The minivan we hired for our Newcastle touring day couldn’t be returned on a Sunday, so I had the bright idea of keeping it for an extra day and returning it in Manchester on Monday morning – the cost of the extra day was not much more than the train tickets from Newcastle to Manchester, and those train tickets were one of the few things we hadn’t pre booked before we left home.

So it seemed providential! Google maps told me the trip to Manchester was 2.5 hours on a Sunday morning (instead of 3 hours by train). It also meant we could pick up Jarrod from the Smees rather than asking them to get Jarrod to us, and I didn’t have to walk my suitcase up hundreds of stairs to the train station as originally planned.

Giddy with such a successful decision, we said goodbye to the Smees and Liam once more as we picked up Jarrod at 8am, and started down the highway to Manchester, our next destination. Also high on our perfect planning, Jarrod and I booked an 11.20am tour of Old Trafford (which was a bucket list item for Sam and me) because arriving in Manchester at 10.30am would give us time for coffee before the tour began, and then we could continue on with the other surprise we had planned for the day.

Well…….something road paved something good intentions……pride goes before a fall…..

Two collisions on the highway in front of us slowed traffic down considerably. Jarrod was watching the traffic ahead, thankfully, and was able to advise us from the back seat to detour along local roads, which saved us some time, but also had its own traffic issues as other cars had the same idea and advice. As the morning and the trip wore on, I watched our time buffer not only disappear, but so did our tour time – we didn’t arrive at Old Trafford until 12pm!! A 2.5 hour trip that became a 4 hour trip!!

We decided to have a quick look there mainly so Sam could see it, while we spoke to someone about a possible refund in person. Instead, the staff were so lovely, and allocated a tour guide called Leo to give us our own private tour! Tours usually have 40-50 in a group, but Leo showed the 7 of us around in a condensed tour. He apologised for having to leave out aspects like letting us walk through the tunnel and not being able to show us the press rooms, but he took us everywhere else the tour goes like the change rooms, Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and gave us plenty of photo opportunities.

I had to cut poor Leo short though, because we had booked tickets to the local derby before we left home and hadn’t yet told the kids. They became suspicious about what was happening next when we were in such a hurry to move on and nothing else had been mentioned as being booked for the day. Leo apologised that we didn’t have time to explore the museum (which was included in our ticket price) but we told him we will be back! Sam and I would still like to see a Man U game there one day (the older boys and Ross did so on our last family Europe trip).

We did not plan to be in Manchester at the same time as the local derby (in fact, we couldn’t plan around any games because the EPL schedule wasn’t released until after we booked our trip), but we realised in early December that Man City was playing Man United today at Etihad Stadium, and with Tom being a Man City supporter and the Joneses all Man U supporters we thought we should make it a priority while here! It was impossible to get tickets though so we booked the cheapest hospitality package available, and had to be at a local restaurant offsite for lunch at 1.30pm before the 4.30pm kick-off.

We returned to the minivan hurriedly and then told the kids what we had planned. They were very excited to attend the local derby! Tom had even been looking at the resale sites to see if we could snag last minute tickets on the long drive, and Belle’s friends had been talking about the game extensively at home.

Manchester is just not a drivable city though (apparently it is very walkable) and we had trouble finding our way on their ring roads and then finding somewhere to park the bus to go to the game. We left it and all our luggage in a shopping centre at Lime Park, and Jarrod and Tom ordered two Ubers to get us to the Vermillion restaurant for lunch.

Lunch was an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet (but only one drink voucher each) with a magician wandering table to table. Once everyone was full we walked up to the stadium to find our seats. Jarrod was hoping to head to a Starbucks across the road for coffee first, as we hadn’t had a coffee all day, but it was just a little out of reach time-wise. So the kids bought a match day scarf (Sam had been disappointed at Old Trafford when he asked could he buy one and didn’t understand why we said a sharp no, but it was because we knew he could get one at the game site), and we headed to our seats.

Man City were ahead 1 – 0 until the 88th minute when Man U equalised, and then scored again a minute later. Sad for Tom, but great to witness a Man United 2 – 1 win for the rest of us! While it was a great experience, it was also a bit disappointing. Fans were leaving as soon as the equaliser was scored, there was a lot of booing of the opposition, and when the final whistle was blown, NO-ONE clapped except us! Everyone just started streaming out of the stadium, whinging about the result and decisions made on their way. The Man U supporters had to wait 30 mins before they could leave, which is apparently common at EPL games. I feel the behaviour of fans was the antithesis to several parenting lessons I have tried to impart over the years!

Jarrod and Ross started the 40 minute walk to pick up the car (because Ubers were expensive and the traffic jam caused by everyone leaving meant walking was quicker). Sam asked if we could go around to where the players exit, but we didn’t see anyone, so we headed across the road to the McDonalds which was our pick up spot. Police were there breaking up a fight so we quickly moved on to the Starbucks to wait, and Ross and Jarrod pulled up minutes later.

We then went to check in to our accommodation. It is a beautiful place made up of three old historic buildings surrounding an atrium. Our room is in a separate building to the kids’ room so I am unable to nag about shower times or getting enough sleep! How will they cope?! After the day we’ve had, neither Ross nor I have the energy to nag anyway – we went to our room and had to lie down with our feet elevated as we both have a damaged swollen ankle each from all the walking we’ve been doing 🤭

Note: today’s diary entry is long and late. I was too exhausted last night to write, and this morning it has been a cathartic trauma dump of a stressful day! 😂