When the US hosted the World Cup in 1994, we traveled together to Chicago, Detroit and DC to watch the games. Since then we watched the World Cup sometimes together, sometimes apart; when we could afford cable, when we couldn’t.

When the World Cup was in South Korea, we embraced the time change and tried to watch all the games as they happened. Sometimes we skipped work and slept in the following morning. Sometimes, we’d go in, exhausted soccer zombies, and spend the day working with clients who didn’t quite get it.

Four years ago with the World Cup in Germany, we watched in bars that serve international beer for breakfast, and in our living rooms or living rooms of friends with International cable so we could jump up and scream gooooooooooooooal with the Univision announcer.

When we heard the World Cup was going to be in South Africa, we entered our names in the ticket lottery. I was psyched just entering our names for a chance to attend. Going to these games would be a chance to be a part of something historic.

Huge. The experience of a lifetime. Watching the World Cup anywhere with these great friends is amazing in itself. World Cup Ely would be awesome!

World Cup South Africa would be epic.

This will be the first time the World Cup will be hosted by an African nation. It will also be the first trip to Africa for us.

When we began winning tickets, we started thinking about going for real. How much would it cost? How many vaccines would we need? How many hours would we sit on a plane? How long would we be away from our jobs and families? What would we do in between kickoffs?

There were many questions and out of them, one thing became overwhelmingly clear. If we went to South Africa for soccer alone, we would miss the experience of a lifetime: the life around the game.

The Life Around the Game. There it was. The mission that would turn our vacation into an expedition.

Needing a fourth person to fulfill our ticket lottery and a little direction, we enlisted Nick Buettner. He isn’t the crazed soccer fan that Craig, Erick and I are—but he loves sports, knows how to travel, and his career as a producer of innovative Adventure Learning expeditions makes him the right man to rein in our crazed soccer trio.

Personally, I think souvenirs are kind of lame. What could we bring back from the 2010 World Cup for our friends and family and the people who are supporting our journey? Futbol jerseys, knit caps, maybe a jacket with the leopard patch. Not enough.

Postcards don’t seem like enough either. Having a wonderful time…saw Messi score three goals for Argentina…wish you were here.

The 2010 World Cup will no doubt be one of the most widely watched sporting events of this decade. When viewers across the world tune in on the TV they will see the color and cultures of the people who come together at this moment in history to play and celebrate soccer. They will see enthralling team efforts and inspiring athletes. We invite them to join us as we discover the many faces that make up the Life Around the Game.

It’s our own take on postcards.

Having a wonderful time…

At the moment you embark on any expedition, you start collecting stories. By the end, if stories needed to be packed, your suitcase would never shut. We don’t want to wait until we are home to share this experience.

Wish you were here…

We are committed to showing you something that you don’t see in the network World Cup coverage. That is our mission. Every day we will be looking for the stories that live outside the stadium. Stories of Cape Town that began years before the bid for the 2010 World Cup and that will unfold after the tournament ends. Stories that inspire us and, hopefully, you.