world cup BRAZIL 2014. flow into South American ski season

so I just found out that the FIFA world cup 2014 is in Brazil, from June 13-July 13. There are 12 host cities, with about 6 of them on the coast. how far in advance can a person book airline tickets? I just looked on kayak.com but they limited me to 330 days in advance.

And this is a heads up to everyone else, since I thought maybe there are other soccer fans who would love to go to Brazil. I tried to book tickets to South Africa, but tickets themselves were over $2200. South America is slightly cheaper. I don't usually plan this far in advance, but everyone needs to start making commitments sometime, so I'm going to carve this in stone and after will need to jump the border to Argentina to ski in August and September after the world cup season is over.

http://myloveforthegame.com/wp-conte...razil-2014.jpg

You might have just changed my life for the better; such a rad idea. I love these two sports. I wonder how the drive to Argentina is?

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Originally Posted by shralpingthegnar

You might have just changed my life for the better; such a rad idea. I love these two sports. I wonder how the drive to Argentina is?

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same here.

My guess is easy. But then I have always been afflicted with negligent overconfidence.

its part of my game plan for sure, has been since Brazil got the nod to host, hope I can pull it off when it comes time to make it happen!

That's a party I am going to try to attend.

Something about this just struck a cord with me. Hmmmmmm going to Brazil and the world cup AND skiing in the same trip? Let the scheming commence.......

Sounds like the worlds most expensive vacation. I'm in...

I'm going. I'm glad someone made a thread about this. I'm going to attempt to learn a bit of Portuguese before I venture down south. I don't know if skiing is really in the realm for me as I am probably going to try and catch as many games as possible. I just hope the US is playing somewhere remotely close to RIO.

would be the trip of a lifetime. start putting a dollar a day in a jar now.

three months of prime time skiing and world cup soccer sounds like a dream come true.

http://www.theworldcupbrazil2014.com/host-cities-2/ shows the host cities for Brazil in 2014.


http://i.imgur.com/sAwgj.png

I went to South Africa and it was awesome. I am already planning on Brazil 2014 but the skiing idea = good idea. Now to save more $$$.

absolutely doing this.

It would be good to stay in touch with other mags so that we can coordinate on securing housing and transportation, maybe an email list as the time draws nearer

I'd be slightly worried about carrying skis around certain areas of Argentina. Way too many friends have been mugged in Rio. Anyone else know if this would be a concern?

Skiing in Brazil won't do good.. Just enjoy the attractions there plus the Brazil World Cup..

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Originally Posted by catherine85

Skiing in Brazil won't do good.. Just enjoy the attractions there plus the Brazil 2014 world cup..

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I think the idea was to go to Argentina afterwards, not stay in Brazil.

I guess I better plan on waiting a few months out of college to get a job so I can take part in this. What a great idea!

i will bump this because this is a great idea. having gone to south america to ski/travel in 2010/2011, i can vouch for its awesomeness. didn't get to hit brazil (so big!) but spent most of my time in argentina.

notes: cars are a pain in the ass down there, particularly in argentina. in argentina, they are super expensive due to import duties on "luxury" goods. you'll be surprised at the old-ass things people there are driving around.

the drive from Brazil to skiable parts of chile/argentina is going to be quite long. looks to be about 50 hours, plus border crossings, from sao paulo to bariloche, for example. if you are going to matches in northern parts of brazil, quite a bit longer, obviously.

note also that Brazil requires visas for americans, with an application and a ~$150 fee. for argentina and chile, if you are American and fly into the international airports in BsAs or Santiago, you must pay an ~$140 fee. Driving through or flying into these airports on a domestic flight, or flying into other airports, you avoid the charges.

my flight to BsAs was through Sao Paulo on TAM, a big Brazilian airline. pretty top notch operation. you get two free bags, good if you are bringing your skis (do so, as rentals in Argentina seem to suck big time from what I could tell).

I would suggest flying to Brazil, stashing your skis, and then flying to Bariloche or Mendoza (to hit Las Lenas) or Santiago if hitting Chilean resorts. then rent a car when you get there if you are going to chase snow.

who knows, maybe i'll make this happen also. but someone needs to make sure it goes down.

