When the Cheshire emerges...

I've only briefly mentioned on here that I will be at the World Cup next year, but with things moving quickly a lot has happened and my planned trip is really coming together.

With the help of my wonderful travel agent in Sydney, I first tried to figure out if the Fanatics option was cheapest/the best. After deciding yes and getting frantic about the Rio de Janiero start of the tour selling out, I still managed to get on the Sao Paulo start. I'm really happy about that now because there'll be less people to start with, and we're taking in the atmosphere of opening night in the host city.

So who else has been screwed over by the Aerolineas Argentinas pull-out? Was only told today my #Brazil2014 #WorldCup flight was cancelled.
— Katina V (@Katiinkaa) November 13, 2013

To get to Rio I had booked a G Adventures tour starting in Buenos Aires, and found some really cheap fares from Sydney there with Aerolineas Argentinas. Soon before moving from Dubbo I get a call telling me they were pulling out of all Australia flights effective April. So I had to rebook flights wtih another airline, stopping in Auckland and Santiago before Buenos Aires. On top of that, with the move to Darwin I now need a domestic connection and because of the bad flight time I cut a day of South America time to accommodate that. On the plus side, I'm now in Santiago for the last two days of my trip so I'm taking in four countries (Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile).

Aaaaaand so the waiting for tickets begins... #WorldCup #Brazil2014 #ihopeijustgetticketsalready pic.twitter.com/RCBVPcQkri
— Katina V (@Katiinkaa) November 11, 2013

Tickets to the games came to me much more successfully than I'd imagined, so for that I'm grateful. On visiting my agent in Sydney, I was told there was a first in, first served sale different to the major ballots. Finding myself in an internet cafe at 10.30pm, I'm surrounded by a ticket seller and his assistants who are struggling to get good tickets - for anything. After I realise the most effective way to refresh for any updates (a process in itself), a Category 1 3-game ticket comes up. Winning.

It's done. @Socceroos #WorldCup group stage tickets BOUGHT #Brazil2014 #excellent #bloodyexcited
— Katina V (@Katiinkaa) November 11, 2013

The next day I stupidly didn't buy a pair of hiking shoes that were probably worth forking out a bit for, and since then I've managed to book a two-week Peru tour and at least get cheap hiking pants. The real adventurer begins to come out...

After a rush to try and figure out whether internal flights to two of the Socceroos games were cheaper to DIY I just went with the Fanatics package (although their flights were crazy for being chartered, they weren't all that much dearer, and at least they're direct). It then comes to today and the reason I wanted to write on this.

I received notice that an updated itinerary for the Fanatics World Cup 2014 trip has been put on their website. I knew from the beginning I would be in Brazil as one of those crazies in the green and gold. But on reading the itinerary, I got goosebumps. And watery in the eyes.

Seriously. I didn't think I'd be so emotional about it. But it's only five months away...



Maybe I can be that girl in Brazil somewhere... Photo: smh.com.au