It's just over 3,600 miles from Glasgow - via a seven-hour flight - to the United Arab Emirates.
For those not familiar with the Middle East, at this time of year it's a pleasant climate, with temperatures in the mid-20s and virtually guaranteed sunshine. Ideal, then, for golf tournaments - the Abu Dhabi Championships begin here next week - and for frost-bitten northern European footballers looking for some much-needed Vitamin D.
The winter break in Scottish football was first introduced in 1998-99, the inaugural season of the SPL. Money was rife in the league at this time, and for three of the next four seasons, top-flight teams jetted off to warmer climes in January during the league shutdown. Motherwell, St Mirren and Aberdeen went to Spain, Rangers travelled to the USA and - astonishingly - Hibernian went to all the way to Trinidad and Tobago, where they fraternised with Brian Lara.
The break disappeared in 2003 and wasn't reintroduced properly until the 2016-2017 season, Brendan Rodgers' first as Celtic manager, who arranged for his squad to spend a week in the heat of Dubai. Aberdeen, a club with many business connections in the area, also headed to the Middle East that season, and they've returned every year since, staying midway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi at Jebel Ali.
Rodgers used his connections in his third season to secure Celtic access to the exclusive training facilities at Nad Al Sheba, a 20-minute drive inland from the main Dubai strip. Owned by a prince, this complex is invitation only - teams must register an interest and await approval from on high before being allowed to train here.
Manchester United, Real Madrid and Liverpool are all previous visitors to the outstanding facilities at Nad Al Sheba, which includes an athletics track, the world's deepest diving pool, a health club and spa, a mosque and an indoor stadium. Racing camels wander out onto the gallops in the mornings, as players train nearby on the two full-size grass pitches. Security is tight, so much so that areas of the complex cannot be filmed.
The two football pitches sit on opposite sides of the complex, with buildings between them. Last year while Celtic used one area, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used the other with Manchester Utd, but neither team caught sight of the other. This year, Celtic are back once more, but now, just around the corner, perhaps only four hundred yards away, are the team who defeated them in the Old Firm game on December 29.
Steven Gerrard took Rangers to Tenerife last winter, but the facilities here represent a major upgrade on the Canary Islands. He would never admit it, but the influence of the former Liverpool captain, a world football icon, will have been telling when the owner of Nad Al Sheba was considering whether to allow Rangers access to his training ground.
It's all slightly bizarre. In northern Glasgow, Celtic and Rangers' training grounds are separated by a large hill seven miles apart; here, halfway across the planet from chilly Scotland, they are using the same facilities as they attempt to gain a minuscule advantage over one another ahead of the second half of the season.
Neither manager appears unduly bothered that the other is next door. Indeed, both Gerrard and Lennon spent a few days on holiday here last week with their families in close proximity to one another, before their playing squads congregated. Yet at times, it's felt like Rangers are impinging on Celtic's territory.
The fallout from last week's Old Firm game, including the incidents involving Ryan Christie and Alfredo Morelos, have created a sense of unease mixed with humour. A joke was made by one member of one of the backroom teams - anonymity is key here - that the quality of the grass is better on one pitch than on the other. A few barbed comments concerning differing training schedules have been also thrown about; it's all knockout stuff, but at the same time part of the phoney war that simmers between these two massive rivals.