as another coach they rejected is now an A licence coach in England, and several of my then colleagues don't even work in football anymore. It goes to show that recruiters don't always get it right, so as hard as it may be, don't beat yourself up too much for not getting the job. The Canadian girlfriend and I both wanted to live and work in New York together. I was now in New Jersey, and she had been accepted to study a master's in Buffalo New York, so this long distance relationship may work, and our dreams may be coming true.
There was a moment wen I went to see a Red Bulls match with some colleagues on a Saturday evening (I went every chance I got) where the group of us took a moment and realised how cool life was. We were in our early twenties, but felt like we had achieved something so brilliant, that whatever else happened in life, it didn't matter. The Red Bulls defeated the New England Revolution 4-1. It was a warm spring evening, and as we were walking down the steps to exit the stadium, we saw the iconic New York skyline in the distance. We felt like we had made it. We then went into Times Square after the game. Times Square! Think of all the grotty, horrible places you end up post-game in Britain, and here we were in Times Square after a match. That in itself was pretty cool, but we couldn't get over the feeling that... we weren't tourists. We were locals now. This was our neck of the woods. The Red Bulls were our local team. People would pay thousands to visit New York and would dream of it for a lifetime, and now... we got to go there whenever we felt like? That's an indescribable feeling.
I'd walk around NYC by myself, knowing where I was going without needing to check a map or ask for directions, wearing my New York Mets hat, and I looked like I belonged. Plenty of other foreigners would be roped into tourists traps, yet I was able to evade them, because I lived there now. They ignored me. It was great!
But, sadly, like many good things, it doesn't last. The bubble burst quite abruptly. A few things had happened, and I was not in the good books of the employers. It got off to a bad start immediately. On our first day, after landing at one in the morning, and then into the office for meetings at nine, a handful of us were taken out around three to go and deliver our first sessions. We didn't know the kids, and planned our sessions in the car. Jetlagged, lacking sleep and food, not having unpacked, we were now ambushed into a session. A session for which we were to be assessed by one of the directors. Naturally, my session was crap. First black mark against my name. In the first couple of weeks, I didn't anticipate the traffic well, and was late to a couple sessions. Another black mark. I had to miss a day of coaching because I was summoned to court for a traffic violation. Another black mark. Some badly signed roadworks caused a string of drivers, about five of us in one batch, to be pulled over by the police for going the wrong way. I was simply following the guy in front of me, trying to navigate the bollards and barriers. So I missed work AND was fined. Another black mark. A complaint was put in against me for being rude and dismissive to a parent (it was mistaken identity, the day was actually my birthday, I was very happy, and only spoke to one parent that day, there were three or four other coaches there that day, but they were adamant it was me). Another black mark. Then I was run over by a colleague. No joke, actually run over by a colleague driving a company car. Black mark. The basement bedroom where I was staying was flooded during a storm, and a lot of personal property was destroyed (weird feeling to wake up and see your belongings floating around you) including my laptop. I put in an insurance claim against the company [black mark], which they never paid. And to top it off, a kid on one of our camps was called Justin, so we referred to him as Justin Bieber once as a throw away comment. The next day, I was sacked. The boy's mum had complained, and the company decided I was too much trouble, and I was on a plane back to London that evening.
To have your dreams crushed that quickly was a horrible feeling. I put on a brave face as one of the directors frog marched me around the house while I packed, and my housemates and colleagues shed a few tears, then was driven to the airport by the big boss, who resembled Robert De Niro. I was trying to build a life there. I even had to buy a second suitcase to pack all my belongings. We had new family in Pennsylvania (thanks to my grandmother) and I had a girlfriend in Canada that was soon going to be one state over. I'm a very calm, emotionless person, but I nearly fell apart at the airport. Dropped off at Newark by De Niro, with my two suitcases, both of my bags were overweight. The airline wanted to charge me for the extra bag, and for both bags being overweight. This would cost $500. I'd just come back from visiting Calgary, and had no savings, no overdraft, no credit card, and no way to get my bags somewhere safe. I tried everything to move and acquire money. I called home and tried to think of plans. Then the guy behind the counter saw me struggling, and took complete and utter mercy on me, walking over to me at the ATM on the phone, handing me a receipt for my baggage, wishing me a safe flight. I was so speechless that I don't think I even properly thanked the man. Noise came out of my mouth, but my recollection of it was like screeching brakes on a car.
