It’s Monday and today is the day that, after nearly five weeks in Russia, it’s time to return home with a new wealth of memories.
Over that time, I have been to all seven games and visited six cities in the process. I have travelled 7594km by plane and 6716km by train.
And I have loved it all. Well nearly all, as I didn't think much to the 26-hour train ride to Novgorod only to discover that my hostel was 1000 miles away in another Novgorod!
It's been the best tournament I have attended. Not just because England gave us some good memories, but because the weather has been superb, everything has been cheap. Cheap food, cheap accommodation, free trains and beer at 150 rubles or even cheaper.
I didn't get ripped off once. People have been friendly and helpful. It is one of my golden rules of travel: to always be ready to ask for help. You will nearly always get it.
On Saturday, I was up at 5am to catch the train from Moscow to St Petersburg for the third place play-off with Belgium. I didn't book anywhere to stay prior, but got a room to myself near the station for £30, with breakfast thrown in.
Around the corner was a cafe used by locals. Look at the photo below, all that scran plus a can of beer for less than £5! Good, nourishing food too.
St. Petersburg. What a place. But a bit of a tourist trap. Four cruise ships were moored on Saturday and I could see them from the stadium, which is the most magnificent I've been to.
The streets were lined with buses from all over Russia. If you like magnificent buildings, this is the place to be. I wish I had gone a couple of days earlier. The streets were teeming, even well after midnight.
At the game, we were down to around 2000 hard-core fans but the atmosphere was better and had a partisan feel about it. We were outnumbered again, but not out-sang.
People will say the team let us down again and dashed our hopes. But they didn’t. The ‘golden generation’ dashed our hopes because we knew they could play better. But this crop of lads played better than anyone expected and we almost pulled it off, didn't we? We almost pulled off the heist of the century and almost won the World Cup, when it had no right to be ours.
Russia, I have come to view, as a very civilized and relaxed society. The locals go out of their way to help you, entertain you and look out for your comfort.
All of the time I was there, I saw no aggression and no anti-social behaviour. People have been polite and well-mannered.
I have heard of no violence towards any football fan. The streets and parks were spotless, well-kept and well-used.
Gorky Park in Moscow is the best park I have ever visited. The security has been top-notch. I always felt safe, even when travelling late at night on the metro.
And if you Iike monuments, as I do, then Moscow is the place to be. They are everywhere. Some are huge, some are small and most are of a military nature. The monument Red October, blows you away, but too much going on for my taste.
These World Cups get addictive. It's the friendliness you encounter everywhere. You meet many interesting people with a story to tell. Some of the friendships are enduring. You meet the same people at different World Cups.
So here's to Qatar and reading about the usual crop of bandits waiting to ambush me as soon as I get off the plane. But, surprise-surprise, they'll all turn out to be just like you and me as has been the case in South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
Coming to Russia last month, I felt like a soldier going to war wondering if I would return alive with the number of people who tried to give me the jitters.
But I return to England today without a scratch, as I knew I would, with a new wealth of memories.