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Originally Posted by looseofforangejuice

note also that Brazil requires visas for americans, with an application and a ~$150 fee. for argentina and chile, if you are American and fly into the international airports in BsAs or Santiago, you must pay an ~$140 fee. Driving through or flying into these airports on a domestic flight, or flying into other airports, you avoid the charges.



I would suggest flying to Brazil, stashing your skis, and then flying to Bariloche or Mendoza (to hit Las Lenas) or Santiago if hitting Chilean resorts. then rent a car when you get there if you are going to chase snow.

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A friend and I are planning to drive from Reno to Brazil. we'll find a storage location to stash our gear and unload the little 1992 Toyota for whatever we can get, see matches, party in the streets, freak on the beach etc. Then yeah, jump a plane to Buenos Aires or Mendoza. I checked out the requirement for Brazilian Visa but when I went to Argentina in 2005 there was no visa required. You had to get one while you were there in 2010? I rolled through the big airport in Buenos Aires with nothing but a stamp.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/worl...world-cup.html

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Want to host the World Cup? You’d better be prepared to serve beer. That’s the message that FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, is pushing in Brazil and Russia, urging the countries to drop restrictions on beer sales in stadiums.

"Alcoholic drinks are part of the FIFA World Cup, so we're going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that's something we won't negotiate," FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke told journalists Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, according to the BBC.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, FIFA President Sepp Blatter urged that country to allow beer sales in stadiums before it hosts the World Cup in six years. The Russian soccer union chief has already been calling on the country to bring beer advertisements and brews back to Russian soccer stadiums.

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went to brazil, uruguay, paraguay, argentina and chile in 2008. personally, i'd skip the skiing and spend all your time in brazil, its huge amazing country and traveling with skis and ski equipment for a month or two in a country with no skiing is a huge pain in the ass.

I was still stoked to have visited brasil and then ended with skiing in the andes. its just a big pain in the ass to catch buses, taxis, carry skis on crowded subways, etc. that coupled with the paranoia of thinking your skis will get jacked at the hostel your storing them at. i'm trying to go back for the world cup, but i think i will just focus on staying in brasil and seeing more sights there and leaving the skiing part for another trip. there is A LOT to do in brazil, i don't think you will get bored in that country.

for those looking to do the brasil 2014 world cup and then go skiing, i would suggest trying to fly to bariloche/santiago/mendoza from sao paulo or rio. I bussed it and took my time getting from brasil to argentina (spent a week on a beach in uruguay en route). if you take the bus route get ready for some long bus rides. i wouldn't suggest driving..... its probably a 24-36 hour bus ride from sao paulo to buenos aires, 18 hours from BA to mendoza, 18 hours from mendoza to bariloche. thats a lot of time to spend on a bus if you don't have a few mo nths to kill in south america.

I have heard it is pretty hard to get into Brazil on a Visa and pretty expensive, but the poster above mentioned $150 and ways to avoid. Can someone confirm the $150? That is way less then what I had been hearing. I want to go to the World Cup, just curious how hard it is to get into Brazil and travel around.

Thank you

Brasil visa is trivial to get. Embassy fee (currently $160 for a tourist Visa in a US passport because of reciprocity aka Bush fucktardery) + Mandatory Processing fee (currently $20) in the US. Mail your money and your passport to the consulate in Houston (for CO residents):
http://houston.itamaraty.gov.br/en-u...nformation.xml
unless you've got some criminal record it's just a tit for tat money shakedown.

The above poster was talking about the Argentina "visa reciprocity fee" currently $160 which you pay if you show up to a major airport but could avoid if you are crossing by land. Chile has something similar. Unless you take a bus (as mentioned long and slow) you'll end up paying somehow - Paraguay requires a visa; Uruguay has poor direct flight service from the US.

Must go to this... too many Brazilian connections and I hear they like to party.

