I've never been to a WC but would like to add it to my bucket list. One thing that's always been on my mind though is, just how much money would it cost? So, if any of you who have been before or are there right now, wouldn't mind sharing some ballpark figures, it would be much appreciated. I like the idea of going to the next one in Brazil. I'd better open up a high interest savings account now. LOL
For starters, it depends a lot what you are planning to do. How long will you be out there, how much travelling, how many games (are you following a team?), how fussy you are about accommodation...
If you read his statement he would like an idea. So an example of what did you do, and the costs of certain things in maybe a list. I would like to know too.
These are rough estimates of what I've spent. And yes you can make certain parts of this cheaper, or do things differently, but this is how our trip has gone. We're here for 10 days. All prices in USD. Airfare - $2600 per person (roundtrip from Salt Lake City -> Johannesburg) Accommodation - ~$125 per person per night (for a private apartment in secure area) 8 games - 4 Group Stage 4 R16 games - ~$150 per person, per game Rental Car - $60 / day We haven't spent much on food here, maybe $25/day since we usually make breakfast for ourselves, grab something small for lunch, and then have a snack + hot dog / sandwich for dinner at the stadium. Having your own apartment with kitchen to make your own meals saves quite a bit of money. Probably all together if you include little tours and things we've done, about 6 grand per person. The biggest single expense is airfare, then accommodation. We spent a few hundred more on our airfare to have just 1 layover each way, and we spent a little more money to have our own apartment with kitchen in a decent area. These are definitely areas you could save on if planning your own trip. I hope this is helpful.
Brilliant summary. Seems very doable considering I have 4 years to save. Actually, I assumed it would be at the very least double digits in the k's. I figure if we can pull off a wedding next year, then the WC ought to be no problem. She gets the big showdown, and I get to go to one. LOL Anyone else.
That's the same for me - The big ones were flight and accommodation. You can do everything really comfortably if you can find a way to put away 150 each month for the trip. That'll be 7,200 after 4 years. Obviously, you can put away more or less depending on what you want to do while there or depending on the type of accommodation you are looking for
So how does Ticket allocoation go for the knockout stages if you're following a particular team. Do you buy in advanced and hope for the best; scalp em if you're team is out and no longer share any interest. Or do you have to wait for each round and get tickets last minute? The semi's and the final must cost an arm and a leg. An entire tournemant could easily run you 20,000 it seems.
You do a Team Specific Ticket Series otherwise known as a TST. What is a Team Specific Ticket Series (TST)? These are ticket strips to follow the national team of your choice. ... Read more here: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/faq.html
"hello, I'd like to purchase a TST7 please" "Certainly sir, that would roughly cost you............Your car, Your house and i'm sorry to tell you that we'd have to take the LCD/surround sound as well" I can only imagine how much of them cost.
No need to imagine. The prices are on FIFA's website: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/pricesandmatches.html The most expensive, a Category 1 TST-7 is $2728 USD If you're willing to go down to a Category 2 TST-7, then it's $1881 Remember, you get to see 7 games (including the final) regardless of how your team does, so it's really not an awful deal.
Or if you are skint and want to see lots of games regardless of where you sit ask a local to buy Cat 4's for you.
Thank you. Being an England fan, I'm glad I didn't go this year. Of all teams to have to follow from the 1/4's on. LOL. Nothing against Germany at all, but it would be a bit odd following them to the final. So as has been stated, I suppose the main concern is flight and accommodations. Would love to get some more reviews from other fans who have attended.
I went from June 16 - 26 starting with South Africa-Uruguay up until the end of the group stage with Spain-Chile, including 2 USA games. Went to 4 games in Pretoria and 3 in Johannesburg. Flight was ~$2100 (DTW-JNB with a couple layovers). The 7 group stage matches, all CAT-3, were $80 each (= $560, actually a little more because of an "international fee" since the charge came from Switzerland). My B&B was ~$38 a night [R280] (so my ten nights = $380) and it provided breakfast (so I didn't have to spend money on that). I only stayed in one area though (Pretoria/Johannesburg) and I walked most places to avoid having to pay for transportation, although I did end up paying ~$80 round trip a couple of times to get to/from Johannesburg/Pretoria on a few occasions. Bought a vuvuzela, a couple flags, a South Africa jersey, and a few small souvenirs; also paid to go do a handful of tourist stuff like see a couple museums, the national zoo, a city tour via bus, the fanfest in Hatfield, a wine tasting thing, etc. My total trip was ~$3500.
Sounds like it was a great experience. Definitely value for the dollar. How did you manage to find accommodation at such a reasonable price? That's a big difference compared to one of the replies above. Just searched, or via some sort of membership/connection?
yep I bought a North Korea one as it was one of the few left originally and now I am watching all Brazil's games !
I was in SA from the 10th-29th and spent about $4750 on everything. Flight - Milwaukee-NYC-Dubai-JNB $1800 Tickets to 7 mathes - $600 4 day safari - $750 Most accomodations - $40pp/night at guesthouses car rental - $32/day I could have done it for $3700 if I didn't do the safari and the US finished 2nd in the group like we thought they would (not that I'm complaining). I'll for sure be in brazil.
Bit off topic, but I definitely like the sound of the 4 day safari. How was that? In regards to the original topic, $4000 sounds a bit more along the lines of what I was thinking. Also, being that you've already left the event, I assume you didn't get a TST-7. So did you purchase tickets separately?
The safari was the highlight of the trip, other than the matches. We waited til right before we got the SA to book it and ended up in a reserve called Madikwe, near Botswana. Our $750 got us two 3.5 hour safaris with an expert guide every day, all meals, drinks and 5 star accomodation. We saw all of the animals, execpt a leapord and got to see a lion eating a wildebeast. It was amazing how close the drivers would get to the animals. We bought the 3 group stage tickets for the USA through the supporters club (category 1 for USA/ENG and category 3 for the rest) and then spain/switzerland through fifa, category 3, so $400 beforehand. I bought a ticket to austrailia/germany for $40, netherlands/cameroon for $60 and usa/ghana for $100, all on the day of the match outside the stadium from fans who had extras. The key with south africa was to have a cell phone and call places. The internet wasn't great for finding places and people were very willing to give discounts or recommend places that were good if you asked. We saved huge money on accomodation by using our phones.
nope, we got south african phones for about $20 and then bought airtime in R29 ($4) increments. I think we spent maybe $60 total on phones. They don't do plans like they do in the USA, you just add airtime to your sim card.