Anybody going or thinking about going to Guadalajara for the Oly-Qualifying?

[beachesl]

I am considering coming up from Argentina for the whole tournament, March 20-April1. I have not seen anything about match ticket prices yet, but I suspect they will be cheap and easy to get, as it is my experience is that in latinamerica these kind of tournaments are poorly attended and tickets very reasonable. I was considering Japan in July-Aug, but the non-resident price for Olympic football match tickets for both women's and men's matches are too extortionately high. In Mexico, all the matches are in Guadalajara, a great , safe, cheap city, so there is no insane tornament travel involved, and you can OD on all 15 matches (the group matches double-headers) in a short period of time, while stil having free time to relax or do other stuff.

Looking for a long-overdue chance to see and support a Canadian side in a half-decent tournament, and have some fun, and would also like to hang-out and go to matches with some V's, though making friends with some fans of the other teams would be great too. If I go, I would probably visit the beachtown of Zihuatenajo for a week first to visit my sister and do the guitar festival. 

I started a new thread, as I did not want to interrupt the discussion on players and teams on the other Oly-Q thread.

Best to all, Dave😀

Edited February 18, 2020 by beachesl

[beachesl]

Well, decided against traveling to this due to possible travel disruption due to Covid-19 situation. Perhaps Gold Cup in 2021, or one of the WCQ's in Canada or the southlands.

[JuicyHam]

7 hours ago, beachesl said:

Well, decided against traveling to this due to possible travel disruption due to Covid-19 situation. Perhaps Gold Cup in 2021, or one of the WCQ's in Canada or the southlands.

I have the same feeling as well. Going to save up for a big away trip(or 2) in WCQ or a couple home games that are not in Toronto

[vancanman]

23 hours ago, beachesl said:

Well, decided against traveling to this due to possible travel disruption due to Covid-19 situation. Perhaps Gold Cup in 2021, or one of the WCQ's in Canada or the southlands.

Absolutely.  Stay safe.  The Olympics themselves probably aren't going to be happening.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

Booked my Air B&B in Guadalajara for the qualifiers, hope nothing happens in the meantime. Will have my voyageur scarves packed and ready to go. Anyone else going?  

[beachesl]

Good on you! 👍

If anyone else is going or considering going, some gratuitous advice- Fly DIRECT TO Mexico, and NOT through the USA. Apart from the usual pain in the u-no-wat of US aeroports, the stringent virus-testing aspects, especially coming from Mexico, could be very problematic, especially for a non-American.

The Mexican low-cost airline Interjet (well-run, I have used them a lot)  flys direct to Mexico City from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, with cheap connections to Guadalajara, especially with the great offers due to continuing emptying seats : 

https://www.interjet.com/en-us        (see recent deal for new Vancouver: route: https://vo.mydplr.com/18c2b4669472e2b34560d527958d6c09-87618d6a33b151e5473194cf6f2a1786  )

In addition, there are lots of Canadian charter flights (ie Westjet, Sunwing) to resorts like Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo (both only 4 to 5 hours to Guadalajara by comfortable buses, as well as cheap air connections), which now have have great deals for late March-early April, and probably there will be lots of last-minute seats opening up as families get cold-feet. Most package deals have options for flight-only.

Wish I could be braver, but travel to and from Argentina has exponentially greater complications.

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by beachesl
That city in Kebec is called Montreal

[MM3/MM2/MM]

All booked for Guadalajara, any advice on getting tickets?  The official site?  Stubhub?  At the Stadium?

[beachesl]

Stubhub (which seems to have the foreign sales) prices are outrageously high: 110 to 650 US dollars for a ticket to a double match: https://intl.stubhub.com/mens-olympic-qualifying-concacaf-2-day-pass-tickets/ev1304769?afl=1Q606O8YRW&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=104517345&utm_source=sh-com

Ticketmaster Mexico is selling the same ticket for only 5% of the cost: https://www.ticketmaster.com.mx/preolimpico-concacaf-2020-usa-crc-1700hrs-mex-dom-1930hrs-guadalajara-20-03-2020/event/1400576BA563589A

Better yet, wait until you get there, and buy at the walk-up, where it will be a lot cheaper. There will not be sell-outs, except maybe for the Mexico matches (tho I doubt it- these types of youth events are just not popular in latinamerica ). Nowhere near even the Ticketmaster Mexico prices, in my experience, from my long experience in going to tournaments from throughout Mexico, Africa and Asia. I know that may make you nervous, but hold your nerves. Also, if the games are suspended or spectators are banned, you will not be holding useless tickets.

Mexican pesos are 21.2 to 1 US dollar.

In traveling to Latin America, as with most of the world, it is always better to buy US dollars in Canada, and then exchange them for pesos in Mexico, even with the "double exchange". The Canadian dollar and most other currencies have a huge buy/sell spread, and greenbacks are king in places like Latin America