European football is meant to be an adventure, and Saints are kicking off their first away game of this season's Europa League group stages with a complete culture change.

While the team will be largely cocooned in their own bubble, for the 300 fans expected to take on this trip, it is something totally different, writes ADAM LEITCH IN ISRAEL.

Milan and Prague are known entities and hold little fear or trepidation. They are popular city break destinations in comparatively nearby countries.

Israel is something else altogether.

The trip, which is about five hours by plane just from London to Tel Aviv without the additional travelling at either end, is the longest trek of this round of matches anywhere in the Europa League, and the logistics are as much an issue as anything else.

A few fans started their journey yesterday. More are heading out today.

One of the major concerns for travellers heading to the Middle East is security.

While nowhere can be guaranteed totally safe in this day and age, the Israeli's clearly take this seriously, but is not overbearing, either entering the country, at the stadium prior to match time or out and about. Enough to feel secure but not intimidated.

Saints are doing their bit to help, with a small team of people having flown out specifically to support fans making the trip, the logistics and the ticketing arrangements to ensure it all goes smoothly.

Beersheba itself, the home of Hapoel Be'er Sheva, lies in the south of Israel.

It is effectively in a desert, though the drive down from Tel Aviv is not as barren as you might expect.

Though the wider area around it has a population of 200,000, that is spread over a fairly sprawling footprint. As an aside it proudly blasts of having more chess grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world.

It is easy to see why it is not on the tourist map, with its somewhat isolated location likely to put off most travellers, even though on first impressions it seems a reasonable enough area.

Indeed, as odd as it may sound, the very vast majority of Saints fans won't see it.

The Turner Stadium where Be'er Sheva play their home games – a modern ground opened just a year ago that seats 16,000 and feels very nice and comfortable rather than intimidating, in daylight at least, sits on the northern outskirts of what would be considered the centre of the city. You come to it pretty much straight off the main road.

As there is little demand on a tourism front, there is virtually nowhere to stay in the city.

Just a couple of accommodation options sit within the area's boundaries, and with one of those largely commandeered by the team there really isn't much choice.

As such, pretty much all Saints fans flying in for the game are staying in Tel Aviv, which is the nearest major airport for direct flights.

That is still around an hour and a half drive away, but the road down to Be'er Sheva is modern, and a fairly straightforward journey, albeit with a bit of fraught lane weaving from some locals proving a popular past time.

There are train services between the two cities, but timings in terms of the return trip after the match, which is an 8pm kick off local time due to the two hour time difference, means most have forgone that option.

Instead most will rely on the football club, who have laid on free return coaches to all fans, leaving Tel Aviv in the afternoon and dropping fans off directly outside their entrance to the stadium – Gate 9 - where they will be shown immediately into the ground.

With no alcohol on sale in the stadium it is likely to be a sober atmosphere.

However, it will be a nice setting for fans to visit.

There is nothing particularly intimidating about it, but security is likely to be visible tonight, and the presence of an exclusion zone for unauthorised cars around the ground shows that it is taken seriously.

Fans have been told to be expect police to be visible, but trouble is not expected with the security forces there to protect rather than cause any issues themselves, and a generally happy and helpful atmosphere from all involved in the build-up.

One very obvious difference to adjust to is the temperature.

The weather is stable at around 30c, and though the heat of the day will have tailed off for the team by the time they kick-off in the evening, it will still be a little more draining than usual.

However, the close proximity to good weather in England over recent weeks and months means it doesn't feel as oppressive as you might imagine, and Saints trained at the Turner Stadium last night to acclimatise.

It is immediately obvious this trip is something very much out of the ordinary. An adventure in its own right.

It's as much a part of what getting into the Europa League was all about as the trip to the San Siro.