If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I’m a huge Liverpool FC supporter, going back to when I was a kid growing up in England in the 1970s. Back in April, I took my wife to Liverpool for the first time and we had a great trip. I fully expected to skip returning this season and try and make it back to Liverpool in the 2024/25 season.

A couple of things happened recently that made me consider going back a bit sooner. First, I have a friend who I’ve met on my many trips to Anfield over the years who happens to have seats in the executive suite area of the stadium. He took me to a match in 2018 and unfortunately, there was a power outage in the stadium so we did not get to enjoy a hot meal in the fancy executive boardroom. He felt bad (although I certainly enjoyed the drinks and the match) and said he would invite me back. He asked me if I was coming over for a Europa League home match (a European competition that Liverpool is competing in this season with matches on Thursdays). I checked the schedule and saw that there is a match on November 30th followed three days later with a home Premier League match against Fulham. I tentatively planned to try and make it for those matches.

I told my brother about these tentative plans, and he said he would love to try and join me for the Fulham match. He has a friend who works for Liverpool FC and that friend would try and get us into one of the suites for the match. If you’re counting, that’s two invitations to sit in sweet (suite) seats and get wined and dined at both matches.

So, here we are. I now have plans to fly out on November 29th from ATL to JFK on Delta (using Delta SkyMiles), a visit to the Greenwich Lounge at JFK, then on to Manchester via London on American Airlines 777-300 business class across the pond and British Airways for the last hop. For the return, I have a quick hop from Manchester on BA before visiting the Concorde Room and then British Airways First Class from London to Atlanta using Avios. We will stay at the Aloft in Liverpool as it was just the most convenient and affordable option using points and cash. I did try to book the Hilton for a change, but it just wasn’t worth it. I even booked my brother at the Aloft using Capital One travel credits from two different cards (Venture X and Venture X Business).

We plan to visit our 92 year old cousin in London on the Friday (when my brother arrives in London), then visit Leeds on Saturday and attend a match there with another cousin before the Liverpool vs. Fulham match on Sunday. Hopefully, I’ll get to show my brother around Liverpool as well.

One caveat to my travel plans that previous readers of this blog will also understand: I’m looking at Lufthansa First Class availability for my outbound flight. It appears there are three or four options that could become available on the 29th. My American Airlines award booking can easily be canceled if I can secure that coveted space on Lufthansa at the last minute. I have plenty of Avianca LifeMiles that can be used to book one of those seats and it’s frankly much easier to book for one person than multiple travelers.

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