Arsenal away days are the best

Thanks to Membership Rewards supported by Europcar, myself and ‘North London Is Red’ head honcho @theDanielCowan were able to attend Arsenal’s visit to Old Trafford for the Premier League fixture versus Manchester United.

This meant that Daniel and me were going to take the option to drive the journey from Essex to Manchester. It would be easy, we both thought. It may not have been the quickest method, but we had a hilarious time.

We set off early to avoid traffic - roughly half past five in the morning - and the roads were clear. We passed the time on the motorway with ridiculous quizzes, a rather expensive trip to a generic service station and posting preposterous videos that you can find on Twitter and cringe uncontrollably at.

The highlight of the trip was a rudimentary game we titled 'Keep or Sweep', which involved setting our phones music selection to a random shuffle, and either keeping or sweeping the track that started to play. Needless to say that both of us have zero street credibility and some awful tastes in music!

Fun on the way to OT for Membership Rewards supported by Europcar #AFCLive with @JokmanAFC & @thedanielcowan pic.twitter.com/haCokMH3Bc

— Goonersphere.com (@Goonersphere) February 28, 2016

It made the arduous journey a lot easier. The videos we posted can be found on Twitter if you search #AFCLive and we enjoyed a five hour car journey, which is no mean feat. Was this down to excitement for the match? Or was it the company and immature larks we had in the car? Hard to say, but memories were made and it has certainly made me want to go to more away games.

 All in all though, the five hour trip went rather quickly and before we knew it, we were parked up and we met up with the rest of the crowd who were also going to be treated to a barge trip with none other than the ‘Romford Pele’ himself, Ray Parlour!

We were treated to a free drink and we listened intently as the barge set off towards Old Trafford, as Ray regaled us with a few stories from his glory years and also what his views were on the upcoming match. He - along with the rest of us - took on the opinion that United were there for the taking and this was a great chance to end our awful record in the Premier League at the home of United - our last win was in 2006.

Ray touched on the potential lineup, how the big players must step up to the plate and what preparation the team would have prior to the match, and it was a great insight to hear from a former player - especially of the ilk of Ray Parlour!

Ray is fascinating to listen to, but it was soon time to jump off the boat and make the short walk to Old Trafford. We picked up our tickets and the place was buzzing. As soon as we got in the away section, the Gooners were singing loud and proud. As the hairs on my neck stood to attention, Daniel and I both joined in with the chanting. We were pumped and so was the whole Gooner faithful.

We took to our seats and the singing never stopped. Old Trafford is a large capacity stadium, but it sounded like it was filled with Arsenal fans. We outsang the home fans and by the time kickoff approached, my throat was ruined!

The disappointment - utter crushing despair actually - was dampened by our fellow away fans though. We sang, we shouted, we acted in unison and our hurt was shared. Thanks to Europcar I was able to attend an away game which was my first in a few years and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, although the traffic on the way back was a sticky situation! Yet again though, my travel companion was on hand to relieve boredom and his music selection was top notch, although fellow drivers and passengers gave us quizzical looks as we bopped along to hip-hop music!

A road trip is a great idea when travelling with friends, and I had a great time. Membership Rewards Supported by Europcar has allowed me to have an experience I won't forget, to sit in the away section at Old Trafford with a few thousand other ardent Gooners and I can't wait to do it again.

All that happened on the journey to and from Old Trafford hopefully raises a smile as you read it and if you have a great away day story, then Europcar have launched a 'Best Travelled Fan' competition - which you can find if you search for the hashtag #FansOfTheSeason or you can click on this link - and there are prizes up for grabs for the best story, so have a look and your experiences travelling Europe and the UK may just make you a winner!