That crash down to reality was not done. About a week later, I broke up with my Canadian girlfriend. Over Skype. The dream to live together and work in New York had been shot down, and exploded on impact. So now what? I was so low that I contemplated giving up coaching altogether. Clearly I was bad at it, and my lack of a boisterous, outgoing personality was not good at making first impressions. But I still wanted to travel, and knew my future was not in England. I began a TEFL course online so I'd always have the ability to teach English. I went to Poland for a week to volunteer for an amazing company called Angloville. Well worth looking into for short stints abroad. I keep checking all the jobs boards, wanting to get back out there, and go somewhere far away. That's when I saw the opportunity in Kuwait.
I went to Poland, had an amazing time, met some great people, met a girl... and began the process to get to Kuwait. I did my research, interviewed, and was offered the job. Now I simply had to wait around to get on my flight and leave. The girl from Poland came to visit me in England, but we knew it couldn't work out. Again, sad, but that is the price you pay for wanting to do this job. And then I was off to Kuwait, on the best economy flight I had ever been on. It was Arsenal Soccer Schools, so the flights were with Emirates. Even the cheap seats were pure luxury. I felt like a celebrity. Quick connection in Dubai, and then it was time to begin a new life in the desert.
I loved my time in Kuwait. A lot of people suffer due to how hard it is to forge a social life. Because of that, I mixed with people from all walks of life, who I'd never have mingled with otherwise. The heat was hard to take, but the lifestyle was alright. The coaching was easy, and I built back my confidence that had taken such a battering just a few months earlier. Our apartment was great, with a pool and a gym. My housemate was one of the best people and best coaches I had ever met, and every day with him was hilarious. I would have stayed longer had it not been for one colleague in particular, who just made life Hell for everyone around him. It was so bad that we actually wrote down and kept a record of the horrible things he said and did. To parents, kids, colleagues, subordinates, and table staff in restaurants. Treatment of waiters and waitresses is a real litmus test of a person.
I could have stayed beyond the initial three months and done the full year. It would have been a great wage, with lots of travel opportunities. That was so tempting, but you see, this opportunity in Mexico had come up. I saw it the year before, and hoped I would see it again. Kuwait was alright. I had a social life. I lived well. I played football and futsal. I even met a few girls, one being a teacher from England, and another being a German women who was thirteen years my senior. I had managed to thrive in a country that people said was harsh. I'd been on dates in a place where people said it couldn't be done. I had friends. But this one guy, and the prospect of Mexico, it was enough to tip the balance. Back home for Christmas, and then a new life to look forward to in 2014.
Staff training in the shirt of the team we support.
One of us is sunburnt, the other is wearing face paint.
The rooftop of our apartment complex in Kuwait. Not to be sniffed at. Sadly, too many disregard parts of the world without knowing much about them.
Our pitch at GUST, sandwiched between two mosques.
A nice place to play a bit of futsal in your spare time at Qadsia.
Met this bloke in a fez at the Kuwait v Lebanon qualifier for the Asian Cup.
A Kuwait league game between Kazma and Al Tadhamon.
2014 - 13 Flights - 32,799km Flown
1. London - Amsterdam
2. Amsterdam - Mexico City
3. Mexico City - Orlando
4. Orlando - San Antonio
5. San Antonio - Mexico City
6. Mexico City - San Jose, Costa Rica
7. San Jose, Costa Rica - Mexico City
8. Mexico City - Charlotte
9. Charlotte - Raleigh
10. Raleigh - Houston
11. Houston - Mexico City
12. Mexico City - Charlotte
13. Charlotte - London
Countries visited: England, Netherlands, Mexico, USA, Costa Rica. Also went on a road trip to visit Cologne, adding France, Belgium, and Germany to the list. Plus a day trip to the Bahamas from Florida.
Average fight distance: 2,523km
If you'd like to know more about Mexico, you can read about the opportunities here.
