the long road to brazil

Posted on June 14, 2014 Updated on June 14, 2014

“It’s not about the destination but about the journey!”

Famous last words definitely not uttered by us! Especially not after the journey it took for us to get to Brazil.

We left Sydney Airport on Wednesday night, June 11 and didn’t arrive to Cuiaba (the first city that the Socceroos play in) until 11pm Cuiaba time (about 1 pm Sydney time June 13). Two days lost in transit.

And to be fair, all the flights were relatively comfortable and food onboard was actually palatable. But it was the sleeping upright and the lack of a shower that really made us feel seedy!

It was 14 hours to Dubai, a 2-hour wait, another 14 hours to Rio, a 7-hour wait and then 3 hours to Cuiaba – so you can imagine how wrecked we were.

But all that aside because when we witnessed the LOVE this country has for football we knew we made the right decision to come here for the World Cup.  While we waited at Rio De Janeiro airport for our flight to Cuiaba, the opening World Cup match was on: Brazil VS Croatia.

As we walked around the food court in the search for our dinner, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the little TV screens scattered around. There were hundreds of people all facing the same direction. It was deadly quiet as the spectators anticipate Brazil’s recovery from their own goal scored earlier. But when Brazil were able to equalise and then lead the game  – to watch the crowd erupt in celebration was enough for us to forget the flight! It reminded us why we were really here. We could just feel the passion in the air and the buzz of relief when Brazil won that game.

What an opening game to witness amongst the locals!

And today is GAME DAY for us – Australia play Chile in their first round match and we have just been handed our Category A tickets complete with access to the VIP tent before and after the game! HOORAY!!

Now, its only 7 hours from kick-off, we cannot wait for the atmosphere and experience.  

Gosh, so it took this trip to Brazil to make us realise the ONE thing we really don’t like about travelling… the transit itself which is long forgotten anyway because as soon as we reach our destination, we embrace what lies ahead!!