For HFX Wanderers FC, pre-season so far has consisted of about a month’s worth of friendlies against local sides, all indoors, on artificial surfaces.

It’s been good enough, sure, but now just three weeks away from that first competitive match, it’s time to turn the temperature up … figuratively, and literally.

To that end, the Wanderers arrived in the Dominican Republic Sunday night, looking to step up the intensity on real grass.

“Once we play against different level of players, different calibre, different style, I think it’ll be good for us,” defender Zachary Sukunda told CanPL.ca. “It’ll get us more prepared and fully fit for this season and definitely be a good last couple weeks.”

The Wanderers will hold two training sessions per day and also play matches against Inter RD, a Dominican select team.

“I mean, practice has been intense every day, but real competition that’s not your teammates always brings more excitement,” said left fullback Alex De Carolis.

“This trip is not so much about winning or losing a game, I think it’s more about getting the team chemistry right again. I also think being with each other 24-7, which we’re going to be for 10 days, we’re going to build that chemistry even more.”

Fellow defender Chakib Hocine said this part of the pre-season is a chance to build chemistry and team spirit — both on and off the field — that will help when the season starts on April 28, a road visit to Vancouver Island to take on Pacific FC.

“It’s important to connect with the player but also to know the person,” Hocine said. “You can talk and learn a little bit more about the person, just kind of detail, the small things are going to make a big difference after.”

Veteran goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams is one of four players from Trinidad and Tobago, so the Caribbean weather will be business as usual for a number of players on the roster. Williams said training in a different climate will help in some ways, but not in others.

“Obviously we’ve wanted to get out of this cold a little bit, the past couple weeks have been a little bit cold,” Williams said, highlighting the cold and rainy day earlier in the week in Halifax.

“It will be good to get out of the cold and go and push our fitness levels in the heat,” he added, cautioning that returning to cooler temperatures presents challenges.

Williams said the Wanderers will certainly enjoy the sunshine, but once the team is back in Canada, it’s all about re-acclimatizing again and getting ready for that game against Pacific FC.

Having a Canadian league stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean means every CPL team will have lots of travel this season and the Wanderers are set to cover the most distance with a 36,588 km schedule.

In fact, the 2,931 km between Punta Cana and Halifax is shorter than the distance the Wanderers will travel to play Cavalry FC, FC Edmonton and Pacific FC.

“I think we have a very different situation than a lot of the teams, especially when you compare it to York, Forge — the two teams in that area, they’re sort of in the middle,” Sukunda said when looking ahead at a season of travel.

Sleep, hydration and diet are all elements that Sukunda says will be important to manage while on the road.

“(The Dominican) is almost like a little warmup for that,” he finished.