Sam's Army & American Outlaws - Your Experience With Their WC Packages

So if you had it to do all over again would you have gone?

 

I still have both kidneys so yes. Without hesitation.

 

Chronicles of the 14 people bumped in Houston who created the twitter handle AOmazing Race:

https://twitter.com/AOmazingRace

 

Ouch. This is pretty brutal.

http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014...cup-stadium-thats-impossible-to-find-or-leave

 

The title of that article is completely misleading. Of all the cities I've been to in brazil, six so far, Manaus embraced the World Cup better than any other.

Don't create a misleading title to blame Brazil or Manaus for AO and tendot's failures.

 

My room at the sleep inn was great.

 

Maybe people on the AO trip will learn to do some internet research and schedule their own trips from now on as opposed to letting "professionals" handle it.

 

Well you're a lucky bastard

 

my room at the hotel brazil was laughably bad.

Do I care? Not one bit

 

I really hope they lose all 500+ customers (and then some...) Greedy bastards!!!

 

Travel snafus happen, regardless of tendot or not. We had a few ourselves this trip. But the big issue i saw, with feet firmly back in the USA, was that they stationed themselves in Natal. The shittiest of all the cities i visited on the trip.

 

That was the part that made the least sense to me. Why'd you'd want to be in the same (boring) town for two weeks during the World Cup. Sure you could go somewhere else at extra cost, but since you already dropped 5.5k it's kinda tough.

 

Lol, did you go to Recife where every road in the city was shut down?

 

Ha. Yep i did, and recife is a good town. Hundred times better than Natal. Upscale nightlife, great beach, nice fan zone, good old town area, etc Couple roads definitely underwater but not every road in the city being shut down. But i hear ya.

 

Natal was easily my favorite of the three cities that the US played in. Did you go to Ponta Negra or Pipa?

 

Stayed in Ponta Negra. I dont mean to be too harsh on Natal. On the positive side it was by far the best pregame AO party and march. Hands down a great time.

 

Manaus was cool just for the sheer oddity factor of it being this Wild West town in the middle of nowhere completely removed from the rest of the country. In the end despite all the headaches it caused me (and other actual ailments ) I'm glad we got a game there. Going out on a skiff on the river and creeping through the jungle is something I'll never forget.

Natal was just boring. It was a nice enough town but there really wasn't anything cool to do besides hang by the beach. Maybe it's just me but if I want to sit on the beach I'll take a much cheaper vacation to Puerto Rico.

Recife was fine enough. Olinda had some charm and the Boa Viagem beach was good for a stroll. I think if I had more than one day there I'd be bored pretty quick though.

I'd have gladly traded Natal and Recife for Salvador and Belo Horizonte or Porto Alegre in terms of tourist interest.

 

Heard that the AO travelers had to kick in an extra $600, in addition to the original $5,400. Also heard that the SA package cost $7,500, which did not include flights to/from Brazil or game tickets. How much were the USSF packages?

 

I don't think the USSF offered a package other than their 40k$ VIP offer that I heard about.

I don't believe AO ended up charging the extra surcharge, from what people told me.

 

That's a ridiculous amount. More proof of how elitist USSF is out of touch with the regular fans.

Glad to hear it. Saw them at the Natal Airport, where everyone seemed in good spirits, during their inevitable wait for the charter planes to arrive for the trip home.
Did see Stefan from Chicago, the bus-organizing hero of South Africa, both in Natal & Recife.
It's amazing that people such as him & the AOs have to personally organize transportation. Guess it's too much of USSF to coordinate something reasonably priced. Looked like the African fans had better support.

 

The VIP package was basically traveling with the team, so it wasn't like a regular travel package.

I don't even know what Sam's Army is thinking anymore, but the few members still hanging around generally plan their own stuff.

 

My point, exactly. Why not something for the 10,000 fans who want to follow the team, not ride along with them?

Heard there were 40 or 50 travelling with Spaccone's brother.

 

Honestly, I think they did a good job.

Planning a travel package for 10,000 people is impossible. The parties they hosted and their assistance in getting tickets during the knockouts have been a true step up in their organization for past years. You can see the growth of the organization for fans in the past four years. Truth is the best way to plan a trip to Brazil was to do it on your own.

 

We'll have to disagree on that.
Still, the alternative should not be to offer nothing.

I've never had problems getting tickets for the Second Round on my own.

I've always done that, because it has been half the price of a package. I'd just like to see someone offer a reasonably priced group rate, even if it was only for 1,000 people.

 

Only 1000 is a lot. AO's package was already unwieldy at 500. One of the major issues AO ran into was our schedule put us in small locales without adequate hotel coverage. This problem is going to be even more pronounced in Russia, where outside of St. Petersburg and Moscow there are not more than two or three quality hotels in a city.