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    How to Make Fast Friends While Traveling? Try Playing Pickleball.

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    One of the newest sports crazes is not only portable, but an opportunity to meet fellow travelers who can’t get enough of this addictive game.In 2022, Tess Jacoby, 36, took 47 flights. She packed her pickleball paddle on each one.“I joke that I’m an addict,” said Ms. Jacoby, who works in commercial real estate in Chicago. “I will bring my paddle anywhere it’s warm.”Pickleball websites, apps, Instagram and LinkedIn help her find competition — and new friends — away from home, opening doors in distant places. In January, she plans to honeymoon in Cape Town where she hopes to find a pickleball group.“I won’t Google where to eat,” she said. “If I find a game down there, that’s where I would ask.”For travelers who love it, pickleball — a racket sport played with a hollow plastic ball on a court about a fourth of the size of a standard tennis court pad — is not only portable, but an easy entree to new destinations through fast friends made on the courts.“The beauty of pickleball is you can find drop-in times, show up and you don’t have to know anybody,” said Karen Hawkes, 58, a postsecondary education counselor and consultant, who serves as a co-ambassador at the public pickleball courts in Aspen, Colo., which organizes drop-in sessions. “We embrace people who drop in here. It’s inclusive and we try to promote that.”A devoted tennis player, I started playing pickleball about a year before the pandemic and discovered how travel-friendly it is. On a trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., last year, I played at public courts packed with locals who directed me to their favorite breakfast spot (Farm & Craft) and where to catch the sunset (Pinnacle Peak Park). The game, I discovered, was the social equivalent of walking a dog in the park, a conversation starter that paid off in local insights.To test my theory, I talked to dozens of adult pickleball players across a 60-year age spectrum to glean their insights into pickleball as a travel portal, and looked into hotels, resorts and cruise ships where travelers can find a game. Here’s what I found.‘It’s something everybody can do’In case you haven’t heard, pickleball has exploded in the last decade, becoming the fastest growing sport in 2021 and 2022, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The global trade association counts roughly 4.8 million participants, up 39.3 percent over the past two years.For many newcomers, pickleball was a pandemic lifeline.“It’s something everybody can do,” said Matt Manasse, 34, an instructor based in Los Angeles, who Vanity Fair called the “pickleball coach to the stars” for instructing celebrity clients like Matthew Perry and Larry David. “During the pandemic, it got people out and they could be socially distanced and competitive.”Along the way, its reputation as a geriatric pastime began to fade as younger players discovered the thrill of fast volleys, the strategic art of drop-shotting (known as “dinking”) and the inclusive culture where seniors can play with grandkids.“One of the reasons I love pickleball is the community is so nice,” said Martin Michelsen, 21, a senior at the University of Florida in Gainesville who plays on the college squad (pickleball is a club sport at many colleges and universities).In high school, he learned pickleball at a park near his home in Westin, Fla., where local players lent him a paddle. Last spring his doubles team won an eight-school tournament held at North Carolina State University.“Everyone starts somewhere,” he said of playing with less skilled enthusiasts while on a recent family vacation in the Dominican Republic. “I would love to be a part of someone’s pickleball journey.”Portable and affordableAccording to USA Pickleball, the national governing body of the sport, there are nearly 10,000 pickleball locations nationwide. Its website, Places2Play, offers a searchable database.Travelers say they just need a paddle, as locals always have balls.“For ease of portability, it’s a no-brainer,” Ms. Jacoby, of Chicago, said, referring to the solid yet lightweight paddle. “It’s flat and fits in a carry-on, tote or backpack.”“You do need court shoes,” cautioned Sue Baker, 75, a retired teacher and travel agent who travels seasonally from her home in Lewes, Del., to destinations such as Florida and Arizona where she brings her gear. “I did fall once and broke my wrist.”Most public courts and drop-in sessions are free or inexpensive.“It’s more accessible than other sports,” said Laura Gainor, 40, a marketing consultant in Ponte Vedra, Fla., who discovered the sport three years ago and founded Pickleball in the Sun, a travel and leisure brand that profiles pickleball resorts and sells apparel. “You’re not paying to practice like golf.”Tournament entry frees, she added, can range from $25 for a local contest to a little more than $100 to participate in a professional event.Apps including Pickleball+, Places2Play and PicklePlay help traveling players find courts and other players. For some, a game can break out anywhere.Katy Luxem of Sandy, Utah, 37, who owns the pickleball gear company Big Dill Pickleball Co., took her paddles on a family trip to Paris and volleyed in front of the Eiffel Tower.The paddles are her go-to for alleviating travel boredom. On a trip back from Disneyland with her three children, she said, “Our flight was delayed, so we hit around the airport with the kids.”The JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix has opened multiple lighted courts, including a stadium court with seating for 400.Marriott International‘The latest must-have amenity’The travel industry has enthusiastically piled on the pickleball bandwagon, installing new courts or programs at hotels and resorts and on cruise ships and tours. As one hotel publicist put it, “Pickleball is the latest must-have amenity.”Instead of rooftop bars, look for rooftop pickleball courts at the Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas maintains more than a dozen courts on its roof.Pickleball has yet to proliferate globally — though Kauri Cliffs Lodge & Golf Course in New Zealand has two new courts — but in North America, travelers can play in the Caribbean (including at Rosewood Little Dix Bay in the British Virgin Islands), seasonally in Maine (Samoset Resort in Rockport), at tennis resorts (including Topnotch Resort in Stowe, Vt.) and, in early 2023, in the heart of Manhattan at a street-level, glass-walled court coming to the Margaritaville Resort Times Square.Novelty — including glow-in-the-dark pickleball at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. — abounds. For a wedding party at High Hampton resort in Cashiers, N.C., the staff organized a pickleball tournament with 16 teams on its four courts.Often, as at Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys, home to eight pickleball courts, play is complimentary for guests, with extra fees for clinics ($25) and round-robin play ($15).Another set of resorts has gone all-in on pickleball with expansive facilities and lavish tournaments, including the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix which opened 16 lighted courts (two hours free for guests), in addition to a stadium court with seating for 400, in 2021.Early pickleball adopters, cruise ships have added pickleball lines to their multisport courts that usually include basketball. Princess Cruises first added the game more than five years ago and now offers pickleball on all of its 15 ships.Carnival Cruise Line just installed a permanent pickleball court aboard the Carnival Conquest, and held a pickleball tournament for about 60 passengers when it launched the new Carnival Celebration in November. Recently named the official cruise line of the Professional Pickleball Association, Holland America Line plans to add complimentary beginner lessons on all of its 11 ships by April.On a recent Royal Caribbean cruise in the Bahamas, Ms. Gainor, of Pickleball in the Sun, took a shore excursion to visit a resort, gaining access to its beach and pickleball courts for $130.Tour companies like Pickleball Trips will show you the world and its pickleball ways. Nine-day trips to Japan start at $3,450.Life coaches and pickleball players Yvette and Dave Ulloa of Vero Beach, Fla., recently began adding the activity to their retreats in relationship-building.“We started incorporating pickleball because there are so many parallels,” said Ms. Ulloa, who identifies strong partners on and off the court as being able to communicate and refrain from criticism. “Those who bicker or blame the other person on court, that translates into the real world.”Road-tripping for dinksFor all the opportunities to travel to plush resorts and faraway places to play, pickleball remains accessible on free public courts across the country, which are destinations for many paddle-porting road-trippers.“The ability to connect with others in pickleball is phenomenal,” said Clinton Young, 46, an inspirational speaker and pickleball coach based in San Diego, who, with his wife, spends most of his time on the road, working from their 36-foot Holiday Rambler Vacationer R.V. “As we drive around, we’re going to as many places that have pickleball as possible, and we meet amazing people,” he added, recounting a stop in Oklahoma City where a pair of opponents drove the couple to a local grocery store after the game, waited for them to shop and then dropped them at their R.V.“A big motivator is the social aspect of the game,” said Austin York, the general manager of Sun Outdoors Sarasota, an R.V. resort in Sarasota, Fla., with 16 outdoor pickleball courts. “We don’t have to schedule events for players because pickleball is so social.”When they can’t find courts, many devotees create their own lines with chalk or tape on pavement and set up a portable net.“You can be all in for $250, including a net, paddle and balls,” Mr. Young said.Randy Coleman, 58, left what he described as a “cake job” managing the security at a private estate in Houston in 2018 to go on the road and play pickleball professionally. Living out of his pickup truck, he has played in nearly 40 states, mainly staying with other pickleballers he met along the way.“For three years, I never had to buy a hotel room,” he laughed.Now a senior pro with various promotional deals, he travels the pickleball circuit as a commentator for a livestream service when he’s not leading trips to Japan, Belize and Thailand for Pickleball Trips.“That’s what pickleball does, it builds relationships,” Mr. Coleman said, “and does it organically.”Elaine Glusac writes the Frugal Traveler column. Follow her on Instagram @eglusac.Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023. More

