Welcome to the official Cardiff City tour blog of media man Barrie McAuliffe from the Lisbon based training camp. If you are new to blogs, fear not. It's simply a rambling diary of events, opinions and observations. Hopefully it does the job in giving you a different perspective into life with the club on tour.

The Cardiff City tour blog will run every day this week. Some will be long, some short, but all there for you to digest as we continue our preparations for the official opening of Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday July 22^nd.

Coverage including interviews, match highlights and the goals from training are available on World now.

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DAY ONE: SUNDAY: July 12^th 2009

It's not been the shortest day - though based on the fact you may be reading this in work, I'll go easy on the sob story from our sun drenched Portuguese local.

For me it began with a 4:15am alarm call, due to the fact my particular rendezvous was set at 5:30am from Newport. As ever I was running a little late, this time the reason being based on my waking up every twenty minutes in a mild panic, considering the prospect at missing the connection.

You see if there's one rule I've learned from covering 'City this past five seasons, it's to never turn up after the roll-call. It's a simple truth that if you do fall foul to the clock, the bus will definitely leave you behind, especially when you're not required on the pitch (and fair enough too, as photos, blogs and videos don't win any points).

Thankfully I managed to pull up into the car park with minutes to spare before the bus arrived. I was one of a group of around ten including Joe, Ross, Terry Burton and a sleepy Jay, with the rest already onboard from their 5am departure from the Vale. We set off for a relatively quick trip to Bristol Airport - the players missing being Riccy Scimica, Warren Feeney and Darcy Blake due to injury. Details of which will follow from Dave on Monday.

With the lateness of the pre-season switch, we were left without the original charter flight. So en-masse we queued up to check in with holiday makers, most of them looking at the pre-season tracksuits a little oddly, perhaps given our location and rivalry with the Robins. But it was all very easy and a quick transition to the departure lounge area, to which we then waited to board our flight to Lisbon.

Half of the squad boarded the first shuttle bus, with Jamie (our intrepid and often topless cameraman - at least in Portugal), Gabor Gyepes and myself heading the queue for the second. It duly arrived and took us to the plane, to which we disembarked and began climbing the stairs to the flight doors. Well, that was until the ground crew told us we'd been taken to the wrong plane, forcing us to turn around and get back on the bus. There was enough laughter about it, though we couldn't help but wonder where in the world we could have ended up.

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The flight? Well, it was ok. I'm no first class traveller by a long way, but didn't find my six foot plus frame too comfortable as I shifted continuously to find a good spot to catch some sleep. It didn't happen, though a few others had no problem at all in nodding off at impossible angles and contortions. I admired and hated them at the same time, awake all the while.

We touched down into Lisbon airport, to which our knowledge of which has grown considerably seeing as this is our third year running in the area. With Dave's rule of no stored luggage (except the odd miscreant in match analyst Enda), we were on the bus to the hotel in no time at all. As we made the run, we again past the Sporting Lisbon and Benfica stadia, both of which are quite impressive in a strange way.

Our journey was temporarily halted by the police - well, one traffic cop from a group who were performing spot checks (not quite so headline grabbing when you explain it is it?). After a small delay as the driver showed his licence etc, we were back on track, minutes later back at the same hotel we stayed in last year. Familiarity again ensured we were into the flow quickly, with the only delay being our waiting for masseuse Stefan and kit-man Ian to turn up with all of the gear.

It was a welcome wait as some lunch was taken, followed by some of us (yes, me!) getting some sleep to catch up a little. A few others took to the golf course for some brief holes, including Chops in an altogether typical Chops golf outfit. I wish I had my camera when he came back, but maybe it's best that I didn't in the long run.

The lads arrived with the van - a trip that I would HATE to have to make, driving to Portugal via France and Spain from Cardiff City Stadium after the Friday night Chasetown game. Credit to them for that, a job they have done the last three years without sulking.

Watches synchronised at 5:45pm, we made our walk with Dave and co to the training pitch a few minutes away. The lads were put through some core exercises to loosen up by Alex. After that, as shown in our messageboard pics (www.cardiffcitystadium.co.uk/mb) some balls were then deployed as work began in a competitive environment.

It was good to see Josh Magennis, Adam Matthews and Aaron Morris included in the first team mix on tour, none of them looking anything like passengers alongside the senior boys. Similarly new signings David Marshall, Anthony Gerrard, Paul Quinn and Mark Hudson looked the part as they continued their induction into the squad dynamic. Also with us is Slovakian on trial midfielder Maros Klimpl who is showing his strength throughout. We all know how trials work, so from my perspective I'll casually monitor his progress as a fan and leave all real decision making towards a possible Cardiff City fit to those qualified.

The first session over, Dave gathered the squad to administer his guidance on the goals from this tour. We then returned to base for a light meal and lighter conversation, after-which some made the trip to the impressive mall a few miles away, some took up a base in the hotel, while Jamie and I took to the task of setting up photos, videos and this very blog - one that will come daily to you from the Cardiff City tour. Day one was done, and so was I.

For exclusive photos of training, visit our official messageboard. Only members of the free service can view the images, so sign up today. Visit www.cardiffcitystadium.co.uk/mb for more

Also available will be shots and tweets from our Twitter site: www.twitter.com/cardiffcitynews

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