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Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

Brasil visa is trivial to get. Embassy fee (currently $160 for a tourist Visa in a US passport because of reciprocity aka Bush fucktardery) + Mandatory Processing fee (currently $20) in the US. Mail your money and your passport to the consulate in Houston (for CO residents):
http://houston.itamaraty.gov.br/en-u...nformation.xml
unless you've got some criminal record it's just a tit for tat money shakedown.
The above poster was talking about the Argentina "visa reciprocity fee" currently $160 which you pay if you show up to a major airport but could avoid if you are crossing by land. Chile has something similar. Unless you take a bus (as mentioned long and slow) you'll end up paying somehow - Paraguay requires a visa; Uruguay has poor direct flight service from the US.

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My son did this mail passport to Texas for Brasil visa thing not long ago, it is an annoying unavoidable shakedown, plus mailing your passport back and forth takes time, and if you need to speed up the process to make sure you have your passport back in time for departure then you just get socked with more expedite and next-day-air costs. As usual, thinking ahead saves money, as usual we did not think ahead enough.
We hope to make it down for the 2014 Cup too, but definitely will not be dragging skis around the cities, street crime is real in Brasil and hauling skis and back-country pack around just makes an obvious foolish-looking sore-thumb target.

My 2 cent tips for Brazil

If you want to learn portuguese check out the Pimsleur audio cd's at your library or buy them, they're inexpensive.

If you don't want to mess with the visas yourself, I've used Travisa and they get it done quickly. Plan ahead, the consulates only do so many a day.

Rio will be a shitshow but if you stay there check out the Mango Tree in Ipanema. Decent place with about the lowest rates you'll find and it's one block off the beach.

If you go to Sao Paulo my brother in law might store your skis, for a price:)

If you rent a car, the economy cars have like a 1 liter engine, bump to the next level for a car that actually has some power.

Soccer games there are rowdy, rowdy, rowdy-the world cup games will be just crazy

Go for as long as you can, such a great place!

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Originally Posted by mtcham

Soccer games there are rowdy, rowdy, rowdy-the world cup games will be just crazy

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Unfortunately FIFA will have all the WC matches locked down tight.

i'm in for the world cup. Brazil! FKNA!!!

down to the dirty work of logistics-
please chip in any info/insight you have, this trip seems quite the beast to plan. the collective can do it!

after looking over the schedule of games-
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/matchschedule.html

i am thinking to base out of belo horizonte and porto alegre for the knockout rounds. take some quick flights to rio, sao, brasilia to catch a game for the day. seems realistic. staying in rio, etc sounds more spendy and also a bit sketchy. so i think the 'smaller' big cities might be a better value. party gonna be everywhere!

flying to brasil from colo/utah is gonna be some coin, best i can find is around $1300rt on American. gotta be a cheaper way? no?

game tickets not available yet, FIFA seems to have this locked down in some convoluted lottery scheme. legit ticket re-sellers (stubhub) seem to be prohibited from selling tickets. from what i see it is FIFA, or black market on the street. could be tough given demand to try and get tickets last minute in brazil.

trickiest of all, i think i am going to want to book flights/hotels this july, before any game tickets are released. then you know which games you need tickets for, sort of cart before horse, but it seems unavoidable. if i wait for tickets first, then flights and hotels are going to be booked out or prices through the roof.

wanted to give this a BUMP, get the wheels turning. trying to get the whole plan/budget together now, so that i can start making reservations in july while having an idea of what it is all gonna cost. not cheap! but copa mundial in brazil, not since 1950. once in a lifetime!

what we need now is-

-travelers with experience in brazil
-tips on cheap international flights
-insight on getting hands on match tickets

dream....to make it real.

I thought I would share my choices so far and see what the world cup pros think about my plan, or what suggestions you have-

I booked a room in Rio for the Round of 16 (4 nights) and the Final (3 nights)
Most places didnt have pricing yet, quite a few were fully booked, but I found a B+B I liked in Santa Teresa for a reasonable price and jumped at it. The other less demanding reservations will come together as time gets closer.

I am planning to setup flights in and out of Rio in July, as soon as they become available. It seems that the games in Brasilia particularly would be easily accessable for a day trip from Rio, so I going to try to get game tickets for these too.

