South Africa 2010: Catch all preparation thread

I forget what they're called, but there are a lot of buffets that serve South African fare like ox tail and other things. I want to say they were called roastings or something. They had a lot of meat to choose from and they carve it right there at the buffet. A bunch of sides available and it was cheaper than hundreds of rand. Maybe the locals can help?

 

Really good website & forums for more info on South Africa...

http://ow.ly/rpIW

 

Ive been to that restaurant - was very nice. But the general standard of SA restaurants, is very good. By this i mean even the lower end ones. Spur, Dross, Keg franchises, very good generally...the list goes on and on.

A place i can recommend off memory is:
Steak especially: http://www.crawdaddys.co.za/

But it all depends what you wanna do....do you want to experience a typical south african meal?


O yeah...for accomodation, this is well situated in Pretoria:
http://www.rietondalelodge.co.za/ Ive been at one of their other lodges for a meal once, and it had great local food....

 

The main client base in South Africa, is South Africans. Highering the prices, would mean the locals won't attend. Highly unlikely....

Eating out here is much more affordable than some places ive been. Very competitive market here...so the food quality is generally high for a relatively low price.

 

Hello everyone... I am hoping to make South Africa my first world cup experience and was wondering roughly how much people spend or have in their budget for the World cup since I have no idea how much I should be trying to save up... Anyone have any ideas of what they are expecting their trip to cost (and Im talking about housing, food, transportation, and tickets) Novelty money doesn't need to be counted in.... if anyone has some rough figures it would help me out greatly! Thanks!

 

Basically the whole trip will cost you a small fortune and a large headache...... Depending on where you are in the world cost out a normal trip to S.A. for about 2 weeks and then times it by 3 (at least). The amount of profiteering in scandalous and excludes even the most dedicated football fan.
I don't mind at all the locals making what they can but major airlines and hoteliers will rake it in as FIFA stands by and watches the whole sorry mess unfold.
Ta Ade

 

So much for 450,000 visitors you can probably turn up on the day for most games.

 

I've been lucky enough to get 2 x TST 3 England and I suppose I'm a classic case of 'what to do next?'
My greatest reservation about going is definitely cost. As we all know there is a massive lack of information for the independent traveller regarding 'getting around' and accommodation. The packages from the operators are extortionate. My own costs are up to £3000.00 for a 2 week stay and that is without internal travel and connections. If I'm going to be spending this kind of money (and more) the one thing I do expect is a bit more transparency and certainty. I'm up for a real football adventure but if FIFA and SA authorities are not careful then a whole lot of people (including me) just will not turn up for the tournament.... some because it's too expensive some because they couldn't find a practical way of getting and staying there.

 

To be fair to SA I remember my Hotel in Mexico City charging rates 4 times higher than normal and for 5 games and 16 days in South Korea it was £5,500 in 2002 and the flight was £725 per person to Seoul. The big difference for me is the general swagger of teh FIFA website saying everything will be wonderful and all football fans have stacks of money so let them work it out. Thedaily change in prices for Airlines has been a real eye opener but nothing tops this bloody MATCH accommodation which is theworst and most hypocritical aspect.

My guess is that few of the package tours will be taken up and tehy will either have to bring them down or give up and I think thehotels will not fill at these prices. Tickets for games will be easy next spring. England fans probably would spend the most but even they will not spend this silly money. So fans from other coutries certainly will not and as Spannish support is utterly pathetic there could be few fans supporting thewinners.

 

there are so many variables in determining a budget for a trip like this -

here is my budget that i have estimated

1. long haul flights - $2000 (booked)
2. domestic flight - $200 (i hope....) from cpt to jnb and back
3. hotels - between 2 people - $200 and $300 a night (booked)
4. food - $80 a day ($10 breakfast / $15 lunch / $55 dinner)
5. alcohol - $80 a day (between day time drinking during games and at night)
6. transportation - depends on how far you are staying from the stadiums, but i would expect $50 a day in taxis and buses. this part i don't have a good sense for...
7. game tickets - i got my 5 group stage tickets for $80 a pop at face value. i plan on hopefully selling my tickets for durban tickets for $160 a pop once the draw comes out.
8. safaris - depends - probably at least $250 - $1000
9. sightseeing / and other daytime activities - $100 a day

starting in december i am going to fine tune this as i look into safari's and other day time activities but this should be a good starting point..

