BBC Scotland’s Brian McLauchlin on his journey to Kazakhstan
With few, if any, direct flights to Almaty from the UK, this was always going to be a long and tiring journey for any Celtic fan looking to follow their team as they seek another Champions League campaign.
Various routes, however, can be found. Frankfurt from either Edinburgh or Glasgow is one of those paths, before flying direct to Almaty with a total flight time of around 10 hours.
I travelled from Edinburgh via Istanbul, and after a three-hour stop over, it was off to Almaty. All in, the travel time was around 15 hours with arrival at 03:40 local time.
The temperatures during the day are mid 30s, hence the reason kick-off on Tuesday night is 21:45 to ensure the heat will have somewhat relented before the first whistle is blown.
The stadium capacity is about 23,000, and tickets were snapped up in just over an hour given the enormity of this game for Kairat.
Only a few hundred Celtic fans have made the near 8,500-mile round trip. A long way to come, but well worth it if Celtic are to make it through to the Champions League proper.