Same amount of flights as 2013, but with a shorter total distance, being localised in central America and the southeast of the USA. I started the job in Mexico two weeks after leaving Kuwait. If you think of cultural norms as a spectrum, Kuwait and Mexico are at opposite ends. In Kuwait, a married couple cannot hold hands in public. In Mexico, public displays of affection are everywhere. Both places are, however, hot, but Kuwait is in a league of its own for heat. And the driving ability is comparable too.
Mexico was... interesting. Nothing ran like how I would have done it if I were in charge. Productivity is at the mercy of so many random factors that permeate every crevice of life. Sessions would be called off due to pollution warnings. Two guys making eye contact in the street could spark into fifty people partying until four in the morning. Everything is celebrated, and the celebrations last a very, very long time. It was good to finally be in another football mad culture, where football dominates the cultural zeitgeist in a way that we experience in England. The people are a strange mixture of quick to emotional outbursts, while simultaneously being so relaxed, so friendly, and so welcoming. The highs and lows are extreme, and that is evident in the class system. Extreme wealth living side-by-side with extreme poverty. And then there's the altitude too, which you don't notice at all, until you try to run for the first time. At twenty-four and training for a marathon, it took me a good ten minutes to recover from racing a child thirty yards. Also factor in adding two hours of sleep to your sleep cycle for the first couple of weeks as you adjust.
Mexico is, of course, infamous for being the place where I met the unfortunate woman who would become my wife. Unknowingly, she signed up to a lifetime of trips to Ewood Park, scheduling all plans around games of football, including ones on TV, and also having all future vacations planned around viewing some local football. Sounds great to you and I, but not to someone who didn't care about football.
In April, I flew to Orlando to spend time with my parents for Easter, and visit my old boss Mickey. In August, I flew to North Carolina to complete the National Diploma with United Soccer Coaches. Mexico doesn't have much coach education to offer, so a big draw of the job was the proximity to the US, allowing me to complete courses north of the border. The USA gets a bad rap for many justified reasons, yet the coaching education has become very good, and is worth doing.
Two colleagues and I also had to take a brief trip to Costa Rica. We needed work permits, and had to leave the country to do so. Nobody cared that we'd worked for six months already on tourist visas. We visited the Mexican embassy in San Jose and were awarded temporary residency in Mexico. The turnaround was a couple days, which we took to visit the capital city. This meant walking around the outside of the national stadium, and sneaking into the stadium of Deportivo Saprissa, watching a training session, and even taking penalties against the goalkeeper coach. We were stunned in a sports bar as we witnessed the Earth shattering event where Brazil were embarrassed at home to Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final. And we witnessed the country's reaction to the returning Costa Rican team, who were given a hero's welcome upon their World Cup success, being eliminated on penalties by the Dutch in the quarter-finals, following group stage wins over Italy and Uruguay, and a draw with England, and a second round shootout win over Greece.
My parents came to visit Mexico. We went loco down in Acapulco, but didn't stay too long, where they met the future Mrs. Wilson for the first time. At Christmas, she came back to England with me, via a layover in Charlotte, where I introduced her to Pinkberry frozen yoghurt for the first time.
The facilities at Club Reforma were superb.
Coaching in the sun takes some getting used to.
I got to attend a talk with this guy, who claimed to have played football. They all say that.
First game ever in Mexico was at the Estadio Azul, where Cruz Azul's last minute winner over Puebla from Marco Fabian was nominated for a FIFA Puskas Award.
Parading the streets of Mexico City after their group stage win against Croatia.
A friendly at the Azteca between Club America and Atletico Madrid.
Plenty of rooftop pitches in Mexico. This one is above a shopping mall.
If you lose a match, the kids will beat you up.
And if you're not careful, you'll need an extra suitcase for all your football souvenirs.
This was in Costa Rica to welcome the national team back from the World Cup, after reaching the quarter finals.
Sneaking into Deportivo Saprissa to watch a training session with Chris Bennett, and we ended up taking penalties against their goalkeeper coach.
Watched my first college soccer game when NC State beat Campbell 2-0.