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      in Tennis

      Tending to Grass, and to Grief, on a Tennis Court in Iowa

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      Mark Kuhn is hunched over, one knee on the ground, pulling dandelions from an otherwise immaculate lawn. With a small, serrated blade, he carefully carves tiny leaves from the turf, extracting as much of their roots as he can reach, and places them in a plastic container beside him. Dandelions, I learn, are as prolific as they are stubborn.Three days earlier and some 4,000 miles away in my native England, Novak Djokovic had once again held the Wimbledon trophy aloft on the most revered court in all of tennis. Meanwhile, I was driving the 1,926 miles from my adopted home of Oakland, Calif., to be here, on this tennis court, on a farm in Northern Iowa, standing next to Mark and his weed-filled ice cream tub.I kick off my shoes and stand barefoot like a child, taking in the Midwestern summer. The grass on the soles of my feet is warm and welcoming, and the morning sun undulates on the corrugated metal of the Kuhn family’s sheds and silos. I feel like I’ve been here before.Mr. Kuhn on his court. The idea to build it first occurred to him in 1962.My memories of early childhood are mostly vague: a muted palette of inconsistency and confusion, lacking defined edges or chronology. But recollections of summers, which were spent in rural Cambridgeshire with my grandparents, are bathed in the palomino gold of the August sun on fields as far as the eye could see, and in the warmth of the love I felt there. Every afternoon, a curtain of decapitated dandelion-seed fluff, churned up by nearby combine harvesters, would fill the lattice patio window, on its way to offering seemingly infinite new beginnings.It was here I discovered tennis — albeit watching, not playing. I was a resolutely unathletic child, one of my more enduring traits. In 1997, most British households had only five television channels, two of which ran wall-to-wall Wimbledon coverage for two full weeks, every year. I would normally have been at school in late June, but it was clear to one of my more perceptive teachers — who knew that I’d struggled in recent years with my grandfather’s sudden death, and with my father’s decision to leave to start a new family — that I was deeply unhappy at home and would be better off beginning my summer break early.From the comfort and loving safety of Nan’s sofa, I quickly became invested in the progress of Tim Henman, who made it to the quarterfinals. At first, it was because there was simply nothing else on TV, and the whiff of British success at Wimbledon tends to send my country into an inexplicably contagious fever. Ultimately though, it was Henman’s dogged determination that kept me hooked. An unlikely hero, his resolve was an unexpected ember of inspiration for a lost kid who was desperately grasping for something solid to hang on to.Two tennis professionals, Kiranpal Pannu and Nathan Healey, during a practice session.A group of ball girls lines up in a shed beside the court.A breeze flutters through the six-feet-tall cornstalks. Mark tells me the corn grows so quickly this time of year that you can actually hear it. I’m not sure if he’s serious, but I furtively prick an ear, just in case. The lament of a mourning dove is accompanied by the shrill urgency of a red-winged blackbird flitting between field and power line. At ground level I hear the occasional crunch of tires on the loose gravel road beyond the farm’s perimeter. Necks craned, passers-by peer for a better view of the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club, as spectacular as it is incongruous, and a plume of dust forms in their curious wake.Exactly 20 years ago, Mark, together with his wife Denise and their two sons, Mason and Alex, began the laborious and experimental undertaking of building a grass tennis court on their farm on the outskirts of Charles City, Iowa. It took more than a year to finish.It was the realization of a dream the reluctant third-generation farmer had held since 1962, having become enamored of Wimbledon two years previously when he heard a BBC broadcast on his grandfather’s shortwave radio. Twelve years old and absent-mindedly doing his chores, Mark noticed the cattle feedlot he was standing in was about the size of a regulation tennis court. But it wasn’t until the sudden death of a close friend, some 40 years later, that he was galvanized to try to make his far-fetched daydream a reality.Mark plays on the court occasionally, but his main source of joy lies in the rituals of preparing it for others to enjoy. The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club — a nod to Wimbledon’s home at the All England Lawn Tennis Club — is open to whoever wants to drop Mark a line to request a reservation.Mr. Kuhn operates his greens mower.With string guiding the way, the lines on the court are painted with a titanium dioxide compound.Mr. Kuhn measures the height of the net.The week following the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, Mark is preparing to host Madison Keys, a one-time U.S. Open finalist, for an exhibition tournament benefiting her Kindness Wins Foundation.Just after sunrise, using a greens mower, Mark meticulously crops one millimeter off the top of the grass in four directions, giving the surface its distinctive stripes. Then it’s time for his favorite task: marking up the court. After aligning the edges with string, he slowly paints the tramlines — one careful step at a time, heel to toe — with a brilliant white titanium dioxide compound. The net is then dropped and pulled drum-tight, until it measures exactly three feet in the middle.Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling TeensCard 1 of 6Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling TeensAre you concerned for your teen? More

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      in Soccer

      The Hidden Gem of Sports Travel: USMNT Away

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      One of the essential, and unsung, experiences in American sports fandom requires you to leave American soil altogether.Every four years, the United States men’s soccer team embarks on a monthslong journey to qualify for the World Cup, bouncing around North and Central America and the Caribbean for an excruciatingly tense series of high-stakes matches against regional rivals. That these games need to be experienced in person to be truly understood has become a well-worn trope for the team’s players, who often struggle at first to adapt to the surroundings.Fans, it turns out, have been saying the same among themselves for years. These traveling supporters — a small group of American fans afflicted at once with a borderline irrational sense of team loyalty and an insatiable wanderlust — are the road warriors of Concacaf, the regional confederation that includes the United States and its hemispheric neighbors. They are, in some way, a breed apart as fans: reveling in the opportunities for international exchange, seeing beauty in cultural and competitive differences, brushing aside warnings (warranted or not) about personal safety and absorbing the often considerable expense associated with following their national team.“Soccer is the catalyst to get us to visit these places, but we dive into the full experience, and we leave with a better understanding of a country, and often an affinity for it,” said Donald Wine, 38, of Washington, who is one of the half dozen or so fans planning to attend all 14 games in the final round of the 2022 World Cup qualification cycle: seven in the U.S., and seven outside it.The quest, though, has taken on a new level of urgency in the current qualifying cycle because the beloved rite, in its current form, has an expiration date. Qualifying for the World Cup will look vastly different heading into the 2026 tournament, when the field expands to 48 teams from 32, and the United States is expected to qualify automatically as a host. After that, the Concacaf region will receive about twice as many berths in the tournament as it does now: Given its comparative strength against its regional rivals, that could grant the United States a relatively suspense-free path through qualifying for generations.Ray Noriega, top left, has been hit with a battery in Costa Rica and a coin in Mexico. Donald Wine plans to attend 14 road qualifiers in this cycle. On Thursday, he and thousands of U.S. fans were in Texas to see the United States beat Jamaica. The return match is in Kingston next month.That means the journey — for the players and the fans — will never be the same.“I’ve told everybody going into this qualifying cycle, ‘If you weren’t able to do the other ones, do this one, because this is the last time we’re going to feel this pressure,’” said Ray Noriega, of Tustin, Calif., who attended every game of the U.S. team’s past three World Cup qualifying cycles and plans to do the same this time around. “It does feel like the last hurrah.”It is that pressure, fans say, that gives everything else meaning, that has for years inflated the underlying tension and the atmosphere at stadiums. Each game, each trip to another country, offers another chance to be surprised. It happened last month, for instance, when the team began its qualifying campaign in El Salvador.Only a couple of dozen Americans made the trip. Before kickoff, they were corralled at the stadium by the local police and shepherded to their seats against a wall behind one goal. To the Americans’ surprise, as they took their seats, the local fans around them began to clap. People in the next section over noticed and began to applaud, too. Soon, much of the packed stadium rose to their feet to give the visiting spectators a loud standing ovation. The Americans were dumbfounded.“I’ve never seen that before,” said Dale Houdek, 49, of Phoenix, who has attended more than 100 U.S. national team games (both men’s and women’s), “and I don’t know if I’ll ever see that again.”The warmth can be a pleasant surprise because, inside the stadiums at least, there is always potential for hostility.“I’ve been hit with a battery in Costa Rica,” Noriega said. “I’ve been hit with a coin in Mexico. I’ve been hit with a baseball in Panama — I guess they say they’re a baseball country.”But the frequent travelers insist such incidents are rare. The huge majority of people they meet, they said, are more interested in taking pictures, trading stories, swapping shirts and scarves, and offering advice on local attractions.Given some of the complexities of travel for these games, particularly now amid a global pandemic, the traveling fans coordinate with the team before most trips. A security specialist who works for the United States Soccer Federation connects with the American Outlaws, the team’s largest organized fan group, to help orchestrate movements on match day, arranging police escorts (if necessary), finding secure lodging and choreographing their entrances and exits from the stands.Attending matches with organized groups in the U.S. offers the familiarity of friendly crowds. For Dale Houdek and Kelly Johnson, top left, years of trips abroad yielded a different kind of close encounter with one American player.“We’re always a phone call away if they need anything,” said Neil Buethe, the federation’s chief spokesman.The fans who travel around Concacaf have come to feel like a subculture within a subculture — one with a certain level of disposable income and flexibility with work and family. Travel and expenses for a typical three-game window can run a few thousand dollars.“My dad says this is my Grateful Dead,” Max Croes, 37, of Helena, Mont., said of following the team around the world. A handful are so devoted to the cause that they plan to fly next month to Kingston, Jamaica, for a game that seems likely to take place behind closed doors, without fans, on the off chance the rules change at the last minute and they can attend.“And if not, it’s Jamaica — there are worse places to not see a soccer game,” said Jeremiah Brown of Austin, Texas, who is trying to see the full set of qualifiers this cycle with his wife, April Green.For the pure magnitude of the occasion, though, one destination stands apart from the rest.“Mexico,” said Ivan Licon, of Austin, “is its own beast.”Games at Mexico City’s enormous Estadio Azteca — where visiting fans are caged in fencing, ostensibly for their own protection — can inspire fans to break out a multiplication table to describe its appeal:“It’s college football times 10,” said Licon, a die-hard Texas A&M fan who plans to attend every road qualifier this cycle.“It’s the Red Sox and Yankees times 20,” said Boris Tapia, of Edison, N.J.More Americans are getting the memo. Before the 2014 World Cup, a few hundred fans attended the Americans’ qualifier in Mexico. Before the 2018 tournament, the U.S. contingent, the fans estimate, was closer to 1,000. The teams will renew their rivalry at the Azteca in March, when the teams are in the final stretches of qualification.Soccer, though, is just part of the appeal of these trips. Fans happily listed side quests that had made the travel extra special: surfing at dawn in Costa Rica; hiking in the mountains in Honduras; witnessing one of the world’s largest Easter celebrations in Guatemala; spontaneously carrying baby turtles to the sea in Trinidad; adopting a donkey on the island of Antigua.“His name is Stevie,” Wine said. “We still get updates on him.”Devotion to the U.S. team can take unique forms. The explosion of joy in seeing it score, though, is more of a shared experience.The smaller countries, and the more modest venues, have their own appeal. At the Estadio Olimpico in Honduras last month, about two dozen American fans were tucked into one corner of the packed stadium, a freckle of red in a sea of blue. Honduran fans offered them bags of plantain chips doused in hot sauce. When the American team mounted a comeback, the Honduran fans, in a surprise development, began pelting their own players with bags of drinking water that were being sold outside the stadium.There was not a single digital screen in the stadium, not another source of light in the surrounding sky, giving the night a timeless quality.“The experience is so pure,” Houdek said.The lower-profile trips also have a way of breaking the fourth wall that typically separates fans from the team.Kelly Johnson, 44, of Phoenix, recalled getting to know the former national team defender Geoff Cameron after she and Houdek, who is her boyfriend, kept crossing paths with him in hotels and airports over the years.A few years ago, Johnson messaged Cameron on Facebook as she and Houdek prepared for a vacation in England, where Cameron was playing professionally. She didn’t expect a response, but Cameron surprised her not only by getting them tickets to a game, but also inviting them to his home and taking them out for lunch.That, she said, symbolized the serendipity of national team travel.“Random things happen,” she said. More