 

At least with $80 a day of alcohol you won't remember the huge amount of money it all will cost.

 

lol ....or even where your hotel is and what it was you were doing in South Africa in the first place.

 

Geeze.... in South Africa, your going to be drinking 20 bottles of wine a day then.. either that or about 10 bottles of wine + 40 beers/day....

 

I'm going to spend something around U$ 11K on this trip.

That includes


U$ 1750 - 30 day accomotadion
U$ 750 - 30 day car rental + gas
U$ 1500 - food (U$ 50/day)
U$ 2500 - air ticket
U$ 3500 - tickets - around 20 games (so far I spent 2400 dolars in 14 games)
U$ 500 - flights inside SA
U$ 500 - sightseeing and daytime activities

 

As of today 1 US Dollar will get you 7.422 South African Rand. Not a bad exchange rate as long as the beer doesn't cost more than 4 Rand a bottle

 

As a number of people seem to be happy to give details of their every waking hour in the WC I am surprised on this one that only $750 will cover Car Hire and Fuel for 30 days! So you will be able to see 20 games on $1,250 of car and plane travel. This is a big country and you could be going regularly from JB to CT.

 

Maybe he's anticipating the car will get stolen within the first week and he'll lose $500 in baggage or something like that....

jokes aside, yeah SA is big and driving around from CT-JB back and forth is going to up that budget considerably. U lot should think about getting together and car pooling/sharing a vehicle - would cut down on fuel/rental costs as well as driving time... will also probably be beneficial for security purposes...

 

i touched on this before but the potential of absence of Argentina and its impact was mentioned on Foxsoccer. I'll paste the last paragraph of the article:

"Argentina last missed a World Cup in 1970, and the failure to qualify this time would be a blow to national pride. It could also be a disaster for sponsors and football's world governing body FIFA, which is counting on many of Argentina's high-profile stars to draw crowds and generate publicity."

if argentina were replaced by ecuador or uruguay - TV ratings would not be the same (a casual viewer will not be as glued to the set to see Luis Valencia or Luis Suarez/Forlan as he would if Messi were playing) and i truly believe the number of tourists from either ecuador / uruguay will not replace all the argentine fans that would go....

same can be said for Portugal and CR7...sponsorships and TV ratings will be impacted negatively from these absences

just something to think about...

 

I have book the car already for 10,000 Rands. I'll be sharing the costs with someone else all the time. It will also be some people there for a little while sharing the costs.

If I go from JB to CT, i'll fly, not drive.

 

But what if you get Port Elizabeth, Polokwane, Durban, you can only realistically fly to these places? I am not trying to be critical here but you make it sound all too easy and I am not sure the moving about is.

 

Having said that you may only be going to all the Jobergs, Rust. & pretoria which would not be a problem for you.

 

I can drive to Durban. PE and CP i'll fly, unless I can't get a fly for a reasonable price. In that case I would drive anyway. But I would save my air tickets money to spend it on gas.

Anyway, I'll have people there, sharing the car costs.

 

You can definitely drive between Durban & JHB the road is in very good condition. I do it easily in 5H30mins travelling at the speed limit with a basic 20 minutes stop to top up fuel and stretch a little.

 

In facts, the roads in South Africa are in very good state in general, you can do Joburg-Cape Town in 15 hours, if you ever need to.

 

1) -
2) - I'd budget more for that
3) -
4) - Is this for one person? here is a price list of an average franchise with acceptable food http://www.spur.co.za/menu_deep.asp?m=19
youd be obese if you had to eat with your budget if for one person
5) - Depends where and what you drink. Certain places can be ridiculous with their prices for drinks. Buying a beer at a liquor store will cost little more than a coke...
6) - Maybe try them: www.yelocab.co.za - busses are very cheap...ideal for long distance travel eg. (www.intercape.co.za). Be careful of short distance busses - depends where you are...
7) -
8) Safaris or game drives shouldn't be that expensive...Some places that have accomodation have facilities where you may roam with your own vehicle...just remain in the vehicle but either way, rather budget for the accomodation first, the game drive second. I recommend places North of Pretoria, Polokwane, Free State and Port Elisabeth for game drives.

I'm not sure of their game as such, but this resort is not bad...ive been there and liked it http://www.magaliespark.co.za/ (click accomodation for price list)- Just outside of Pretoria in a nice area