Chelsea were joined by around 500 fans on their trip to southeastern Kazakhstan for Thursday's Conference League clash with Astana and it is fair to say the journey was not for the faint-hearted.
Mark Narborough kindly relayed his odyssey to Mail Sport, beginning on Monday when he flew from London’s Heathrow Airport to Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city. From there, he made his way to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on a Pegasus overnight flight which completed close to 10 hours of air travel.
There is still a very Soviet feel to Bishkek, with a Vladimir Lenin statue sitting in front of the State History Museum, and a communist-chic Ferris wheel at Panfilov Park.