Starting to get Ideas

My excitement for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 was only heightened by the recent Euro's from Poland & Ukraine. Whist the thrill of watching an international tournament on TV is one thing, actually travelling to a World Cup is so much more exciting, and I am now looking forward to Brazil even more. Anyway, congratulations to Spain who have now completed a memorable treble of wins at the highest level and have proven that they really are a dominant force in World Soccer.

Anyway back to Brazil 2014 and the planning continues, but only very slowly. I have further refined my planning process using the principle that we will need to travel round Brazil during the World Cup, staying in specific cities when games are being played there.  With a goal of seeing between 8-10 games, but not be travelling every couple of days, I have come up with the following tentative schedule:  -

• 06/6 - 12/6 - Sao Paulo - 7 days - Opening Game
• 13/6 - 18/6 - Manaus - 6 days - 2 Group Games
• 19/6 - 29/6 - Fortaleza - 11 days - 2 Group Games / 1 Round of 16 Game
• 30/6 - 11/7 - Salvador - 12 days - 1 Round of 16 Game / 1 Quarterfinal
• 12/7 - 15/7 - Rio de Janeiro  - 4 days - World Cup Final

The above tentative schedule allows us to see 9 games in total, (including the Opening Game & the Final), and also see a fair amount of Brazil. We would start of in the South in Sao Paulo for a week to take in the site & sounds of this bustling city. Next we head North to Manaus, the gateway to the Amazon. It would seem to be a bit of a shame to travel all the way to Brazil and not see at least a little of the famous Amazonian basin. I am sure we can waste some time taking a couple of day tours into the Amazon Rainforest, and fit in a couple of matches.

From the Amazon we would then head to the North Eastern coastal city of Fortaleza, famous for it's beautiful beaches, sunny weather and ancient Portuguese architecture. Spending 11 days in Fortaleza should give us a good feel for this old city with plenty of time for relaxing in the sun. Next we start to head South to Salvador, again on the coast, with deep influence of the Afro-descendents and indigenous peoples in this culturally rich city. With 12 days there, we have plenty more time to see the sights, relax and see a couple of matches.

From Salvador we finally head to Rio de Janeiro where we will in town long enough to see the sights and hopefully the World Cup final. I have deliberately left Rio to last, and given the problems associated with this sprawling mega-city, I have allowed just enough time to do the touristy things and be in the same city as the Final. I am currently planning on heading back to Sao Paulo after this, as I am expecting that Sao Paulo will be our international flight hub, but this may change to Rio depending of flights and availability.

I think that the above schedule gives us the best of everything we are heading to Brazil to achieve: 9 World Cup Games; 5 different cities; diverse locations that will show off the best that Brazil has to offer. As with all plans, things can change, but I have to start somewhere with an idea, and this is it.

Thoughts...?

And The Planning Begins.....

Well inbetween managing complex operational infrastructure projects for the city, I have started the long process of planning for the World Cup in Brazil 2014

After discussion with Fiona & Yates, I am working on the assumption that we will be staying in Brazil for the whole of the 6 weeks of the World Cup tournament, as we did both in Germany & South Africa. I feel that this gives us a unique and one-off experience that would be difficult to replicate if we were only in country for part of the World Cup. 

Click on the link below for a little taster of the dates from the official World Cup Match Schedule: -

FIFA World Cup Match Schedule

 Brazil is a huge country, (it makes South Africa look small...!), and the local infrastructure, (railways & roads) are not as well developed as some other of the countries we have been to previously. Therefore my thoughts are that we be basing ourselves in 2 or 3, (maybe even 4) cities during the tournament, which will allow us to see more of the country, and attend more matches than staying in a single city. 

The following link will give you a good idea of the size of the country and where the World Cup games are being played: -

World Cup 2014 - Brazil 

We will definitely stay in either Sao Paulo and/or Rio de Janeiro at some point of the trip, mainly because the major international flight hubs are based in those cities, plus the opening game & final are in these cities respectively.

Brazil is so big that it has many different climates, from the tropical north to the temperate southern regions, and it would be nice to experience a little of the different cultures and cities. Manus in the North is the gateway to the Amazon Jungle. Forteleza, Recife & Salavador are interesting cities on the northern coast, and Porto Alegre is similar to the far south. In all honesty, I would prefer to spend only the minimum amount of time in Sao Paulo and/or Rio de Janeiro as these are big cities with all the safety problems that come with big cities, (think Johannesburg...!), and once we have see the major tourist attractions, there is little apart for the football to keep us there.

On the Accommodation front, Brazil is on the whole cheaper than the USA and parts of Europe, (more expensive than New Zealand), so I have started my investigations by looking at accommodation in the US$150-175 per night basis, but we will need to be flexible. As usual I am hoping to book the accommodation about a year in advance to try and get the best possible price, and avoid people trying to make a buck off of World Cup tourists.

Here is a link to some practical information about Brazil: -

Practical Information About Brazil 

So my current thoughts are to fly into one of the big international hubs and meet up, stay for a couple of days, and then head north for a couple weeks, then move a bit further south for another couple of weeks, finally heading toward Rio de Janeiro for the finals and preparing to head home. I want to try and balance the number of different stopping points against the travel effort required, sometimes it's nice to be somewhere for 4 weeks.

The good news is that a number of airlines, (inc Star Alliance) have special 'Brazil Airpass' programs for foreigners travelling around their huge country, which seem quite well priced, (less that $1000 for 4/5 internal flights). This would make travel a lot easier and if we stayed in the host cities with public transport to the stadiums, we would have hopefully less driving than in South Africa.

On the Football front, even though attending 14 world Cup matches in South Africa was awesome, it was a lot of travel & very tiring overall. I am therefore currently planning to limit the number of matches we apply for to between 8 & 11 matches. This will still allow us to see 5 or 6 group stage games, and 1 or 2 games in the Group of 16/Quarter's/Semi's and maybe even the Final if we are lucky enough....

As has become tradition, Fiona & I will be tagging on a pre-WC2014 trip on our way to Brazil, and a post WC trip on the way back to New Zealand. Our current thinking is a 10-14 days in Chile before the World Cup, and then a combination of Singapore/Bangkok and a Pacific Island before heading back to winter in NZ.

Just writing this blog has given me that buzz of excitement about WC2014 that I have not felt since South Africa. I know it's early for the planning, but just starting this has reminded me why this is so important to me, and how much fun I have looking at planning and options.

As always, if there are any of my friends out there that wish to join us on the next epic World Cup adventure, then you are welcome to join us for all or part of the trip. Just keep an eye on the blog and get in touch if this is something you would like to be a part of. The more the merrier I always say....

See you in Brazil....?

A New Blog Starts Up....

Welcome once again to another edition of Spiglords World Cup Blog. This time I am starting the blog rolling much earlier than before, to let a little light in upon the magic of the planning process, as we work our way toward Brazil in 2014.

 

You are probably asking yourself why would I be starting the planning process over 2 years ahead of the World Cup, and the simple answer to that is that is about how much time it actually takes to plan something like this....! In this coming year I will reviewing the multitude of options that we have when deciding where we want to stay and when, look at transport methods and various accomodation choices. There are literally hundreds of questions to be nailed down. 

 

What are the best entry & exit hubs into & out of Brazil...? Will we stay in a single city, or travel internally...? Given the size of Brazil, how easy is internal travel going to be...?  What travel strategy gives us the best opportunity to see the the best mix of live matches..? Where do we want to be for the Final...?

 

Anyway, this is your opportunity to see what we are planning and maybe throw in a suggestion or two, or give me the benefit of your experiences...

 

More,..... much much more, to come....