Post: #101

Also applied for the random selection tickets, but in Brasilia. Got the thumbs down.

Trying for the first-come-first-serve at the moment. The window started 25 mins ago, now waiting in an "online queue".
Might be sitting here for a while...

Post: #102

Got 'em!
Three opening round matches in Brasilia, June 15/19/26. Staying in Goiania. Will get to know that 2 hr bus route quite well.
First trip to a World Cup. First trip to South America.

Appreciate all the previous posts/sheets on central Brazil, helped with the trip planning.

Post: #103

I applied for everything and the venue-specific for Rio and didn't get nothing....

Any alternatives? Will they still have tickets for Rio in the next phase you think?

Post: #104

I didn't even realize today was the start of first come first serve until I saw the post above. Just checked the FIFA site and everything is sold out unless you are in a wheelchair or obese (wish I was joking).

Fuck.

Post: #105

(11-11-2013 04:18 PM)kaka Wrote:  I applied for everything and the venue-specific for Rio and didn't get nothing....

Any alternatives? Will they still have tickets for Rio in the next phase you think?

Dec 6 they hold the final draw for all 32 teams' game times and locations.
Dec 8 is the start of the next sales phase. Some tickets were kept off the market until then.
As that date gets closer, they will announce the actual start time of the sales, whether it is midnight, 8am, whatever. Get online before then. Keep watching fifa.com/tickets.

Tickets in Rio (Maracana) and Sao Paolo will be very, very difficult to come by, if not sold out already. Though the tickets I got today were initially unavailable, but popped up again a few minutes later, as other people added or dropped them from their shopping carts.
Good luck.

Post: #106

Any tips on how to find apartment rentals? Checked VRBO and there are none for Cuiaba. Looked on Airbnb and found a few, but none of the people I wrote to wrote back.

Is there some Brazil-specific website to try? I'd like to get accommodation locked down now before it all gets booked up.

Post: #107

(11-11-2013 07:52 PM)Barry Scrotada Wrote:  

(11-11-2013 04:18 PM)kaka Wrote:  I applied for everything and the venue-specific for Rio and didn't get nothing....

Any alternatives? Will they still have tickets for Rio in the next phase you think?

Dec 6 they hold the final draw for all 32 teams' game times and locations.
Dec 8 is the start of the next sales phase. Some tickets were kept off the market until then.
As that date gets closer, they will announce the actual start time of the sales, whether it is midnight, 8am, whatever. Get online before then. Keep watching fifa.com/tickets.

Tickets in Rio (Maracana) and Sao Paolo will be very, very difficult to come by, if not sold out already. Though the tickets I got today were initially unavailable, but popped up again a few minutes later, as other people added or dropped them from their shopping carts.
Good luck.

Thanks bro. I'm definitely aware of the ticket phases and their dates, but I guess I'm just concerned that there won't be any tickets left when those dates come around...what do you think?

Post: #108

There will be tickets still available for the Dec phase, even some crumbs left for the final phase that starts 14 Apr, but at this point in the game you gotta get your requests in early. We are talking first few minutes kind of thing. Even then not a guarantee.
It is encouraging that the country who has gotten the most total tickets after Brazil is USA (percentage wise is still pretty good at 17%). Some reports say that only around 1% of Argentine requests have been fulfilled, people calling foul on that.
Worst case scenario, with no tickets, the atmospheres nearby the stadiums or city centers should be electric anyway.

Post: #109

Also note there's a huge percentage (I believe around 30%) of tickets set aside as hospitality tickets. Basically, each sponsor gets a big block of tickets. When WC was in Germany in 2006, I got to see a game this way. My friend worked for the sponsor and they had some spare tickets free up days before the game in question (I still had to pay list price, but it was worth it).

So you may want to look up the list of sponsors and then shake your tree of contacts to see what comes up. I'm not sure how far in advance you'd be able to get them, so it may be difficult to plan though.

Post: #110

Do you think when you're on the ground in Brasil, you'll be able to get them?

Any experience for those who have gone to past world cups?

I'm just thinking worst-case-scenario is that I don't get the tickets through FIFA's bullshit draw system, then I can swoop some up on the ground in Rio.

Post: #111

From what it said in the site and the pdf it was clear that after the last drawing there was going to be a first come first serve throught the month the WC is going on and how there is going to be tickets being sold over there but I cant say I speak from experience..

By the way any fellow members having luck on finding a place to crash. Im 80% sure im going wether I get tickets or not. I was looking at a couple hostels here and there but since im on a tight budget and its my first travel out of the continent I wouldnt know what to expect(im in the US west coast)..

Most round trip flights and best offers I saw were around 1, 600 $ from the west coast to rio, wonder if you guys have seen better offers.

Also im going to be 20 years old by the time june comes around but also considering on meeting up with ppl from the forum that would be something and greatly appreciated since I would learn alot from anyone here.

