Today is the One Year Anniversary of my Blog‏

First and foremost, I want to thank all my readers and followers for helping to make this happen.

On February 3, 2010 I finally got this off the ground thanks to my friend from Japan, Sean MacDonald. For more details about Sean please check out his website and blog on my blog list.

Sean gave me the final push I needed. In addition, he guided me along to the current format I've been using each week.

I post my weekly schedule so everybody knows my short term game plan.

Just so you know I plan everything I do well in advance. I have excel sheets that I can e-mail to you if you're interested in seeing my bigger picture.

After each week he suggested that I do a week in review post. I thought that was a great idea and I followed through on it in late May 2010.

Furthermore, I do special posts when I deem it necessary to do so.

For example, when I meet someone I met in the past and we reunite again. Also when I come in contact with new found road trippers.

Furthermore, I do posts on upcoming road trips that I have planned.

I even do write ups on some of my favorite restaurants that I've had the honor and privilege of going to in different places home or away.

Most importantly, I always try to acknowledge everybody whose worthy of a mention as long as they don't mind. Some people prefer not to be included. If that's the case, I respect their wishes.

Thanks to my blog I've come in contact with many people who share a similar interest.

As a result, doorways have opened all over the country and even in other parts of the World.

My blog allows me to track stats which started in May 2010. I had zero page views until July 2010 when all of a sudden I become an attraction.

In July, I wound up getting 1,040 page views. In August and September, I had an unusual spike due to the fact I saw information that leaked the 2011 MLB schedule so I did a special post and my page views took off to almost 3,000 each of those months.

In October, things went back down to around 1,100. The same happened in November and December.

In January, I saw a surge to 1,300.

I plan to keep promoting my blog. I use Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth to do so.

I have advertising through Amazon so if you buy from them I would appreciate it if you would go through my site going forward.

In the near future, I plan to add banners for different sites to help promote others.

I try my best to keep it up to date. I also try to make it educational and entertaining for people to check in on what's new in the life of royalty.

As time goes on, I want the page views to continue to rise. With your help I know this will happen.

I'm a team player. I always go out of my way to help others whenever possible.

Life is short. We all have to play hard and help each other enjoy the ride.

By doing so, life will get better for all of us.

I target people who love sports and traveling. Those are my passions.

My blog has a blog list that I created and it keeps growing.

In matter of fact, I recently added a young man named Paul Derrick. Paul lives in Houston, Texas. I've been in contact back and forth with him the last few weeks. He's an up and coming sports traveler. He was so amazed by me he called me his idol when it comes to sports travel. I was speechless when I saw that on his blog list.

Sean Rowland is another young man who has a site on my blog list that the King and I met at Citi Field over the summer who referred to us as the "pioneers of sports travel."

That's just a few examples. I have a number of people who I stay in contact with thanks to my blog.

In January, I got my first interview on Internet TV in the FDH Lounge with a guy named Rick Morris who I met in Cleveland in November. I think it will be just the start of a growing relationship for many years to come.

Rick is a great guy. He was instantly baffled by the King and I. Our travels literally blew him away.

I plan to continue to go into further detail with Rick in the future when time allows.

My blog allowed me to met a guy named Kurt Smith who started a business recently selling baseball ballpark e-guides to help those with inside tips on how to save money so they can afford to attend a baseball game. He only charges $5.00 for each one. In return, you'll save a bundle. His site is also on my blog list.

In addition, my blog enabled me to meet a guy named Andrew Van Cleve who lives up the block from Wrigley Field in Chicago. His website and blog is on my list as well.

Andrew was so impressed he told a guy named Paul Swaney of Stadium Journey about me. Paul contacted me and we did an interview where I told him how I do what I do. It's on my blog for your viewing pleasure.

His site Stadium Journey has grown leaps and bounds over the last year and a half. It has reviews of all the different venues in all different sports.

I've had the privilege of doing some reviews for him too. I did one for the Staten Island Yankees, the Oregon Ducks and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.

If you're a newcomer or a seasoned veteran, a stop at Stadium Journey is a great way to start your adventure. As I say, you should know before you go.

I suggest that you take my advice. I subscribe to the 5P's. In other words, prior planning prevents poor performance.

I look forward to enhancing my blog going forward.

If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please feel free to run them by me.

I'm not a genius. I just work hard at when I love to do in life.

Thank you again for spending your precious time on my blog.

I hope to meet and greet as many of you in the future as possible.

As always, if you need any help when it comes to sports travel you know I'm here for you.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with fellow road tripper, Sean Rowland at the New Meadowlands Stadium on 9/26!

