I came across various posts where people seem to have very few days to do what they need to in SA. I also didn't realise that so many people coming to SA, will actually be spending almost a month here. So purely out of interest i would like to see, especially from the regulars on this board.... How many matches in 10 days Timanfaya?
Five or six. Apart from that I'm planning to have a bit of a look round Pretoria (art gallery, museum, that sort of thing) and maybe Joburg, but that's about all, a relatively modest trip. Initially I was planning to go to Cape Town for a few days afterwards, but with all the accommodation/transport hassle I gave up and sold my tickets back.
I'm here for only 7, going to 3 matches. I don't have the vacation time from work to take more and will be more than happy with this trip.
I don't know much about you, but attending 5-6 matches in 10 days seems rather a lot. If it was my trip, i would have probably not gone for more than 3...unless they're mostly at the same stadiums. But thats just a personal thing. It's a pity you couldn't have bought less tickets, and stayed longer with that money.
Well, they are at the same stadiums, which is one of the main reasons I'm coming to Pretoria. But anyway, if it was your trip, you wouldn't go to a football tournament at all, would you?!!
June 18th - July 4th - 17 days, 7 host cities, 9 matches. Gutted that I cant fulfill my earlier commitment of 15 matches due to work
Not true. I wanted to go to england, soccer being one of the main interests. As well as wimbledon. It would not however outweigh my travel interests to see a country. But that's just me...
Landing on 11 June and leaving on 13 July (33 days), following England all the way. It's all or nothing for me, I couldn't just go for 2 weeks, I would feel like I'm missing out, but if that's enough to float your boat.
Maybe we'll see each other around? We're arriving on 11th and likely to be departing on 27th. But having said that, we do have England TST 7's so may stay longer, depending on whether we like it or not!!!
mmm.... I need to reflect on this a bit more, but my immediate view is that I am only coming for the football! The world is a big place and I love to travel but if it weren't for the football I would be going to somewhere were I could sample a different culture, with great scenary, food, animals etc etc without the apparent risks of mugging, murder, car jacking, not using public transport, not driving at night, lack of transport infrastructure, inflated prices, winter weather, not being able to walk around on my own and all the other reasons mentioned that seem to give us all good reason to be terrified!!
I only have a TST-6 and am 99% sure I have a ticket lined up for the final, just won't believe it till it's in my hand. If you're leaving early you should be able the sell the remainder of your TST-7 tickets for a tidy profit. If England don't qualify I will still do the three games up north, but will try and sell the SF ticket for Cape Town as I don't fancy a second long trek down there if England aren't involved. If they drop out at a later stage it will depend on our route and at what stage we are at as to what matches I go to, but I will still go to the final regardless.
OK, that's my mistake then. I thought you said you weren't keen on going to live football, but that must have been someone else, sorry!
No, that was me. It's just that going to another country, experiencing anything foreign will just be so exciting and be different than doing it at home. Even drinking a cup of tea in a foreign country can be unique and fun cause you're excited being on tour. English football to me especially has an attraction to me to see it live. It's just that ive experienced live rugby matches here in SA as well as some football, and i just preferred it on tv cause of replays and so forth. It could be that i had bad seats everytime i went. Now because ive experienced english football only on tv so much, i think i'd love to experience that, especially with their intimate stadium setups. But I'm not our hardcore "experience it live in the stadium" type of guy...
Talking about safety measures creates fear. But one cannot ignore talking about it either. Just comfort yourself that many people live in this country by choice, including me...and there are reasons for that - the crime is often blown out of proportion...There is enough in this country to love, to not have one single fear of knowing you are here for good reason. As for only coming for the football vs seeing SA: My advice for you is to take it as it comes. Go to the first few games as planned...but if you get invited elsewhere, or have the urge to see some places instead of going to all the scheduled matches, be open to it. Football will always be there. Your chances of coming to SA, maybe never again. Support your own country as a priority, and consider seeing SA, instead of going to matches which may not interest you as much if you had to reflect on it. Just my honest opinion and advise....
12 days! ...11 full days and one evening, technically. We're staying just outside of Johannesburg for the full trip so as to not spend any additional time traveling and more time watching matches (we have tickets to eight - in Johannesburg and Rustenburg) and doing touristy things.
11 days: June 16 (early morning) until June 26 (evening) Could have made it longer but I'm staying in Gabon for a couple of days (June 13 - June 16) before instead. Going to seven matches as it is though (that was all FIFA would let me get! ) I think this is opposite though. I could go to South Africa any other time for probably 1/4 of the cost of this trip but the World Cup is only once every 4 years. If someone misses it now they have to wait until 2014 to try again! If you don't go see some stuff in South Africa you can go back in October or something and check it out if you really wanted to see it.