Post: #112

(11-26-2013 04:33 AM)OMYG Wrote:  By the way any fellow members having luck on finding a place to crash. Im 80% sure im going wether I get tickets or not. I was looking at a couple hostels here and there but since im on a tight budget and its my first travel out of the continent I wouldnt know what to expect(im in the US west coast)..

This is what I'm up against right now with my buddies. We're headed to Cuiaba, and since it's a smaller city, there's just not much tourist infrastructure in place. Slim pickings on airbnb, and the handful of hotels are all sold out (we'd prefer a rental apartment anyway). At this point, I'm trying to find some uni student there and pay them a bit of cash to do the legwork of locking down an apartment for us, and being in general a "handler" while we're there (find out the good places, get us into clubs, etc). Not even sure where to start looking though.

Post: #113

I almost feel like the World Cup will be a cluster fuck and probably a bad time to visit brazil. I get that from many people familiar with brazil that go for carnaval. Either way though it should still be fun.

Post: #114

(11-26-2013 02:24 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  I almost feel like the World Cup will be a cluster fuck and probably a bad time to visit brazil. I get that from many people familiar with brazil that go for carnaval. Either way though it should still be fun.

I was in Rio for Carnaval many years back and had a great time. I was with a good crew of friends, and basically the entire city is out on the town for such an event. Yeah it was crowded and wild, but fun too.

Post: #115

@paninaro
Yea Im starting to get better understanding on how its going to be like now, but like every tourist and first time traveler I wanted to hit the big city and hopefully catch a game at the maracana but with the rates they set that may seem a little far fetched especially for someone like me.

Btw if you happen to hear of any get more updates just let me know or pm me, it would be worthy to game or meet up with someone from the forum here especially since you tested the waters in brazil and know how its all laid out.

Also peeps Dec 8 FIFA starts taking in applications for more match tickets, dont forget!

Post: #116

Just locked down an place in Rio. I would be interested in meeting up with people in the forum to go out on the town with. I'll be there for the entire month

Post: #117

@kaka
Would you mind to share a little more info on the place you locked down? Is it a hostel an apartment and how are the rates, Ive had no luck and I plan to be there for 2 weeks or so depending if I get match tickets or not.

Post: #118

The team/group draw was Friday, here are the results:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/18668...zil/page/2

The US ended up in the "group of death" with stiff competition.

Back to accommodation. Still haven't had luck finding a place in Cuiaba. I think the tourist infrastructure there just isn't that built out, and also this is a city of only 500k people. I've now contacted some travel agents in the US who specialize in Brazil to see what they can do. We're looking for a rental apartment, which I think will take more legwork (nothing good on AirBnb).

Related to that, some of the travel agents were already offering WC packages, and for hotels in Rio during WC, the cheapest I saw was $1k/night (!) though I think that agent was only offering 4-star and above options.

I think the bottom line is lock down your plans as early as possible while there is still inventory out there.

Post: #119

google city name + imobiliária , imobiliária means realtor. then go to some realtor sites and ask them, you can also search city name + alguel temporada, temporada is the term used for short term rents and tend to be expensive

beware that there are many scumbags in that market over here, so be always careful

(11-11-2013 10:56 PM)paninaro Wrote:  Any tips on how to find apartment rentals? Checked VRBO and there are none for Cuiaba. Looked on Airbnb and found a few, but none of the people I wrote to wrote back.

Is there some Brazil-specific website to try? I'd like to get accommodation locked down now before it all gets booked up.

Post: #120

Thought I'd post some updates in case it's of help to others. I've been scouring various travel, soccer, and Brazil forums for advice.

The rental apartment market is just starting to get off the ground. Some of the host cities are now setting up websites where people can list their places for rent. I've heard this will really pick up only after February (i.e. after Carnaval), so it may be best to wait things out.

Domestic (within Brazil) airfares surged right after the match draws in early December, but have come down to a more normal price. I think this was a mix of speculation and also the airlines adding more flights.

Hotel inventory in many WC cities is sort of being controlled by FIFA. A lot of hotels are only available via the FIFA website -- if you look on Travelocity, etc they will show as no rooms available.

Another suggestion I've seen is that some people think the hype will die down a few weeks before the WC starts. Right now, people are setting sky-high prices to see if there are any takers, but as the event approaches, they'll see few are really willing to pay that much, and will lower prices just to get anyone in there. I can understand if the game involves some major teams, but are fans really going to pay $400/night for a room, so they can travel to Recife to see the Ivory Coast vs Japan game?