Tickets to the games seems overwhelming, but like others have said, just dont get too worried about things you cannot control. There are six games, including the final, that I am hoping to get a pair of tickets to. If not possible/ absurdly expensive, I will just enjoy Brazil and the football-loving atmosphere there.

What do you with WC experience figure is the way to approach tickets to these six specific games? Can I have friends apply in the lottery for me to help boost my chances? I dont think the VST or TST tickets will do me any good, so do I just apply one game at a time and hope for the best? Assuming I dont win the lottery, what will my fallback options be?

thanks in advance-

So. I did a recon mission at the beginning of this year. Spent 5 months in the south of Brasil on the island of Florianopolis, in Santa Catarina. Great trip, learned tons of Portuguese, traveled around the country. SO here's some things I will be considering for my own trip to Brasil in 2014.

Visa: The Visa process took a while, but it wasn't terrible. For those of you not close enough to a major city, you will either have to make the pilgrimage to one of the regional consular offices around the United States, or pay a third-party to handle the visa application process. The consulate officers like to fuck with you, love to say no, and generally make life difficult. It's about $160 for the visa, good for ten years. Upon my entry to Brasil in Sao Paulo, it was stamped for 6 months. There are 10 Brasilian Consulate offices in the USA. They can be found here. http://saofrancisco.itamaraty.gov.br...risdiction.xml They want you to have an itinerary, a bank statement, etc saying you're not a fuckup so you can come visit their country.

Flight: I flew on TAM and they are a great airline. Two free checked bags when I left (Jan 2013) and one of them was a surfboard. They didn't care! Prices are medium-high. Look on sites such as www.studentuniverse.com www.cheapoair.com and try to find a flight. I'm only buying a return flight this time, so not worrying about baggage or round trip flights. These flights are usually over $1200. I found a one-way for $500, but I think I got lucky. I'm definitely not bringing skis to South America on this trip. I'll be selling, unloading, giving away most of my things before my trip home.

Driving around Brasil: Driving is easy in Brasil. Finding a car might not be so easy. Driving on motos is a death wish, but certainly an adventure. I was lucky enough to find a girl with a nice car and we drove it all over South Brasil. They drive on the right side. The roads are ok, Traffic in Sao Paulo and Rio is outrageous. Driving around other parts of Brasil is easy, roads are in mediocre condition, gas is expensive. There are many buses (and overnight buses) that go all over the country. Most cities have well-functioning, cheap municipal bus system. Rush hour in the cities I've been to renders some roads gridlocked for a few hours. Sao Paulo has that happen, Florianopolis only rarely.

As everyone knows, there are 12 host cities in Brasil. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/destina...ies/index.html For reference, Brasil is nearly the same size as the contiguous United States. there is no 'quick juant' between host cities, or even other cities. You will want to commit serious time to driving/exploring/adventuring all over Brasil unless you want to fly between cities. On the plus side, those 12 cities are committing enormous resources and money to updating the infrastructure to/from airports, stadiums, hotels so that they may handle the huge influx of people. Of the $30 billion being used to upgrade facilities, roughly 2/3 of that will be embezzled, used for bribes and graft or just outright wasted, so $10 billion should go a long way!

What Cities? The south+southeast region of Brasil (Rio, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre) is the area I'm more familiar with, and it's part of the more populous part of the country, as well as the most developed. The Northeast part is a more rural area, with the exception of Salvador, Recife/Natal. Recifie is the birthplace of Brasilian Carnaval! (it's crazy there) one sport they have there is lighting homemade fireworks off that spin around on the ground, and then catching them by hand.

Where to stay? Brasil isn't cheap. Hotels during the world cup are going to be expensive, like Vancouver during the olympics. I don't have that kind of weight right now so I'm going to be staying in the cheapest places I can find. www.hostelworld.com/ has done well for me during my travels in Brasil. Many hostels are registered there and make an effort to maintain their reputation via accommodations, food, activities. Had great experiences with the Cabana Copa Hostel in Copa Cobana beach in Rio! Awesome place!

Tickets go on sale in August. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organis...ses/index.html I don't know how much they are, what teams play where, or how to even register. I'll look into it when information becomes available.