After escorting my clients Joe & Sam to their lower level seats in the second row, I proceeded to make my way towards my seat in the upper level.

On my way there, I arranged to hook up with a fellow road tripper, Sean Rowland on the lower level concourse.

Sean is a nice young man who I had met back at Citi Field on August 1st when he came to see the new stadium for the first time. He wrote his take on his site too. For more details, please see the link below.

Today he was at the New Meadowlands Stadium for the first time. He told me he had read my blog post so he could have an idea of what to expect before he arrived.

I was so happy to hear that. I helped make a difference in another person's life by giving him a preview. That's an example of someone like myself who wants to know before they go so they can find to the road to success easier than others.

I look forward to getting his views on the building too.

He has a great website as well. It's on my blog list. It's called Stadium and Arena Visits.

Here's the link so you can check it and follow his whereabouts if you choose to do so:

http://www.stadiumandarenavisits.com/

Part of the royalty experience includes running into different people that I know or ones I introduce myself to while I'm attending a live sporting event.

With being said, stay tuned for the next post I do which will be an example of that.

I hope you're enjoying the posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

Thank you for following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

A great review of Citi Field by fellow road tripper, Sean Rowland

In a previous post that I wrote I had the privilege and honor of meeting a fellow road tripper. His name was Sean Rowland.

Please see the link below for his take on his first visit to Citi Field:

http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/2010/08/04/wrapping-up-a-visit-to-citi-field/

In addition, I strongly suggest that you check out his website, stadiums and arena visits.

Here's the link:

http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/

I  hope you enjoy his views.

Thank you for checking in.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Royalty w/o 7/26 in review

Monday I decided to come home after work to catch up on my blog since I was falling too far behind.

I was so tempted to head back to Staten Island after work where I could have indulged in an all you can eat deal while watching the SI Yankees play. I wisely thought better of it.

For a more in-depth analysis of the Staten Island Yankee experience please feel free in the near future to check out the following website, http://www.stadiumjourney.com/ where I just did a review for my buddy Paul Swaney, their President and general partner who resides in Chicago, Illinois.

In addition, his site has tremendous reviews to give sports travelers like myself everything you need to know about getting places and they offer different opinions and views from all kinds of fans as well.

Please feel free to take a look in your spare time.

Be careful you'll get hooked.

Unlike Doc & Darryl, that's a good thing.

Tuesday night I went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the St. Louis Cardinals.

With their ace, Adam Wainwright on the mound following a dreadful 2-9 west Coast trip I thought the Mets were in for a long night.

Thankfully they proved me wrong on this particular night.

The Mets decked the Cards, 8-2!

The Mets rediscovered how to hit the ball within the friendly confines of Citi Field.

Believe me, I really wish I was in Wrigley Field.

Speaking of Wrigley Field, Andrew Van Cleve, who happens to live up the block from there put me in contact with Paul Swaney.

Andrew is another road tripper who I met back in May.

His mantra is Have game? Will travel!

Here's the link to his website site and blog which can also be found on my blog roll:

http://www.anygame-anywhere.com/

Wednesday night I was back at Citi Field which started out looking like a long night then the game started speeding up in the middle innings.

The Mets with Johan Santana pitching fell behind 6-0 before they even swung the bat.

They proceeded to get 2 runs back in the bottom half of the first inning.

The Cardinals added a run in the sixth and the Mets matched them with one of their own.

Going to the bottom of the eighth inning the Mets trailed by 4, 7-3. They managed to tie the score at 7.

The game wound up going 13 innings before they lost this one, 8-7.

My friend Don Steiger and his son Donnie who I saw in St. Louis a few weeks ago were relieved since they requested that I deliver them a token win.

Royalty came through again.

If you want to read up on these special people please go to my previous post called "The Gateway to the West".

Thursday night thankfully after making it through another day of work. I came home to rest and recharge the batteries.

Friday night it was back to Citi Field and a visit to Donovan's Pub afterwards.

The Arizona Diamondbacks were in town to face the Mets.

The Mets wound up losing to one of the worst teams in baseball partially thanks to their genius manager Jerry Manuel.

But like the King said he did what all 29 other mnagers would have done.

He brought a lefty pitcher in to face a lefty batter with two outs in the top of the sixth ining.

Mind you the lefty lefty overmanaging nonsense blew up in his face.

Raul Valdes in relief of Mike "shaky" Pelfrey faced 4 batters and gave up 4 hits including two home runs to put this game out of reach.

The Mets added a run but they still lost, 9-6.

