My Trip to Tampa for Philadelphia Eagles Game
I’ve been a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan since the mid-80s when they were led by Randall Cunningham. Throughout those years I’ve supported them from afar seeing I’ve lived in the Atlanta area. One of my biggest dreams was to finally see them in person. Unfortunately, it never happened during my childhood years. When the adult years came along it still didn’t happen because I became a father at the age of 21. There were a few opportunities for me to finally attend a game. Parenthood was more important to me, so it never crossed my mind to leave my kids to go. In 2017, the opportunity arose, and it finally happened. The Eagles came to Atlanta, and I went to the game with one of my cousins. They came back a couple of years later and I went to the game again.
In 2019, we checked out the Eagles playing the Falcons and a Braves game while reviewing the 2019 Chevy Blazer. By then, my oldest two kids were adults and my youngest began her freshman year of high school. I’ve made a promise that I’ll go to at least one Eagles game every year. With Covid running rampant in 2020 my trip to Carolina was cancelled due to me testing positive. They returned to Atlanta in 2021 and this time my son accompanied me to the game. Last season was a dream come true when I went to Philadelphia to watch them. It was a Sunday night game and they beat the hated Dallas Cowboy in the process. This season they came to Tampa for the Monday night game on September 25th. This was two days before my birthday, and I made my way down there.
The Hotel
The game was the Monday Night one, so I stayed in Tampa on Sunday and Monday. The Hampton Inn Tampa-Airport Westshore was the hotel I decided to stay in for those two days. The room was beautiful and clean. There wasn’t a complaint from me because everything was great. One of the best parts is that there were several Eagles fans from out of town staying there. One of the other perks was that it was close to a lot of places within walking distance.
Some Food
Tampa has a lot of places to grab food. Tampa offers so many great establishments I was craving a Philly cheesesteak. When I got to Tampa you have no idea how tired I was. My travels went from Gwinnett to Albany to Tampa. Instead of going anywhere, UberEats was where I began my search. After seeing so many places, Charley’s was my choice, and they also had a buy-one-get-one free. The Philly Cheesesteak was good and the other one became my lunch for the following day.
Tampa is a Beautiful Place
As mentioned earlier, Tampa has a lot of beautiful places to venture to. You have your choice to head to the beach and they’re beautiful. You could also go into town and just walk around. This wasn’t my first trip to Tampa and the other times were spent on water. This time I headed downtown, parked, and walked around. The people were great, and the scenery was amazing.
Eagles Beat Bucs
The reason for going to Tampa was to watch my Eagles play. The area was crowded as expected near and around the stadium. The parking wasn’t bad at all, but I decided to park at a far distance. The line moved fast, and I was inside Raymond James Stadium quickly. After getting into the stadium, they had people to help you find your seat. Of course, my seat was on the Philadelphia Eagles side, and we were just as loud as hell. The defense suffocated the Tampa offense all night. The Bucs run game was nonexistent and they frustrated Baker Mayfield all night. Hurts didn’t have his best game, but later heard he was dealing with flu-like symptoms. The Eagles beat the Bucs 25-11, so it topped my trip. The rain didn’t put a damper on anything, and it was worth the trip.
My Final Thoughts:
It was a great birthday weekend for me. My trip started Saturday morning and my first stop was Albany, GA. My daughter goes to school down there and we spent Saturday together. We went out to eat, done some shopping and just chilled with each other. On Sunday morning, I took the 4.5-hour drive to Tampa, Florida. My two days in Tampa were amazing but told my wife next time she’s coming with me. It was fun, but it would’ve been better having someone to come with me. The game turned out the way I wanted it to and that capped a great couple of days. The almost seven-hour drive home wasn’t as bad as expected either. I’ll most likely not go to another Eagles game this season. Can’t wait till next season to see where I’ll travel next.