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      in Tennis

      Roger Federer on His New Gig: Swiss Tourism Spokesman

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      In his new role, the tennis champion and avowed chocolate lover, shares favorite places to hike, play tennis and eat in his home country.Roger Federer, the Swiss 20-time Grand Slam champion, recently became an unpaid spokesman for Switzerland Tourism. In a Zoom call from his home in Switzerland’s Graubünden canton, he explained why travelers should visit his country when it reopens.Mr. Federer has had plenty of time to rediscover his own backyard during the pandemic, and reflect on how much his country means to him while he recovered from knee injury. (He will return to the ATP Tour in Geneva later this month.) During a 30-minute interview, he held court on his favorite hiking trails, some under-the-radar Swiss getaways and his love of Swiss chocolate, among other topics.The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.Many tennis players live in Monte Carlo for the tax benefits, but you’ve stayed in Switzerland. And now you’re promoting Swiss tourism. Why?It’s good timing for me to do this now. I feel like I’ve always represented Switzerland and I’ve done my fair share to be an ambassador for the country. But for me to do it in an official mission is a nice thing to do. I feel like I had to be a bit older to do this, At around 40 years old, I’ve been to maybe 60 countries. I live in Switzerland now and I will continue to live in Switzerland.I know tourism here very well; I know the restaurants and hotels here very well. And I know how everyone is hurting right now. It’s a good time for me to be able to step up to the plate and help the country as we’re hopefully going to open again soon.On Switzerland’s tourism website, you’ve outlined some of your favorite hiking trails. Tell us about a few of those and also where you like to cycle.I’ve been told there’s something like 65,000 kilometers of cycling trails in Switzerland. Hiking and cycling are the go-to things for everyone to do in Switzerland. Some of the most spectacular hiking trails I like are by Gstaad in the Bernese Alps. It’s not so brutally up and down, it’s more of an even slope, which is great for hiking.The same goes for Appenzell, which is a very nice place that is not so famous. It’s also where I always went hiking when I was a boy. When I was hurt in 2016, I spent a lot of time on the hiking trails in Gräubunden, where I live now. We have the Swiss National Park over there — that whole area is incredible for hiking. Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland has some amazing places, little valleys and canyons and such.One of my goals when I retire is that I’ll have time to explore our mountain bike trails. Mountain biking has become really big in Switzerland, because we want to make the mountain regions year-round destinations.Can you give us a few off-the-beaten-path recommendations?We Swiss people go to the less famous places, just like Americans would in your country. But even we Swiss like to visit the classics, like the Chapel Bridge in Lucerne, the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, the Rhine, the Old Town of Bern. You can base yourself in one of the cities and take nice day trips into the mountains from almost anywhere. Even in Zurich or Geneva, you drive 20, 30 minutes max and you are in the countryside. That’s the beauty of Switzerland.It’s also interesting because we have four separate languages here in Switzerland, which makes very different cultures. I’m from Basel and I have a Basel accent, but if you drive a half-hour away from there, the accent changes and the people are a bit different, too. I think the trails in Ticino are not as well known and they are very beautiful.I love to walk through small villages where life is still normal. Small places where people are driving tractors and there is one baker, one church. The people in these places aren’t multitasking. They go about their days in a normal way. Someone shows up and they want to know, “Hey, what brought you here?” It’s very friendly, so you can always have a chat with people.Tell us about some of the Swiss tennis clubs where visitors can have a great meal and play some tennis.Tennis club life in Switzerland is important. This is how I grew up. There are many scenic places where you can play tennis in Switzerland. Tennis Club Geneva, where the Geneva Open tournament is played is very beautiful. Tennis Club de Genève Eaux-Vives is also really nice. The clubs in Basel where I played growing up in the Interclub competition are quite nice.There was a boom building tennis clubs when I was growing up, so every second village has its own club. We have to protect this tennis culture we have. The restaurants at the tennis clubs are very important. A lot of the clubs where I’ve played, they have really good chefs, really good service and very high quality. People spent a lot of their time at the clubs, so the food has to be good and it’s usually at a good price, too.When you come back to Switzerland from abroad, what are the Swiss dishes or treats you crave? And if that includes chocolate, are you more of a milk chocolate guy or a dark chocolate guy?I mean, chocolate, hello, you have to love chocolate if you’re Swiss. I used to be white, then I was milk, and now I even like going dark. I like it all. Then I like the Bündner Nusstorte, which is like a nut tart from the region of Graubünden. That’s beautiful. And then, of course, there’s rösti, a potato fritter dish. We have a dish called Zürcher Geschnetzeltes that’s like minced meat with a mushroom sauce, and I love to eat cordon bleu — that’s beautiful, too.Play the role of travel agent for us. Where should we go if we have a week or two in your country?Fly into Zurich or Geneva and go from there. In the summer, I think you would want to visit Lucerne and Interlaken and maybe visit the Jungfrau, Basel, Zurich, Bern, the capital — its inner city is also really beautiful. We also have some incredible museums in Switzerland. The Fondation Beyeler art museum is great. I grew up visiting the Tinguely Museum, which is very interesting.In Lucerne, there is the Swiss Museum of Transport, which is still my favorite place to take my children. It’s a wonderful place where you can see old trams, trains, planes, cars, bikes, you name it.Of course, we also have a huge festival culture in Switzerland. There’s fasnacht, a Lenten carnival in Basel, in March, and we have all these jazz and film festivals. The summer music festivals in Switzerland are incredible, actually, though I don’t think they’ll happen this year. The Montreaux Jazz Festival is maybe the most famous, but there are many smaller ones as well. There’s one in Lucerne, there’s one in the Alps as well. The atmosphere here in the summer when everyone can be outside is amazing.Dave Seminara is the author of “Footsteps of Federer: A Fan’s Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts.”Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. More