It wasn't a total loss for Royalty.

As you can tell in a post I did about a few guys who had bought tickets for the Friday games from a season ticket holder.

Saturday night it back to you know where by now.

Let it be known the Mets came into this game 0-4 against the Diamondbacks this season.

The question was will tonight be the night?

The answer was yes!

The Mets found a way to finally rattle those snakes, 5-4 when Carlos Beltran hit a game winning sacrifice fly in the 9th inning.

It was a fun night throughout as I noted in a separate post when Royalty got to see some new found company.

We attract fans of all ages.

Sunday we were back.

At least this time we were treated to a pregame ceremony which I did a special post about.

Please check it out for further details.

In addition, a fellow roadtripper named Sean Rowland stopped by to meet and greet the King and I.

I did a post on him as well.

He also has a website. Here's his link: http://www.stadiumandarenavisits.com/   which can also be found on my blog.

As for the game, if you call it that. The Mets looked like punching bags.

In reality, it was more like target practice.

The Diamondbacks behind Daniel Hudson who was making his major league debut looked like Dr. K in his hey day.

Hudson pitched 8 dominant innings and he picked his first major league hit too that drove in 2 runs.

The Diamondbacks hit 4 home runs.

Adam LaRoche hit two of them including a 415 foot double which was hit further than either of his two 3 run homers.  

Stephen Drew hit one and catcher John Hester followed with a bomb of his own that even left the King in awe. What a shot that was.

The Mets went on to get destroyed 14-1!

On a positive note, there was an Oliver Perez sighting. He pitched 2 innings and he give up 5 hits and 4 runs.

What a week it was.

Stay tuned for the week ahead.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you got educated and amused at the same time.

That's the life of royalty.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman





   





  

Royalty meets & greets another roadtripper, Sean Rowland at Citi Field on Mets Hall of Fame Induction Day!

Today at Citi Field the King & I were treated by another visitor. His name was Sean Rowland.

Sean put a post on his website, Stadiums and Arena Visits, that he was coming to Citi Field for the first time.

I made sure I e-mailed him and told him where we sit so he could pay us a visit and I told him I would do my best to give him an upgrade from where he said he sitting.

Sure enough, early in the game he stopped by to say hello and we spoke for an inning or so. He even got to witness the King doing his signature strikeout call. For more details about that, please see my previous post.

As I like to say, timing is everything.

He was with other people who were sitting in different parts of the ballpark he said.

I told him that he could come back with them if he wanted to.

Apparently, it was too much to round everybody up.

If he was by himself he would have stayed with us for rest of the game.

Regardless, it was very nice of him to drop by and say hello.

We were very grateful to add him to our road tripping fraternity.

He knows if and when he returns to Citi Field, Royalty will roll out the carpet from the get go.

The same goes for Yankee Stadium. It sounds like he's looking to go there next year based on what he has written on his website.

We'll be in touch so when the time comes I'll make sure it's a smooth and painless excursion.

As for Citi Field, the King asked him what he thought of the ballpark, he replied "it's beautiful."

I was happy to hear he was a satisfied customer.    

As for his website, here's the link:

http://www.stadiumandarenavisits.com/

Please note his site is also on my blog roll where you can find some other great sites as well.

Please feel free to utilize these different sites to get different perspectives and tips from other fellow road trippers as well as insight about the local teams and the business of sports these days.

Thanks to my blog I've been able to expand my network of people with similar interests who like to travel around North America as well as other parts of the World to attend live sporting events.

I plan to track down as many of these people as I can.

In this day and age with all the technology at our disposal, we need to maximize our time to get the most out of our lives.

Life is short we need to help each other to enjoy the ride.

I'm a work in progress but with the help of these people we can all expand our horizons and make our future in life so much better.

The economy is slowly improving. The population is growing leaps and bounds. Competition is fierce. There are less jobs due to automation.

With that being said, don't let the facts get you down. Be proactive and do something about it. I am.

With my blog in place and viewership rising each and every day, I finally have a platform where I can tell people all the different places I've gone over the last 20-25 years on a regular basis.

I'm a seasoned vet when it comes to traveling around North America. I know the majority of the interstates as well as the secondary routes.

If you ever need assistance I'm more than happy to share my knowledge.

I strive on cutting cost and being efficient while still maximizing enjoyment.

In this day and age, I'm only a click away.

I have my Blackberry in hand at all times and I prefer to react right away.

Don't snooze, you will only lose.

Keep your head up, good things will happen for in due time.

I look forward to hearing  from those who echo my sentiments.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming