Scorpio Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 This string is for those planning and/or considering heading down to South Africa for the games Friday, June 11 - Sunday, July 11, 2010. Topics include: logictics (transportaion, accomodation etc) meet ups and events, tourist attractions/things to do, and of course tickets. Lets get it started.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 As of now, my buddy and I have 8 games and we're looking at being down there June 27 - July 12. Essentially, we're looking at being down there for the 'Round of 16' stage until the Final. No flights or accomodations booked yet, but picked up my lonely planet guide for South Africa this afternoon to give me some pointers on what to do and see. Did a check for flights on expedia and it looks like the costs will be around $3,000 from Toronto. South African Airlines came up as being already "sold out" and Emirates has some "FIFA Package" requirement as they are a lead sponsor of the event. Looks like one of the European carriers will be my likely choice. I'll probably be flying into and out of Joburg as I have tickets for games there on June 27th and the final is also being played there. Considering renting a car and driving along the coast, and/or if looking at "Air Passes" as I used througout Germany. Anyhow, thought I would kick this off and see where it goes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Yeah, I got tickets for 4 matches (2 group-stage, R16 and QF) all in Cape Town. Planning to be in Africa from 19 June to 19 July (staying one week after the WC final to go on a safari). Looking for accomodation has been a major pain in the ar$e! FIFA MATCH Services has bought-out most hotels, apts and B&B's and will only make them available at a later date. This is going to be a very expensive trip on top of that. Safaris are also VERY expensive too. I think you can definitely fly there for less than $3000 though. From New York it was about $1750 (US) so at worse you can fly Porter Air from Toronto to New York or Boston and would only pay about $300 more than that. And that's to Cape Town. Jo'burg would probably cost less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Med_Hat_FC Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I have tickets to follow the Netherlands in the group stage and round of 16. I've looked at accomodations in the Johannesburg area, but some of them are not taking bookings yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soro17 Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 ^ It really depends on your level of patience and how many stops you want to make . You can do it on the cheap. For example, if you can get a cheap flight to Frankfurt, you can hop on a cheap Condor Air flight to Kenya and then hop on a cheap Kenya Air / South African Airways flight from Kenya to Joburg or Capetown. I faced a similar challenge in getting to Mauritius last year and made it for under C$1200. Good luck. Most of the usual search engines (Expedia, Kayak etc.) don't include the European discount airlines, many of which now fly to Africa. You might want to try browsing around on Easyjet, Ryanair, Condor and some of the better African airlines (South African Airways, Kenya Air, Egypt Air) which fly into SA and hook up with European discount airline hubs. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Yeah, but South African Airways have inflated their fares during the World Cup as has EgyptAir. Maybe they'll come back down though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 How did all of you guys get your tickets? Through the draw sales phase or through other venues? After doing both Germany and Austria/Switzerland, I think I'm going to sit this one out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 Great to hear others are making the trek down. My first round of 16 game is in Joburg which is why i'll probably fly into there and then the final is there as well, and thus i thought i'd fly out of there as well. I'll be hitting Joburg, Cape Town, & Durban for sure as I have game tickets there, but wouldn't mind checking out a few other places, depending on time and stuff. Was thinking of renting a car and driving the scenic coast, and I too am looking into safaris, so please keep me posted. There are some no-frills airlines that fly within South Africa, which I may consider for travel within the country. I'll re-look at getting down there as I like some of the ideas posted. As for the tickets, I got the tickets via the FIFA lottery and actually have 1 group stage game, 4 round of 16 games, and 2 quarter finals and 1 semi for a total of 8 games. The problem is I have a couple games playing on the same date in different cities, and I won't be down for the group stage either. I'm looking at swaping those tickets for the other semi and/or the final. (yeah I know good luck, but it worked out okay in Germany and Japan so why not give it a shot) Regarding accomodation - that seems to be very difficult at the moment. There is a block/hold on reservations all over at the moment. I'm guessing they are waiting for confirmations of the Fifa packages before releasing any rooms. This is all good stuff, keep er coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 It might be difficult to swap or sell tickets though since we have to pick-up our tickets in South Africa. Or is there some other way? Yeah, I got my tickets in the lottery too which was held in March. It was pretty easy to get tickets compared to, say, Euro 2008. Demand must not be that high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Were you guys not given the option of following a certain team like in the German lottery, or will it just be completely luck as to what teams you end up with depending on location and dates? If so, that sucks big time. I would assume, amacpher, that you would prefer to follow the USA. Are there any options to change, and will they have a later lottery once the teams and matches are set for the Groups? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 For those interested, here is the FIFA FAQ on ticket sales: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/faq.html I guess the sales phases are the only options unless you are an offical poohbah. I see that team specific tickets were/are available at each phase, but I assume that scorpio and amacpher only got match specific tickets. The ytrouble with team specific is that if your team fails to qualify, you still have to pay a huge deposit anyway. I admire your bravery, though some may call it foolhardiness. Why do I have the feeling with all the lack of hotel rooms, the weather problems, the transport problems, the crime, and the whole administrative chaos that this may end up being the clusterf*ck to end all clusterf*cks ?? I am going to wait until the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, that will be an adventure enough for me. I will have some training with the 2011 Cope America here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 quote:Originally posted by beachesl Were you guys not given the option of following a certain team like in the German lottery, or will it just be completely luck as to what teams you end up with depending on location and dates? If so, that sucks big time. I would assume, amacpher, that you would prefer to follow the USA. Are there any options to change, and will they have a later lottery once the teams and matches are set for the Groups? Yes, it was the same format as for Germany I believe. We had the choice between seeing a specific team or knowing the date/location. I chose the latter because I'd rather just see a random selection of teams than the same team over and over. But once you make that decision I don't think you can change it later. What weather problems are you anticipating? AFAIK, it is the dry season in the North and East (where most of the matches are played). I heard that the weather can get crazy in Cape Town that time of year, but the stadium has a retractable roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 Got an update - Dropped by the Flight Centre by my office earlier today and all the prices quoted via US were just under $2k CDN and via Europe were slightly over $2k. This seems a heck of a lot more reasonable. Alot of the South African Airlines flights are full so, it looks like I'll be flying another carrier. As for my tickets yeah, I selected certain games regardless of the teams playing. I prefer to be there for the last 2 weeks of competition just because its more exciting. As for transfering my tickets, I could do the FIFA route, but more likely swap with someone else. It says we have to pick up the tickets there however, there are are legitimate ways around it. I find as long as you work within the system, you usually get ahead. As for there being chaos, I don't think it will be as bad as the rumours going around. Just look at all the negative (world media) Van - Olympics are getting. - Put CNN or BBC on and see if Canada will be ready to provide proper security for the tourists and athletes, and the road to Whistler won't have another rock slide or if they are prepared for a swine flu outbreak. (Remember the hestaria Toronto got about SARS?) BBC is running a current special about the Aftershock of the economic meltdown and how it has impacted everywhere. They actually referenced how the Vancouver Athletes village ran out of money and the City has stepped to complete the housing. To date, the project isn't completed and BBC is saying that it may be a legacy of the financial crisis and the athletes may have to sleep on cruisliners. - That make any sense to you? I'm just saying that its not always as bad as what you hear. As for the logistics, I'm heading to the Vancouver games as well and trying to reserve a reasonably priced hotel room in Vancouver for the last week of February if next to impossible. If anyone can do it for me, please do and i'll wire you the money. So South Africa will be like the rest of the places that hosted major events. Hey, the one thing I recall in Germany was the excessive heat wave at the same time of the games. And the lack of Air Conditioning in the stores, hotels, bars/restaurants and etc. Who would have thought that a developed nation like Germany didn't have this infrastructure. You'd think with their know-how they would have cost effective systems in place for this world wide event. I'm too looking forward to Brazil in 2014, and I'm sure they'll have their issues. Who knows what the skeptics will say about all the shanty towns and Favellas, or their poverty stricken folks will rob your pocket without you even realizing it or we'll have to sleep in the rainforest with anacondas. Anyhow, if I could take everyone here with me to South Africa I would. It's definitely gonna be an awesome time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 Got an update - Dropped by the Flight Centre by my office earlier today and all the prices quoted via US were just under $2k CDN and via Europe were slightly over $2k. This seems a heck of a lot more reasonable. Alot of the South African Airlines flights are full so, it looks like I'll be flying another carrier. As for my tickets yeah, I selected certain games regardless of the teams playing. I prefer to be there for the last 2 weeks of competition just because its more exciting. As for transfering my tickets, I could do the FIFA route, but more likely swap with someone else. It says we have to pick up the tickets there however, there are are legitimate ways around it. I find as long as you work within the system, you usually get ahead. As for there being chaos, I don't think it will be as bad as the rumours going around. Just look at all the negative (world media) Van - Olympics are getting. - Put CNN or BBC on and see if Canada will be ready to provide proper security for the tourists and athletes, and the road to Whistler won't have another rock slide or if they are prepared for a swine flu outbreak. (Remember the hestaria Toronto got about SARS?) BBC is running a current special about the Aftershock of the economic meltdown and how it has impacted everywhere. They actually referenced how the Vancouver Athletes village ran out of money and the City has stepped to complete the housing. To date, the project isn't completed and BBC is saying that it may be a legacy of the financial crisis and the athletes may have to sleep on cruisliners. - That make any sense to you? I'm just saying that its not always as bad as what you hear. As for the logistics, I'm heading to the Vancouver games as well and trying to reserve a reasonably priced hotel room in Vancouver for the last week of February if next to impossible. If anyone can do it for me, please do and i'll wire you the money. So South Africa will be like the rest of the places that hosted major events. Hey, the one thing I recall in Germany was the excessive heat wave at the same time of the games. And the lack of Air Conditioning in the stores, hotels, bars/restaurants and etc. Who would have thought that a developed nation like Germany didn't have this infrastructure. You'd think with their know-how they would have cost effective systems in place for this world wide event. I'm too looking forward to Brazil in 2014, and I'm sure they'll have their issues. Who knows what the skeptics will say about all the shanty towns and Favellas, or their poverty stricken folks will rob your pocket without you even realizing it or we'll have to sleep in the rainforest with anacondas. Anyhow, if I could take everyone here with me to South Africa I would. It's definitely gonna be an awesome time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Scorpio, I agree that the press is usually moore negative about such situations then normal. As someone who lived in Colombia in the mid-90's, it's most difficult period since the early 50's, I agree that things are usually more positive than usually portrayed. I couched my comments in "may". The comments about the weather are because I have seen many forums (many from England) where fans discussing the scenario of arriving in South Africa where there will definitely be insufficeint hotel rooms for the expected visitors (there is really no debate about this, even the authorities in South Africa admit this) have talked about the possibility of camping as a backup. People from SA or knowedgeaqble about SA have responded by saying that , apart from security concerns about this, it will be frigging cold, often freezing (no snow, but frost in many places).But who knows wh coontingency plans the organizers of the WC or the government there may have made for the imminent overflow. Yes, I applaud you for going. Good on ya boys!!!If I had the time, the money and the opportunity to go, I would definitely go as well. I am as game as anyone for an adventure, but I would also take some precautions. In terms of places to stay, have you thought about couchsurfing or other visitor sites as a back-up? You may want to get some local contaacts through these or forums so at least you would know someone there. But make sure it is only after sustained contact , not last minute contact. In Argentina and other places, informal accomodation gotten over the net (such as homestays) have been used by hosts as an oportunity to rob (I have gotten firsthand accounts of this, not just stories passed on), and the only way to be sure is to have a sustained correspondence over thenet to know you are truly dealing with friends. I have travelled to Brazil and at least have a realistic idea of what is real and what is paranoa. It is great to wing it, but there has to be a measure of caution in any event. Yes, it will be an awesome time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 beachesl - good points and definitely things to consider and keep in the back of our minds. Will definitely be picking your brain when it comes to Brazil. I checkout out some safari packages at GAP Adventure. They are a bit pricey but going to look at contacting local South African operators myself to see if they are cheaper. There may be a draw back with the cheaper price, but at least i'll have something to compare. Is anyone planning on renting a car and driving point to point within the country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Well, I booked my flight from JFK to Cape Town. Not cheap at all ($1900) but it became clear to me that flight prices are only going to continue increasing from this point forward. Now comes the tough part: accomodation. Something that anyobdy with single-match tickets should book before the WC draw on December 4th. A glimmer of good news amid this mess. Mango airlines has announced that they will operate 24 hours during the tournament. I imagine other airlines that fly within South Africa will follow Mango's lead which could help keep prices reasonable. But that's just for internal flights. Expect to get screwed on the international flight to South Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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