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      in Tennis

      Searching for Roger Federer

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      Pilgrims have been coming to Switzerland’s Einsiedeln Abbey since shortly after St. Meinrad, the Martyr of Hospitality, retreated to the secluded “Dark Forest” in a valley between Lake Zurich and Lake Lucerne to establish a hermitage around 835.I visited the abbey in October 2019 at the start of an unusual pilgrimage: to travel in the footsteps of the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer. As Switzerland’s best-known pilgrimage site, it seemed like an auspicious place to start my journey. I had no idea that Mr. Federer had a connection to the place, but when I contacted the abbey to arrange my visit, the monks had a surprise for me. “Did you know our abbot is also named Federer?” asked Marc Dosch, the abbey’s lay representative. I had not. “Yes and he baptized Roger’s children.”Einsiedeln Abbey, in the Swiss village of Einsiedeln.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesThe Baroque interior of the abbey’s church.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesDestiny, indeed.I’ve been a tennis player since the late 1970s, but a knee surgery and a series of health problems have kept me off the court for several years. I was on the road to recovery and was hoping to make a comeback on hallowed ground: the courts where Mr. Federer had trained in Switzerland on his way to winning 20 majors and becoming one of the planet’s most beloved athletes.I’ve been a fan for more than 15 years, but my admiration reached new levels in 2017 when Mr. Federer won two majors at 35 after nearly every tennis writer had already written his tennis obituary. He could have quietly drifted off to the Alps to meditate while counting his Swiss francs, but instead he rededicated himself to the sport and turned the tables on his younger rivals.A knee injury forced Mr. Federer to take more than a year off the ATP Tour. But he returned to competition in Doha, Qatar, a few weeks ago, where he won one match and lost another. It wasn’t a dream return but it was a promising start, and I’m relieved that he appears to be healthy and motivated. Like all fans, I’m hopeful he will have more trophies to hoist — perhaps this summer at Wimbledon or at the Olympic Games.But I also live with the fear that he might retire soon, and so I felt a sense of urgency to make this journey before it was too late to see him play in person.‘We don’t revere people here’Little did I know back in October 2019 that my trip to Switzerland would be the last border I’d be crossing for a long time because of travel restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The fact that I was able to walk in Mr. Federer’s footsteps, and sit in a packed arena with 10,000 unmasked fans and watch him play feels like a dream to me now.But as I prepared for my trip, I found myself having to reassure Swiss sources I wanted to meet that I wasn’t a crazed stalker who planned to rifle through Mr. Federer’s trash cans. I assured them that I’m just a normal guy who admires his graceful strokes, his sportsmanship and his willingness to shed tears on the court. I reckoned that traveling across seven cantons to the places where Mr. Federer has lived and played tennis before watching him at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, his hometown tennis tournament, would help me understand not just the man but also Switzerland, that prosperous, heartbreakingly beautiful but enigmatic, four-language outlier in the heart of Europe.Abbot Federer of Einsiedeln Abbey said his branch of the family tree intersected with Roger Federer’s in the 16th century.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesThe village of Einsiedeln.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesI contemplated my journey standing on a hilltop looking down at Einsiedeln, with its twin-spired, Baroque-style church and horses and mooing cows dotting the lush, green hills, before being welcomed by Abbot Federer, who greeted me like an old friend. “You know, before Roger became famous, I always used to have to spell my name,” he told me. “But now everyone knows the name Federer.”Abbot Federer said his branch of the family tree intersected with Mr. Federer’s in the 16th century, but he said that he didn’t discuss their shared ancestry or Mr. Federer’s attendance at Mass (none of his business, he said) with the Swiss star when he visited the abbey. Abbot Federer said the Swiss aren’t comfortable with hero worship. “Roger would be equivalent to something like the royal family in the U.K., but here in Switzerland, we’ve never had a super-famous star, so we don’t know how to treat him because we don’t revere people here,” he said.He was right — I had brought a Roger Federer hat with me, but stopped wearing it after realizing that no one else was wearing one. Just before he ducked into the cathedral to pray, Abbot Federer told me, “I really hope Djokovic doesn’t win any more titles. I don’t want him to catch Roger.”Berneck is a country town of some 4,000 people near the Austrian border where the Federer clan originated.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesAbbot Federer also happened to be a relative of Antonia Federer, the wife of Jakob Federer, a vintner and consultant who invited me for lunch at their home in Berneck, a pretty country town of some 4,000 people near the Austrian border where the Federer clan originated. The German word feder, Jakob explained, means feather or quill, and in the Middle Ages, Federers were scribes. There are about 100 Federers in the village and it’s a common name in the cemetery where Roger Federer’s grandmother is buried behind the town’s ancient Catholic church.Jakob Federer is the vice president of Berneck and he lives just a few doors from the medieval home where Roger’s father, Robert, was raised. He explained that there was a schism in the Federer clan after a fire ravaged Berneck in 1848; one branch of the family was blamed and were expelled.We visited a wine cellar, Jakob Schmid Kaspar Wetli, where Jakob ages his Stegeler brand wine in giant oak barrels. After a vegetarian lunch, the village president, Bruno Seelos, stopped by for a chat. Mr. Seelos explained that the village planned to name something after Roger Federer, but they were waiting until he retired. Jakob and Antonia weren’t convinced this was necessary. “It’s like a cult of personality,” she said.The courts at Tennisclub Felsberg, where Roger Federer has trained.Dave Seminara‘We’re playing on Roger’s court’By the third day of my pilgrimage, I was itching to see if I was fit enough to return to tennis. Using intel I picked up from René Stauffer’s Roger Federer biography and my own research, I identified nearly a dozen tennis clubs around the country that I wanted to visit — many are clubs where