Two brothers are set for a wild £20,000 USA World Cup road trip – travelling over 4,500 miles across 25 states – to cheer on England.
Football-mad pair Paul and Kevin Franklin already have their epic trip across America mapped out, six months ahead of the first kick-off.
The journey, which is due to cost them £10,000 each, involves eight flights, five buses, three trains and one trustee hire car.
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The tour even includes a 48-hour bus journey down to Mexico City.
To help cut costs, Paul, 46 and his younger brother Kevin, 44, are only taking hand luggage to the States.
Their baggage consists of England tops, shorts and sun cream as the Brits brace for the blistering heat.
Paul, a travel agent from Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, will be staying for the full 40-day tournament – as long as England make it to the final.
The pair have calculated that they will be spending an eye-watering £471 on fuel.
But to help with accommodation costs, the pair are sofa surfing with friends across the pond.
Most nights will be spent in the cheapest Airbnbs and motels they could find, however – with some costing as little as £30 a night.
To make the journey more memorable, the pair will go off the beaten path to see the sights.
From Las Vegas to Niagara Falls, the pair will be scoring plenty of destination goals – while both hope Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions team score enough of them on the pitch.
“This will be the trip of a lifetime,” Paul told What’s The Jam.
“We booked the flights six months ago and have only just finished planning the rest of the journey.
“It’s been a tough task – navigating transport across the states is far from easy.
“The travel, accommodation and tickets we have bagged is currently set to cost us just under £10,000 each.
“We played non-league football together as young adults but since then Kevin, didn’t really show much interest in football.
“But he ended up going to the England semi-final against Netherlands in Berlin – and he got the buzz.
“Since then, we’ve been going home and away with England – it’s the best experience.
“We started discussing the idea of going to the World Cup in America and to our surprise, both our wives signed off on it immediately.
“What with family commitments and work, we don’t spend much time together as just brothers, so it’s great to be able to bond over this.
“I’m doing the full 40 days, whilst my brother will have to go back to the UK before the last week, due to work.
“We both did everything we could to keep the costs down, hand luggage only, cheap Airbnbs – if we really need to, we’ll sleep in the car.
“England better win it now!”
Travel itinerary for Paul and Kevin – if England top the group:
- Flight from London Gatwick to Porto, Portugal
- Porto to Newark Liberty International Airport, USA
- New York City to Roanoke via Washington
- Roanoke to Nashville
- Nashville to Memphis
- Memphis to Dallas
- (England Vs Croatia 17 June)
- Dallas to St Louis via Oklahoma City
- St Louis to Detroit via Indianapolis
- Detroit to Toronto via Niagara Falls
- Toronto to Montreal
- Montreal to Weymouth via Ottawa
- (England Vs Ghana 23 June)
- Weymouth to Atlantic City via NYC
- Atlantic City to NYC via Philadelphia
- (England Vs Panama 26 Jun)
- Newark Liberty International to Atlanta Domestic
- (England last 32 match, 1 July)
- Atlanta to Mexico City
- (England last 16 match, 5 July)
- Mexico City to Las Vegas
- Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale via Newark
- (England Quarter Final, 11 July)
- Miami to Orlando
- (England Semi Final, 15 July)
- Orlando to Atlanta
- Atlanta to New York
- (England Final, 19 July)
- Newark Liberty International Airport to Lisbon, Portugal
- Lisbon to London Gatwick
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