countdown to the fifa world cup

Posted on May 21, 2014 Updated on May 22, 2014

The atmosphere is going to be electric! It is going to be a mind-blowing, a real once-in-a-lifetime experience to watch football in the home of football!

Getting ready for the World Cup? Here’s what we did it…

✓  VISAS

So our Brazil visas are done and doing them was pretty straight forward.

1. Complete the online application form at: http://sydney.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/ (this is using the Consulate General of Brazil in Sydney website)
2. Print and attach a passport photograph on the form, sign and date.
3. Submit to the Brazilian Consulate in person (on Clarence St, Sydney) with the travel invitation letter from the local Brazilian travel agency.
4. Best thing is that visas for entering Brazil for the World Cup are FREE of charge.
5. Two weeks later, the visas are ready to be picked up.

TIP:  Don’t apply for visas last minute.

✓  VACCINATIONS

Luckily we were all up to date with our vaccines from our previous trips. We had Yellow Fever vaccines for Peru back in 2011 so just need to remember to pack that little yellow fever certificate. The only jabs we needed this time was to “top up” typhoid and the usual seasonal flu-vaccine.

We always make sure we visit the doctor well in advance of any of our trips to make sure we have enough lead in time for any vaccinations that require repeat doses or  a set timing regimen.

TIP: Visit the doctor or travel nurse for advice on what you need several months in advance to give yourself enough time to be inoculated.

A great article to read is What Vaccinations Do You Need? by Michael at Bemused Backpacker

✓  TRAVEL INSURANCE

This is one thing that we don’t EVER go without. We actually always buy travel insurance the moment we book our trip to make sure we are covered from that moment where we hand over the thousands of dollars for airfares.

We do have a credit card that gives us free travel insurance if we paid our flights with it. Too good to be true, we thought. Upon further inspection, we don’t get our own policy and actually we sat under an umbrella policy. If we needed to claim anything, we need to prove to the credit card insurers that we actually paid for the flights with the credit card. That just seemed to complicated for us especially if there was an emergency.

We have usually chosen to go for Cover-More Travel Insurance when we travel because for our first ever trip, it was recommended by the travel agent who booked that trip for us. Thereafter, we have done our research and looked at other companies but so far so good with Cover-More as they do give us the peace of mind we need. We figured that if they are “the most popular travel insurance provider in Australia” as per their website, we couldn’t really be going wrong, right? But also , we have had to call them up about things and their customer service representatives are extremely informative and helpful.

TIP: Always get travel insurance. Make sure you read the product disclosure statement of any insurance policy and understand what you are buying.

✓  FLIGHTS

We are flying with Emirates – the LONG way around. As it turns out, it was getting too complicated with QANTAS  so our organiser chose the alternative option to fly around the other way to Brazil. Guess we would rather sit on a plane than wait at airports! It’s taking us about 28 hours to get from Australia to Brazil but at least we have flights!

X  FAN MERCHANDISE

We are officially counting down to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil!!

Only 23 days to go!