Mr. Federer currently trains, others are places where he developed his game as a junior.I found my opportunity that afternoon at Tennisclub Seeblick, a posh club of well-groomed red clay courts with stunning views over Lake Zurich where Mr. Federer is known to practice. I cornered Alan, a club member who was enjoying a post-tennis coffee in the club’s cafe, and convinced him to hit with me for a few minutes. I was rusty, spraying balls around the court with little idea of where they might land.The next day, I made my way by train and bus to the venerable Hotel Schweizerhof, a century-old lodge with a Turkish-style hammam nestled in the picturesque village of Lenzerheide, deep in the Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden. Roger and his family moved to the neighboring village of Valbella in 2012, and I wanted to understand why he had chosen to live in this out-of-the-way place, instead of one of Switzerland’s more famous winter resorts like Zermatt, Gstaad or St. Moritz.I was hoping I might get a tryout with Toni Poltera, a gregarious morning host for the Romansch language radio service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and the president of Tennisclub Felsberg, a club where Roger has trained on several occasions. Mr. Poltera drove us south on a snaking country road past villages perched on green hillsides below jagged peaks that would soon be full of snow toward the village of Lain.As we got out to look at a remote playground where Mr. Poltera told me Roger Federer likes to take his family, it was easy to understand why he would want to live in such a place. “You see,” Mr. Poltera said, sweeping his right hand toward a snow-capped peak, “here Roger can have peace, he can play with his kids like a normal person.”Turning north, we ventured into Valbella, a charming little community with a handful of businesses and Alpine-style homes perched across a hillside with views of Lake Heidsee and nearby mountains. I never asked Mr. Poltera to show me Mr. Federer’s house, but he pre-empted any potential request, explaining, “Roger lives here for privacy, that’s why we’re not going to drive by his home.”Tennisclub Felsberg, a half-hour drive down a zigzagging road from Valbella, is an out-of-the-way place with three courts situated along the Rhine. “We’re playing on Roger’s court,” Mr. Poltera said, pointing to a sign above Court 1 labeled “Roger Platz.” He led me to a small dressing room with a humble shower and sink. “You’ll get dressed and take your shower here, just like Roger does.”I muffed several of my first shots but quickly found a groove and fell into a blissful tennis trance.Roger Federer’s birthplace, Basel, at sunrise.Lauryn Ishak for The New York Times‘I don’t take these tournament victories as a normal thing’The next morning I woke up, stoked to finally see Mr. Federer play at the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel. I sat in an empty train carriage bathed in sunshine as it shadowed the Rhine, past crumbling medieval castles, spiky mountain peaks and hamlets spilling across carpets of green grass.I arrived in plenty of time to watch Mr. Federer demolish the hapless Moldovan Radu Albot in his second-round match at the indoor St. Jakobshalle Arena, where Mr. Federer served as a ball boy as a kid.In between matches, I explored Basel’s charming old town and visited a host of Federer sites, including Villa Wenkenhof, the stately, 17th-century English manor house where Mr. Federer and his wife, Mirka, were married in 2009; the Old Boys Tennis Club, where the tennis star honed his game as a child; and the “Swiss Tennis House” national training center in Biel, where I met Yves Allegro, who was Mr. Federer’s roommate when they trained at the facility in 1997.Villa Wenkenhof is the 17th-century English manor house where Roger Federer and his wife, Mirka, were married in 2009.Lauryn Ishak for The New York TimesA few days later, I went to the five-star Hotel Les Trois Rois overlooking the Rhine, where cheeseburgers at the bar go for $48, and as I walked across the chandelier-heavy lobby, I nearly bumped into one of Mr. Federer’s twin daughters, who were joyfully bounding down a grand staircase with the tennis player’s father, Robert, trailing.On the morning of the final, I took the tram to Münchenstein, the Basel suburb where Roger spent most of his childhood. Daniel Altermatt, a Münchenstein city councilperson, greeted me on the platform wearing a beret and dark sunglasses. He took me on an extensive tour of the town, starting with the small housing development called Wasserhaus, where Mr. Federer grew up.His block felt narrow, too cramped for a person of his stature. Around the corner, on a small street with a canopy of trees, Mr. Altermatt explained how someone had tried to unofficially rename the street Roger Federer Allée. “We have a local regulation prohibiting us from naming anything after anyone who is still alive,” he said. “So if we want to name something after Roger, we’d have to kill him first.”Mr. Altermatt drove me to the arena, where I bumped into Marc Dosch, who was there for the final with Abbot Federer. “I lost the abbot,” he said, and I wondered if perhaps he was giving Mr. Federer a prematch blessing.Whatever the case, Mr. Federer was great once again, dismantling the Australian player Alex de Minaur, a surprise finalist, to capture his record 10th Swiss Indoors title in what seemed like an anticlimactic final until Mr. Federer broke down in tears during his victory speech. He appeared in the pressroom carrying his trophy after the match, and this time he was still in his tennis gear. He had literally won the tournament without breaking a sweat.I showed Mr. Federer a photo of him hoisting a trophy at age 10, that was given to me by Madeline Bärlocher, one of his first coaches at the Old Boys club, and asked him if the feeling of lifting trophies had changed over the years. “It’s similar,” he said, smiling. “It’s been an incredible journey, it definitely hit me hard being here in Basel. I don’t take these tournament victories as a normal thing, I take it as something quite unique and special even though it’s been a lot by now.”And what, I asked, had triggered his tears on court. “When I stand there and look back at everything I had to go through, it really touches me,” he said. Mr. Federer said that he tends to break down depending “on the applause of the people, how warm it is, how much they feel that I’m struggling or not and how much love I get.”As I waited for the tram, it started to rain and I remembered that I had my Roger Federer hat buried in my bag. I hadn’t worn it in more than a week, but now it was time to put my hat back on and return home — a tennis player once again.Dave Seminara is the author of Footsteps of Federer: A Fan’s Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 ActsFollow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. More

