This is a TL;DR post about my experience at Goodison on Derby Day on December 19th. Long story short, Derby Day at Goodison was a bucket list item for me (and a second derby day is now a bucket list item too). Without further adieu:

UA flight 880 was uneventful. Air time is just over 7 hours. The strange part is that when you arrive, its six in the morning local but just after midnight at home. Its supposed to be morning but all I felt like was ordering another pint. Star Alliance carriers are banished to the nether regions of Heathrow terminal 2. The part where you have to walk half a mile on the underground moving walkways to get to the baggage claim. The walk is so long that once we clear passport control, our bags were waiting.

The bright signs guide most confused tourists (along with anyone unwilling to risk it) to the Heathrow express. 24 pounds for a direct train to Paddington. 24 pounds would be worth it for a straight shot but we need to get to Euston. So we head to the tube. I think it was 6 pounds. Picadilly line for just south of a billion stops to green park, change for the Victoria line north a few stops to Euston.

Euston station is a stones' throw from St. Pancras (for reference for anyone that's been on the Eurostar). Its in a decent part of London. The sort of place where no one is going to shank you walking alone at night but not exactly tourist central. We have a bit of time to kill before we catch our ride up north.

Our options to get to Liverpool were either IAH-LHR direct followed by the train trip or IAH-somewhere-MAN. Nobody really flies to the tiny Liverpool airport. Since the connection from MAN to Liverpool was still going to take substantial time, we picked London and then a train ride.

Virgin Trains doesn't care to post train platforms until about 15 minutes before departure. So our train was posted and we walked out to our platform and boarded. The English countryside was the English countryside. Pretty. Nice scenery. Sheep. Cup-o-tea. Bad Weather, worse food. Think of Cousin Avi from Snatch talking about going to London.

We bought the cheap seats on the train. Direct from Euston to Liverpool was around 100 pounds. If you changed at Crewe, it was 40. So we stopped at Crewe and changed to the regional commuter rail. Urban sprawl is certainly happening in the area between Manchester and Liverpool. Housing blocs going up everywhere.

We finally reached Liverpool's Lime Street Station. Since our hotel was downhill to the waterfront, we opted for the half-mile walk.

An aside: I've always gotten solid guidance from the famed Canadian travel guru/nerd Rick Steves. His current edition UK guide book (and TripAdvisor for that matter) listed a Beatles-themed boutique hotel as one of the best options in the city. So after a 10-minute walk, we found ourselves in the lobby of the Hard Day's Night Hotel. As usual, the Canadian nerd was right. Beautiful property. Great staff. Incredible location. Beatles paraphernalia everywhere. There was a yellow submarine themed juke box next to the front desk. Our room had a balcony with a River Mersey view. There was a stylized paining of George Harrison circa 1970 hanging over the headboard of the bed. If you go to a derby, I recommend the place. Managed to do the Beatles theme well without being excessively cheesy.

We settled in, had a nap, and then went for a walk. Liverpool was long known as a port town followed by what would best compare to a rust-belt town. But in the last decade, substantial money has been poured into redeveloping the city. The docklands and the area nearby are all redeveloped and mostly restricted to pedestrians. Very well done. There is a center comparable to the place where the House of Blues in Houston is located nearby. In that center, Everton and Liverpool have adjacent fanshops. Everton's is called Everton 2 (Everton 1 is across the street from Goodison Park). We picked up some scarves and a baby Everton kit for our forthcoming son. Need to get the boy off to a good start.

We dropped everything but some cash, IDs, and scarves, donned our royal blue strips, and bid George adieu as we headed out to the match. Since Goodison is 2 miles away and my wife is pregnant, we took a cab. 6 pounds well spent. Our cab driver was friendly but a kopite. His family had a more-or-less blue/red split that didn't follow any real pattern. Was pretty surprised that Americans travelled from Houston to Liverpool for the derby. He dropped us off by the stadium at Bullens Road.

When you first see Goodison lit up in royal blue at night, it is a sight to see. Goodison is spelled out in lighted blue letters atop the stadium. To the left, a large wall is illuminated in blue with a white Everton crest.

For a stadium that seats over 40,000, it is small. We walked all the way around in under 15 minutes. Goodison is in effectively a middle class residential neighborhood. Almost completely surrounded by two floor townhomes. There were some chip shops interspersed along the street (all with lines out the door) and a few pubs that were packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

We had seats in the upper Bullens stand. We found the proper entrance and made our way inside the stadium.

Everton currently has plans to build a new stadium in the docklands. They need a new stadium. My first reaction inside the Bullens road stand was, "if there is a fire, we are going to die."

I did a write-up about a year ago about how ****ty Upton Park was. Goodison is worse. More dated. Worse sight lines. Disaster waiting to happen. It would never comply with any fire code in the United States (or even Guam or other minor outlying territories).

Inside the upper Bullens stand, there are ancient bathrooms, a few concession stands, and of course an oddsmaker offering specials on the match. The floors and staircases were all made of wood. We went inside early to get some photos and a good look at the ground before the match started. We were just a few minutes too late to get one of the blue Everton santa hats that the ushers were handing out.

We went back to the corridor for a bathroom break and so I could down a few pints. With the pound going for a buck and a quarter, 4 pounds for a pint inside the stadium wasn't entirely unreasonable. Except that the only pint they sell is the kit sponsor's swill: Chang Beer. Blech.

After a few beers, the crowd started picking back up so we made our way to our seats. Goodison is so out of date that the only guarantee of a non-obstructed view is to get seats on the lowest level or on the newer Park stand at the south end of the stadium. The post impeding our view meant that whenever the ball was on the other end of the pitch, we had to lean forward or backward for any sort of a view.

The Gwladys stand (crazy supporters) was next to us. They did a big card stunt right as Z-Cars started playing and the team made their way out onto the pitch. The match itself was intense. Opportunities came and went. The Everton faithful had some fun songs, but usually kept it pretty simple. We were seated next to a father with a seriously foul-mouthed 12-13-year-old son. During the match, I heard things come out of that kid's mouth that would make Red Foxx blush.

The second half was marred with injuries that ended up in 8 minutes' added time. That 8 minutes proved fatal to the Toffees. The final 25 minutes of the contest looked like a listless effort from the home side they were not keeping possession and the entire crowd in the Gwladys end voiced their displeasure. A single point would have been a good result based on Everton's terrible effort at the end of the match. The Liverpool goal at the death sealed the fans' discontent.

Goodison emptied quickly. We joined the mass of blue for the sad walk down County Road back into Liverpool. Since it was Monday night, the pubs were quiet. We stopped at the hotel bar so that I could have a post-mortem drink (and my wife could have a post-mortem glass of sparkling water). We went to our room, took a look from our balcony out at the city and the River Mersey beyond. Everton lost, but in the end it was a bucket list experience and one that I won't forget anytime soon.