I got to watch the US women train. Tickets for the friendly were a little outside of my price range.
NC State college soccer facilities.
Attending the National Diploma course in North Carolina.
This is the eagle from Club America, who is called Celeste.
Boring the girls to death at the end of training.
If you want to know more about coaching in Mexico, here's a podcast episode where I talked to a group of coaches who have been there, done that, and bought several t-shirts.
2015 - 12 Flights - 28,810km Flown
1. London - Dallas
2. Dallas - Mexico City
3. Mexico City - Dallas
4. Dallas - Calgary
5. Calgary - Phoenix
6. Pheonix - Mexico City
7. Mexico City - Los Angeles
8. Los Angeles - Chicago
9. Chicago - Columbus
10. Montreal - London
11. Southampton - Paris
12. Paris - Southampton
Countries visited: England, USA, Mexico, Canada, France.
Average flight distance: 2,400.8km
This year was back to Mexico for six more months, before the wife and I returned to England. Both of us started a master's that year. Mine was a blended course in coaching education from Ohio University, which suited my coaching schedule as it was two years without having to uproot and live somewhere new. The wife came back with me to England to study hers at Southampton.
At Easter, I went back to Calgary for a week to visit friends and watch hockey. When I finished my time in Mexico, I went to California for a coaching course, which was the Advanced National Diploma with United Soccer Coaches. I spent one day in Disneyland, and flew to Ohio via Chicago to do some work for my master's, and meet with my parents who were on a road trip through North America. We drove from Ohio, through Pennsylvania and New York, up to Niagara Falls, Toronto, and then flew back via Montreal. The wife joined me a couple months later, after much visa stress. And to finish the year, we went to Paris, naturally heading to Disney.
You meet all these wonderful people, but saying goodbye is always hard. They threw me a party at the end of training.
USC Advanced National Diploma in Santa Barbara, California.
Stadium tour and a game at Columbus Crew, when they played New England Revolution.
Tour of the facilities at Ohio University.
Back to visit friends in Alberta, Canada, and play some football in the snow.
This guy came up to me after a game at Cruz Azul, saw me in a Santa Cruz shirt, and within minutes made a genuine attempt to get me to marry his daughter. Talk about Mexican hospitality.
Only home for a few weeks, and I was knocked unconscious by a fourteen-year-old during a training session. Showing another boy how to time his runs on corners, the lad marking me thought it was a live demonstration. He jumped up and elbowed me in the forehead, sending me to the floor in a heap. The team manager called an ambulance, and I had double vision for a few days.
2016 - 8 Flights - 19,752km Flown
1. London - Malaga
2. Malaga - London
3. London - Reykjavik
4. Reykjavik - London
5. London - New York
6. New York - Columbus
7. Columbus - New York
8. New York - London
Countries visited: England, Spain, Iceland, USA, and a trip to Cardiff to see the Rovers. And a day trip to Tangiers in Morocco while on holiday in Malaga.
Average flight distance: 2,469km
Not much travelling for work in 2016. Back in England for a couple years, and I really knuckled down with trying to gain experience and qualifications. A week in the south of Spain for a holiday included day trips to Gibraltar and Tangiers. 2016 will be best remembered for Leicester City, Trump, and Brexit. Imagine how rich you'd be if you put a tenner on those three on an accumulator. I was in Iceland on holiday for the US election and stayed up all night, gripped to the TV in a state of doom. I had begun the process of working for Global Premier Soccer in the following year, so had a vested interest in knowing who the president would be
The big trip at the end of the year, back to Ohio for my graduation, also meant we spent a few days over Christmas in New York. Ohio is special to me (Go Bobcats!) but it's not a special place. The flight back from Reykjavik was the first time I ever missed a flight. We simply forgot what time it was, and were fortunate enough to get on a later flight.
Ballboy duties on a Tuesday night game when Aldershot hosted Eastleigh.
Bobcat Pride.
Chelsea v Wolfsburg in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.
Looking down on a football pitch in Gibraltar.
A bit of Real Betis v Deportivo La Coruña.
A stadium tour of Malaga.
From my final game with Saints Ladies, a nice 6-0 win over MK Dons.