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      Rooting for Your Home Team in Person? Here’s What You Need to Know.

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      This spring, big-league games are luring fans to stadiums and arenas. Expect varying levels of mask-wearing, social distancing and pregame testing.From strict testing, masking and physical-distancing protocols in New York and California, to a full 40,000-seat stadium with almost no coronavirus restrictions outside Dallas.These are the widely varying conditions sports fans can expect as large-scale spectatorship returns to big-league stadiums and arenas this spring. Americans are still getting infected with the coronavirus each day, and hospitalizations and deaths continue to add to the virus’s ghastly toll — but even the most Covid-weary cannot deny the life-affirming joy of root-root-rooting for the home team.The question is, should you be rooting in person?“The devil’s always in the details,” said Dr. Thomas A. Russo, chief of infectious medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. But when masking and distance standards are closely enforced, “the risk is going to be low,” he said.Fans were present on a very limited basis for some games at the end of last baseball season and in the N.F.L. season that concluded last month, and more recently for some N.B.A. and N.H.L. games. As of Friday, there have been no reports of community spread, but an argument can be made for waiting a bit before applying the face paint and heading out.“We’re still going to have a moderate community burden of disease for another six to eight weeks,” Dr. Russo said. “After that, as we’re working on the vaccinations, I expect it to lighten. So baseball in July may be very comfortable,” he continued, “whereas Opening Day may be less so.”This spring, the spectator policies of big-league baseball, soccer, hockey and basketball teams in the United States are governed primarily by the Covid-19 regulations of the 27 states where they are located, and the District of Columbia. The N.H.L. has extensive protocols for players, fans and buildings, and “none are independent of local, state, provincial or federal guidelines,” said John Dellapina, the league’s senior vice president of communications.But that leads to wide variations in how many are able to watch a game at the stadium or arena — and the lengths to which they must go to get in. The best thing for prospective spectators to do is check on their favorite team’s website and see what they need to do for a ticket.In New York, regulations currently allow 10 percent capacity at indoor sports venues — that translates to roughly 2,000 fans at Madison Square Garden for Knicks and Rangers games, 1,300 Islanders fans at Nassau Coliseum and 1,800 Nets fans at the Barclays Center — and 20 percent at outdoor venues.Those fans must present evidence of a negative virus test taken within 72 hours of the game (at a cost of $60 or more); have that test result linked to their ID via an app, like the tech company Clear’s digital health pass or New York State’s Excelsior Pass; complete a health survey before entry; submit to a temperature check; and, once inside, wear a mask except when eating or drinking.Outdoors, the same entry procedures will be in place, but with 20 percent capacity, when fans return to Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, April 1, and to Citi Field for the Mets home opener on April 8. (Both teams also say they will accept proof of full vaccination.) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the doubling of capacity for outdoor stadiums on Thursday, which means the Yankees can host almost 11,000 fans and the Mets about 8,400.That will also hold true for the Toronto Blue Jays, who are likely to play home games in Buffalo’s intimate Sahlen Field starting in May or June if the U.S.-Canada border remains closed. At Sahlen, 20 percent capacity translates to about 3,300 fans.Limited tickets and lots of social distancingOf course, all of this is dependent on scoring a ticket. Season-ticket holders get first crack at seats, so resale sites are the best bet for the casual fan.For some teams those secondary prices will be steep, given the limited supply, like the $260 nosebleed seat listed on Thursday for Islanders-Rangers at the Coliseum April 11. The cheapest resale price for a Red Sox-Orioles Opening Day ticket at Fenway Park (12 percent capacity) was put at $344. Currently, resale sites don’t even list tickets for Yankee Stadium or Citi Field until June.Baseball fans kept their distance from each other during the game between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., on March 13.Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesNew Jersey is allowing 10 percent capacity at Devils games indoors in Newark (about 1,800 fans), and 15 percent capacity for Red Bulls games outdoors in Harrison (about 3,750) when the Major League Soccer season starts on April 17. But unlike New York, no negative Covid-19 test is required. “If you buy tickets together, you can sit together, but otherwise, we have to spread apart,” said Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey.Sports and health officials use algorithms to determine what percentage of capacity allows for six feet of spacing. For most arenas, that figure is 20 to 25 percent, so the Devils are well below that threshold.In California, a color-coded system determined by local infection rates determines restrictions. Until recently, Los Angeles County was in the strictest purple tier, which would have restricted attendance to 100 fans at LA Galaxy and LAFC soccer games and Dodgers baseball games.But the county has since moved to the red tier, which allows 20 percent capacity at sports venues. So when the Dodgers play their home opener on April 9, as many as 11,200 fans will be on hand at Dodger Stadium. Orange County also moved to red, which will enable 9,000 fans to turn out at Angel Stadium. So did San Diego County, giving the OK for 10,000 Padres fans at Petco Park.And so it goes in a checkerboard manner across the country. The Colorado Rockies can fill their ballpark to just over 42 percent of capacity, or 21,000 fans who must wear proper masks. In Missouri, the St. Louis Cardinals can fill up to 32 percent of their stadium, and in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates can fill 20 percent. But in Michigan, current regulations mandate that the Detroit Tigers admit only 1,000 fans, though the team says that figure could be increased.In Oregon, state officials have not yet cleared the Portland Timbers men’s and Portland Thorns women’s soccer teams to allow fans into Providence Park. That’s also true for 13 N.B.A. basketball teams, though that number could shrink in the coming days.Indeed, the N.B.A. has perhaps the most uniform leaguewide policy regarding Covid protocols. In the 17 arenas that currently admit fans, none are allowed to sit courtside and must be at least 15 feet behind team benches. Fans with seats within 30 feet of the court must present a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of game time or pass a rapid test on-site, and they are prohibited from eating.The N.H.L. has also made rink-side adjustments after a few early-season outbreaks among players and officials in closed-door games. The plexiglass panels were removed from behind the team benches and the penalty boxes to promote air circulation. And at 18 of the 24 U.S. rinks that now or will soon allow attendance, fans are prohibited from sitting behind the benches and penalty boxes or along the glass.And then there’s Texas…Then there’s the Lone Star state, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently removed all Covid-19 restrictions.The Texas Rangers took that as their cue to allow full capacity, all 40,518 seats, for the first three games at their new retractable-roof baseball stadium in Arlington — the first team in North America to do so. There will be no protocols beyond a mask-wearing rule at those two exhibition games on March 29 and 30 and the season opener on April 5. Subsequent games will be at less-than-full but still undetermined capacity.Dr. Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, said she would not recommend attending those first three games in Arlington.“Will people keep their masks on, will they be drinking alcohol, will they be shouting, will the roof be open or closed?” she said. “There are so many risk factors. Even if you’re fully immunized, I’d advise against going.”However, another Dallas team is showing more restraint. The N.B.A. Mavericks will continue to cap their attendance at about 25 percent capacity and require fans to complete a health questionnaire. “Nothing will change,” the Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, said.Golf fans, buoyed by the principle that outdoors is better when it comes to the coronavirus, are returning to PGA Tour events. Some 10,000 were expected for this weekend’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That’s 20 percent of maximum capacity.But if it still seems like a lot of people on a golf course, don’t worry. The PGA Tour website reminds all spectators to make sure their temperature is under 100.4 degrees before they arrive and to maintain six-foot distancing.And, as a final reassurance for those who simply must get out and watch a tournament in person, the PGA warns that “no autographs, fist bumps or selfies are permitted with players.”Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 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      Super Bowl Sunday Changes: Face Masks, Empty Seats and Driveway Parties