Despite all this, I think it will be a really fun event. They're setting up fan zones in each host city, which are big outdoor parks full of screens, along with vendors and (of course) security. I think it will be one big party, especially since it's Brazil. I also don't think it will be that overrun with tourists, especially in the secondary cities. My guess is those matches will be at least 50% locals (Brazilians) based on the ticket sales data I've read, and so having 20,000 non-Brazilian fans in a city of 2 million isn't going to result in the place being overrun.

Post: #121

(12-31-2013 12:05 AM)paninaro Wrote:  Another suggestion I've seen is that some people think the hype will die down a few weeks before the WC starts. Right now, people are setting sky-high prices to see if there are any takers, but as the event approaches, they'll see few are really willing to pay that much, and will lower prices just to get anyone in there. I can understand if the game involves some major teams, but are fans really going to pay $400/night for a room, so they can travel to Recife to see the Ivory Coast vs Japan game?

I agree, and actually was going to post something exactly along those lines.

Asking prices are the moment are extremely high. But only those who absolutely need a reservation are forced to be in the market right now.

The alternative is to wait until close to the event and come in with a strong bargaining position. In Latin America there's often very little correlation between asking price and value received.

This strategy is more for the independent traveler willing to make rapid changes of plans. An inexpensive deal might involve staying in a love motel for a few nights, or in someone's spare room. There will surely be options available at any price point.

Belo Horizonte looks like a good choice of city. Top Latin teams Argentina and Colombia feature in the group stages, as well as England. In the round of 16, you're most likely to get Brazil vs either Netherlands or Spain.

Also, BH is only a six hour bus ride from Rio and there is very little rain in June.

Post: #122

(12-08-2013 03:12 PM)OMYG Wrote:  @kaka
Would you mind to share a little more info on the place you locked down? Is it a hostel an apartment and how are the rates, Ive had no luck and I plan to be there for 2 weeks or so depending if I get match tickets or not.

My bad for the late reply, but I managed to lock down an apartment using airbnb.

Yes, 90% of the host there are overcharging, but through persistence and belief, I was able to find a nice host who was willing to rent their apartment for the full month on a reasonable price.

Many were charging around $8,000 starting for a 2 bedroom but I managed to find mine for about half that price about 10-15mins away from Ipanema beach. 2bdr apartments in Copa, Leblon, and Ipa are going for $10k+ and many for flat out burgarly around $20k. I flat out told those host it was stupid, in a more generous economically-themed message, of course.

I've also rented a car through expedia (to make sure I get proper insurance in case something happens down there).
My host was offering there car, but I figured I'd rather be safe with having a rental than theirs.

Post: #123

hey I live in Rio, gonna be around the city for the world cup obviously so I guess any cool company we can find is gonna be fun. Let's keep in touch for the month and we can visit some cool night and venues.

(01-01-2014 08:09 PM)kaka Wrote:  

(12-08-2013 03:12 PM)OMYG Wrote:  @kaka
Would you mind to share a little more info on the place you locked down? Is it a hostel an apartment and how are the rates, Ive had no luck and I plan to be there for 2 weeks or so depending if I get match tickets or not.

My bad for the late reply, but I managed to lock down an apartment using airbnb.

Yes, 90% of the host there are overcharging, but through persistence and belief, I was able to find a nice host who was willing to rent their apartment for the full month on a reasonable price.

Many were charging around $8,000 starting for a 2 bedroom but I managed to find mine for about half that price about 10-15mins away from Ipanema beach. 2bdr apartments in Copa, Leblon, and Ipa are going for $10k+ and many for flat out burgarly around $20k. I flat out told those host it was stupid, in a more generous economically-themed message, of course.

I've also rented a car through expedia (to make sure I get proper insurance in case something happens down there).
My host was offering there car, but I figured I'd rather be safe with having a rental than theirs.

Post: #124

Cool World Cup Ad released this past Dezembro -

Post: #125

Just a heads up to all of you guys going to Brasil this coming June/July:
Had a very interesting conversation with a Brasilian friend of mine living in Rio. I asked him if we are going to see manifestations like we did during the Confed Cup throughout Brasil and the guy said it's going to be even bigger and more aggressive, more pronounced as the Brasilian people are sick of this WC. Instead of helping build the infrastructures of the country to really benefit the citizens of the country, they are throwing billions in stadiums that after the WC is over, won't be used at all. This is causing a lot anger there. I totally sympathize with them!

I also remember while watching the protests on TV Globo last June, that one of the recurring slogans used throughout Brasil was "A genre se ve durante a Copa". (Meaning, See you guys during the WC, a direct message to all the protestors to do it even bigger and more aggressively as the stage of a WC is the perfect global platform to make themselves heard.

Keep that in mind guys. It can and will be hairy, even dangerous at times if you are there during one of these protests. If you are there in a city and there are protests going on, stay the hell away from them! These people are protesting for a good reason and they are angry and won't care nor mind about robbing, beating up or worst, killing a few gringos along the way.

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up of what's to expect there.