A final awaits for Crystal Palace at the end of their first foray into a major European competition.But whatever happens against Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig this week, for many supporters this 17-game odyssey has been an incredible experience.From the play-off round in Norway against Fredrikstad to a group which saw trips to Poland to face Dynamo Kyiv, France to play Strasbourg and a final league phase game against Shelbourne in Dublin. Then it was Zrinjski in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina and a trip to far-flung Cyprus for a reunion with AEK Larnaca before the competition thrust them up against more established names.Fiorentina awaited in the quarter-finals before the semi-final saw a return to Poland to play the Ukrainian side, Shakthar Donetsk.There have been magical moments on the pitch, and adventures off it, for those who have made the seven trips to various corners of Europe. The atmosphere has been boisterous and celebratory at times, threatening and even vitriolic at others. But the group of hardy regular travellers have believed that, even in the most difficult moments and despite the nerves, they would still succeed.Admittedly, this was not the Europa League for which Palace believed they had qualified when lifting the FA Cup a year ago, but the UEFA Conference League has been everything and more for Palace supporters who have turned up in numbers — often finding ways to secure tickets in the home ends.As the final approaches in Leipzig, The Athletic spoke to a selection of fans who have made it to every one of Palace’s European matches.Crystal Palace fans light flares before kick off in the quarter-final second leg in Florence (Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)Emily Kyne, 32: ‘I haven’t looked at how much I’ve spent’I wasn’t expecting to go to Fredrikstad because it was such short notice, but I went on the spur of the moment because I thought: ‘This might not happen again.’ It’s grown bigger with each match. We went to Larnaca thinking it would be a nice change to have a bit of sun or get to the beach, and then it rained most of the time. Just as extra time kicked off, the heavens opened. Palace fans had coats and ponchos, and in the Larnaca end, hundreds of umbrellas sprang up. People were pointing and laughing. It did look slightly ridiculous — a quite colourful, bouncing end which hosted their ultras then covered in umbrellas.In Mostar, we spent time talking to people on the east side of the city — the Velez fans who were Zrinjski’s rivals. That was really interesting because there’s a more complicated history than just your regular local rivalry. We’d been warned off going over there and that people might cause trouble, but everyone was incredibly welcoming, interested to hear about Palace and really enthusiastic about football, asking for scarves and stickers.Even if people weren’t speaking to you, they were high-fiving or nodding and clapping or coming up to you and chatting as people walked around in their scarves and shirts. That was a nice experience of meeting new people and having conversations you wouldn’t have had at home.Emily Kyne (photo courtesy of Emily Kyne)There have been some ‘moments’. We were held back in Strasbourg by police, then kettled towards the tram stop. Some guys tried to leave and they were pepper-sprayed which then meant the rest of us got it in the face as well. It was very heavy-handed.The first time we went to Poland, there weren’t really any policing issues, but in Krakow (for the Shakhtar game) we were held in, then only allowed to leave one by one, after a really long period, and forced to walk down a corridor made of police who were rattling their riot shields. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get back to the town centre. It dampens it a little bit after the game. But everyone kept their heads and no one overreacted, even though it seemed a bit like they were asking for a reaction. Fiorentina was probably the first one where I wondered whether I would go because it’s not cheap to go to Florence and I thought it was very unlikely that I’d be able to get a ticket. But then I’d have missed one out of them and that just didn’t feel right. Sometimes you feel like you need the complete set of something.