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Chiefs Fans’ Generational DivideReconsidering Tom BradySuper Bowl Party TipsThe N.F.L.’s ‘First’ Women Want CompanyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySuper Bowl Sunday Changes: Face Masks, Empty Seats and Driveway PartiesThe Super Bowl will once again feature the Chiefs, but almost every other part of the fan experience could be different.Dan Newby, owner of Crossroads Tours bus company, had an offer for Chiefs fans wanting to travel to Tampa, Fla., for the Super Bowl: For $9,000, a close group of travelers can get a bus that sleeps 12 — meaning no hotel costs in Tampa — and a driver.Credit…Chase Castor for The New York TimesAmaris Castillo and Feb. 4, 2021, 3:30 p.m. ETTAMPA, Fla. — One year ago, Dan Newby was on top of the world.Five buses from his company, Crossroad Tours, picked the Kansas City Chiefs up from the airport when they returned home from the Super Bowl as conquering heroes. Days later, those buses transported quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Coach Andy Reid and the Lombardi Trophy to Union Station in downtown Kansas City as part of a victory parade.The next month, as the coronavirus shut down almost all nonessential travel, the bottom fell out of Newby’s business. A packed schedule of trips for sports teams, church groups and schools was wiped clean.“Every bus we had was parked from March 13 to September 14,” Newby said.The Super Bowl is still the biggest event in American sports, and most fans will have only a few opportunities, if any (sorry Lions fans), to watch their team play in it, let alone attend in person. This Sunday the Super Bowl will once again feature the Chiefs, this time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Kansas City’s team will be about the only constant from last year.The most obvious change, for one of the most coveted tickets in sports, is that Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium will be only a third full. Although 7,500 of the 25,000 seats will be filled by vaccinated health care workers, attending for free as guests of the N.F.L. and presented with gifts of face masks and hand sanitizer as they enter, there are still plenty of fans buying tickets, selling tickets, scheming to attend or traveling to Tampa without a ticket just to soak up the atmosphere.Karen Ricardi, who works as a nurse manager at a hospital in Lutz, Fla., will be one of the lucky few after winning tickets through a drawing. A Massachusetts native who has lived in Florida for about 16 years, she considers herself a fan of both the Buccaneers and the New England Patriots — Tom Brady’s teams, present and past.“I never thought I’d ever go to a Super Bowl because the cost is so prohibitive,” she said. “It still feels surreal.”Jeremiah Coleman, a Chiefs fan who owns a car dealership in Wichita, Kan., will be there, too. He planned to fly to Tampa on Thursday evening.Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs strolled Tampa Riverwalk during lead-up events for the Super Bowl.Credit…Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesColeman said he thought about traveling to see his team in the Super Bowl last year, but chose to host a party for his friends instead. “I’ve had these friends some 20 or 30 years, and we’ve never got to watch the Super Bowl together,” he said. “So I said, ‘I don’t want to leave all them.’”This year, however, he plunked down $6,753 for a ticket, in part because his cousin, who was born and raised in Kansas City, now lives in Tampa. Earlier this season, he made the same trip, to watch the Chiefs play the Buccaneers in the same stadium on the weekend after Thanksgiving.Coleman’s cousin, Sara Carrasquillo, also bought a ticket, which she acknowledged was quite expensive. But since she lives in the Tampa area, she has no travel costs. “I just realized that I can always make the money back,” said Carrasquillo, who owns a waxing studio. “It’s not going to take me a whole lot of time to make it back, as if maybe I worked for someone.”Neither of the cousins seemed to have many health concerns about attending. Carrasquillo said she believed that the necessary precautions were being taken, and that because she has healthy eating habits she is in a “good position to fight off any virus.” Coleman said that he would wear a mask and wash his hands consistently, but that his mantra was to “be conscious but not scared.”Ultimately for Coleman, the allure of watching his favorite team in the Super Bowl overrode all other considerations. “On my deathbed, this will probably be one of the top five days I remember in my life, you know?” he said.Getting to see the Super Bowl in person may be tougher than ever. Chiefs fans hoping to attend the game could buy tickets through the N.F.L. or the team, or through companies that work with the league to sell packages that can include airfare, lodging, food and entertainment. Or they could buy up seats purchased by the dejected fans of teams who didn’t make it.Christian Mollon, a Buffalo Bills fan who now lives in Kansas City, paid almost $20,000, including fees, for two Super Bowl tickets before the A.F.C. championship game against the Chiefs. He had a hotel room reserved in Tampa, and was just waiting for the Bills to win. They did not.Christian Mollon, a Buffalo Bills fan who now lives in the Kansas City area, paid almost $20,000, including fees, for two Super Bowl tickets before the A.F.C. championship game against the Chiefs.Credit…Chase Castor for The New York TimesHe said that he got a number of nibbles for his tickets, but that while he tried to sell them at cost, most potential buyers tried to talk him down.What if nobody is willing to pay full cost? Well, his wife would be furious, Mollon joked last week, “but we’re taking a trip down to Tampa.”(That won’t be happening. Over the weekend he was able to unload the tickets for about $17,000, covering the ticket costs but not most of the fees he had paid.)For those traveling from Kansas City but unsure about flying, Newby — who said his bus business declined by 85 percent in 2020 — came up with a solution. He has been advertising his entertainer buses, the kind normally used for concert tours, on Craigslist. For $9,000, he said, a close group of travelers can get a bus that sleeps 12 — meaning no hotel costs in Tampa — and a driver.“You have to have 12 people in one family, or 12 people in a group of friends, a pod that has the money to go there,” said Newby, whose company sent 56-seat charter buses to the Super Bowl outside Miami last year. As of late last week, he had not found any takers.“It’s just hard,” Newby said. “People are going in two and threes, threes and fours, and they’re driving.”About the only consolation during a tough summer for Newby was the Chiefs giving him a Super Bowl ring in recognition of his years ferrying the team around.Credit…Chase Castor for The New York TimesThe vast majority of Chiefs fans face a different complication: What to do about a Super Bowl party? Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has advised people not to invite friends and family over on Sunday, in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “Just lay low and cool it,” he said on Wednesday.Such messaging has been a boon for James Hansen, the owner of Easy Audio Rental in Olathe, Kan. Hansen’s company rents out projectors and other audiovisual equipment, and he said he expected to be sold out for the first time since 2015, when the Kansas City Royals were in the World Series.Rather than have everybody crowd around a television in the living room, he said, fans may try to play it safer — and still have a crowd — by setting up a projector on the front lawn or the driveway.“These Midwesterners don’t mind a little cold,” Hansen said. They had better not: The temperature there on Sunday is projected to top out at 30 degrees.Chiefs fans, however, are used to attending cold-weather games at Arrowhead Stadium. Hansen said his brother and father, who have season tickets, followed Chiefs games all season by setting up a television in the garage and watching from the driveway.Hansen said his family was no different from so many others these days. “They really just want to be together,” he said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More