Playing in searing temperatures, long-haul flights to far-flung destinations and visits to shopping precincts just to keep the sponsors happy - pre-season tours for Premier League clubs are not what they used to be.
But as our graphic (above) shows, you are now much more likely to see England's elite clubs in action in Malaysia, Hong Kong or New York.
All but two of the top flight's 20 clubs decided to go abroad to warm up for the forthcoming season.
Only Swansea and Wolves opted to remain in the United Kingdom during pre-season, although there were others that decided not to embark on full-blown trips abroad.
Of course, tours ahead of the 20th Premier League campaign are about more than getting match fit. They are about spreading the commercial value of the global game, with players treated as "brand ambassadors".
According to sports finance expert Dan Jones it is "enlightened self interest" for Premier League clubs to go globe-trotting.
Carroll, Meireles & Carragher during a Liverpool visit to a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall "The driving force is commercial, although the money made from these tours is not actually that great," Jones, a partner in Deloitte's Sports Business Group, told BBC Sport.
A select few teams might get large fees from promoters - Manchester United, for example, received more than £1m per match to take part in the World Football Challenge in the United States - but, as Jones indicated, much of the financial benefit is indirect.
"We've got big sponsors and part of the return on their investment is that we go and support them in their key markets," said Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre.
"Our fans buy merchandise and watch us on TV every week throughout the year, so it's about giving back to them. You can't have millions of fans all over the world and not give them the chance to see the team up-close.
"If you look at the money we get from our collective media deal with broadcasters around the world, you maintain the value of that by taking the team out to that part of the world."
And it is not just about playing a few matches and signing a few autographs - it is about much, much more than that.
"There was a whole programme of events during our tour," said Ayre. "We had scouting missions, store visits for kit supplier Adidas, bank visits for shirt sponsor Standard Chartered, competitions, free training sessions for fans and a variety of community projects."
MAN UTD IN THE USA
- Premier League champions getting fee of more than £1m per match (source: Bloomberg)
- Win over Seattle Sounders on 20 July watched by crowd of more than 67,000
- Match v Barcelona on 30 July expected to attract crowd of 82,000
- Man Utd estimate they have 6.5m fans in United States alone
- Worldwide fanbase 333m, according to club survey
The four-team event, which is held every two years, is hugely popular in the region. More than two-thirds of the 80,000 tickets were snapped up within five days.
The Premier League's chief spokesman, Dan Johnson, said Asia remains a key market for clubs.
"Asia has always been one of the biggest markets for English football, there's a kind of expat thing going on with Hong Kong and Singapore, it's grown from there," said Johnson.
Even Arsenal have been convinced of the need to reach out to their fans around the globe.
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