Years of being snubbed by successive Three Lions bosses had finally been put right, someone had seen sense and given me the call.
I snapped out of a daydream and checked my surroundings.
No, I wasn't meeting up with Gareth, Harry and the rest of the squad.
But I really WAS on the England team bus and really was on the way to the National Football Centre – a programme with our names on the back had even been made especially.
We'd met at Wembley Stadium at 8am to head up to Burton upon Trent for a press tournament put on by England sponsor LG Electronics.
Six of SunSports finest were among the 30 or so journalists on the coach for a money-can't-buy experience at the sparkling new home of English football.
Our drivers, who also drive the senior squad, didn't give too much away about what goes on in those luxury leather seats.
But he did reveal that BFFs Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard always sit next to each other no matter what, right at the back of the bus.
After a three-hour trip, the excitement and the tension was building.
It's The Sun Wot Won It
SunSport sent six players along to the tournament but our boys were split up ahead of the tournament.
Three went into the Red team and three into the Green team.
The rivalry started straight away as the two sides were drawn against each other in the group stages.
Both teams managed to escape the group – Reds in top and Greens second – but only after two Red wins of 3-2 and 4-0.
The two sides would meet again: in the Final.
But there was controversy ahead of kick-off, as the Green team were insistent the Reds left the end they had called home throughout the tournament.
With the sun shining directly into the eyes of whoever stood down the other end, the coin toss was key.
Unfortunately, the ref didn't have a coin and Daniel Cutts was left to pick which pocket the ref had his whistle.
Embarrassing himself in front of the whole tournament, Cutts said 'left' pointing to the ref's right hand.
He was, of course, wrong.
In a tense game of few chances, one moment of team brilliance settled the two sides, Aaron Huie finishing off a sweeping team move.
1-0, Reds win.
SunSport winners: Tom Sheen, Aaron Huie, Jacob Mignano
SunSport losers: Daniel Cutts, Jake Heasman, Dave Courtnadge
Earlier, the bus had been full of banter but as it crept closer to our destination the group had been silenced in anticipation.
Finally, we arrived.
The group headed into the changing rooms where kits were with personalised name-tags were hanging.
SunSport's six had been split up, three players each joining rival teams but my squad had a good omen.
We would be playing in red – the colour England wore during the victorious 1966 World Cup final.
As if you needed reminding.
Before the action started we were off for a tour of St George's Park.
This facility is why the future of English football is now so bright.
The £105million facility sits in 330 acres and has 12 world-class pitches, one of which is an exact replica of the surface at Wembley and another which is indoor.
There are state-of-the-art hydrotherapy suites, a biomechanical training gym, video analysis suites, as well as educational and coaching suites and medical and sports science facilities.
There's even a luxury hotel on site, managed by Hilton.
Since the opening of the park, England have enjoyed a hugely fruitful spell after years in the wilderness.
Gareth Southgate's senior squad got to the semi-final of the World Cup in Russia.
Both the Under-20 men and U17s won World Cups at their age group in 2017.
England women got to the semi-final of the World Cup in 2015 and the semi-final of the Euros in 2017, while the U20 women got to a World Cup semi-final earlier this year.
We took in a tour of the brilliant facilities.
There was a wall where all the famous names to have visited the facility sign – the likes of Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba and Xavi have their autographs there.
The futsal arena gave us a chance to pose with the FA Cup, before we headed into the hydrotherapy centres.
Tucked away in the corners, next to an underwater treadmill, where the famous inflatable unicorns that caused such a stir during Southgate's World Cup preparations.
Sadly, there was no time for a dip.
We headed to the indoor pitch, which had been hired out for a corporate fives tournament, which has a sprint lane down the side.
The lane, our guide explained, wasn't actually used that much anymore – especially after an unnamed England rugby star had been unable to slow himself down and smashed through a set of glass doors.
After that, it was onto the gym, where we had England strength and conditioning coach Dave Tivey talk us through the Three Lions' workouts.
The surprising player he named as England's most powerful? Kyle Walker.
The tour ended and it was down to business.
Kit, boots and copious amounts of deep heat were applied to dodgy knees and ankles.
We were back on the coach for a short hop to one of the artificial pitches and the action started.
A quick warm-up – stretching more vigorously done by some than others – was followed by a pep talk… delivered by Arsenal legend Ray Parlour and Leeds United centre-back Chris Fairclough.
The Romford Pele offered some final words of advice and encouragement before we headed off to the group stage.
Up first for the Red team was our new arch-rivals – the Green team which boasted the other three of our SunSport contingent.
An intense opener ended 3-2 – with yours truly scoring the difference-making goal (it would be my only goal of the tournament).
Up next we had the Dark Blues, made up of our colleagues at the Mirror who had somehow been allowed to stick on one team.
We battled to a very cagey 1-1 draw – the ref (wrongly) disallowing a late Red goal – but they would end up the only points we dropped the whole day.
A big 4-0 win over the Greens and another convincing 4-1 win over the Dark Blues saw us top the group and go into the semi-finals.
Next up was the Black team and, as one would expect, the semi-final was tense and nervy.
A single goal settled the game but not after some controversy with the Blacks convinced they should have had two penalties.
Onto the final and as fate would have it, we came head-to-head with our fierce rivals: the Greens.
Without shaming the man involved (*cough* Daniel Cutts *cough*) there was an almighty cock-up with the coin toss which meant we had our preferred end and the sun out of our eyes.
Finals are rarely ever open games and this was no different.
It was a game of few chances but the single goal of the game was a moment of real quality.
Every Red player was involved in a sweeping passing move from front to back before an outrageous flick from LG ringer Matt set SunSport's Aaron Huie through on goal.
He would make no mistake, slotting past the keeper to score.
Energiser bunny and Arsenal fan Huie, who claimed he was injured at the start of the day, would later be named Player of the Tournament by Ray Parlour.
In the dying embers of the game, the Green team had one final chance to equalise, their forward racing through one-on-one.
But SunSport goalkeeper Jacob Mignano was more than up to the task, closing the angles and making a brilliant save with his feet.
The ball rolled out of play and the match was over: we were Champions.
After a shower, it was off to the Hilton for a buffet and a well-earned beer.
Parlour, who won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in more than 450 appearances for Arsenal, regaled us with tales of his time at the Gunners alongside Tony Adams and under Arsene Wenger.
It was time to leave, the England dream was over.
Our group came crashing back to reality on the M1 when a three-hour return trip extended past six.
Although, our journey back to Wembley was helped by a brilliant quiz from LG's Mark Hill and two bottles of [REDACTED].
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