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My Trip To Brazil For The World Cup!
So after a mammoth journey and a whirlwind 5 day trip to Rio de Janeiro I am back and going to attempt to right a blog about my time….for the 2nd time I might add!!! Thanks to fucking image hosting and video hosting sites crashing my firefox browser, I had wrote 3 days worth and lost it all ;_;
Anyway onto the blog!
Monday – The Journey
So I went into work as usual in the morning as this was a business trip and left at 11 am after finishing off a few sales spreadsheets and got home to finish packing and wait for my dad. After him arriving and finishing the packing it was a quick stop at McDonalds to get some food to start the journey to the airport.
We arrived at the airport at around 2:30 and met up with the Continental tyre reps who I knew some of from my time going to the FA Cup final with them (Chelsea vs Everton). We checked in then went off to the departure lounge where we took over this bar and waited for everyone else to arrive and also kill time before our 5pm boarding (5:30 flight)
People began to show up quickly and I then asked the question “So how many of us is there going to be?” the rep replied with “56 I think, 4 of them women, 52 blokes”……shite! That’s a lot of people.
Before I knew it, the plane was being called and the journey began, 5:30 flight to Frankfurt, which took 1 hour and 10 minutes or something, followed by a 10hour and 40minute flight to Rio.
Tuesday – The Arrival
After an awful flight to Rio on a plane which air conditioning broke so it was like a fucking oven and me being me and not liking aeroplanes anyway, I had managed 0 hours sleep and felt like I was melting.
It was 5am Rio time when we landed and we were met by a bunch of Brazilian tourist guides who would be our hosts for the week and also Brazilian security guards who looked no older than about 25. However the one who would be on my coach for the journey was a right tank. Had arms the size of my body xD
So after collecting our luggage and getting divided up into the two coaches we got onto the coach (which was a continental designed coach as well, all blacked out windows and such). Our tourist guide was a youngish kid called Joáo who was very energetic and kept telling us lots of pointless information along the journey. Me being tired as hell and him telling me about Favelas, Christ the redeemer statue and Sugar Loaf Mountain wasn’t what I was hoping for.
After a 30-40 minute journey to the hotel on the main strip of Copa Cobana beach we got off and checked in. I was tired so everyone else went to Breakfast to get their buffet meal but I went to sleep for 4hours.
Getting up around 11am and getting changed me and my dad then went for a walk along the beach line of Copa Cobana beach. Going passed the fan park which was literally opposite my hotel and then up to the fan shop. After a 20 minute walk up and down we returned to roof top bar in which I took some pictures of the fan park.
+ Show Spoiler [Fan Park] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/noWWvAB.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WIAxdBM.jpg)
After 40 minutes on the roof and a can of sprite later, it was time for lunch which was served from 12. Getting into the restaurant first was nice and we deciphered the delicacies of the buffet! Lots of it was fish which im not into, but the “cheese bread” in which was basically a ball of bread with cheese in the middle was the highlight of that buffet! Damn they taste nice
After lunch we would be meeting up at 1pm to begin our first trip of the week, a visit to the Chris The Redeemer. Now im not trying to be ungrateful but im really not a fan of culture and stuff like that when there is something else id rather be doing. If there was no football on, hell sure lets go see the sites. But at 1pm when the first game kicks off (Brazil time the group games are 1-4-7pm) I don’t want to be on a bus going to see a statue in the middle of a mountain when the sun is shining and the beach is packed of fans from around the world.
Anyway, the coach journey would start at around 1:10 and then…..even more anger management was needed for me and my emo’ness (and ungratefulness I guess) as we were going to be on this bus for around 2hours, doing a journey which is less than 8miles. The problem? Brazil are playing at 4pm so the whole country just stops 2 hours before the kick off. They are all allowed to leave work early to get home or even to the stadium to watch the game so the roads where chaos!
Getting to the train station at the bottom of the mountain (finally!) at 3pm we booked our tickets in which we were the 3:40 train so we then had to wait another 40minutes before we could board the train, me getting even more annoyed as im missing football
the time soon passed and we were on the train. Up the mountain we went which takes around 20 minutes we reached the “base camp” sort of area which is around 3-4 flights of stairs from the statue. We met up and said we had from 4pm till around 4:50 to look around and what not.
So off up the stairs I went to the look at the statue….wow it was packed, you could hardly move at the top and people were everywhere. Lying on the floor trying to takes to get the entire statue in, standing on top of rocks and what not. Well I was like this is stupid and I went down and found the pub that was built (more of a café I guess) at base camp level which had the Brazil vs Mexico game on!!! So I pulled up a chair outside and we peered through the open windows and watched the big tv for around 15 minutes before we had to meet up again and go back to the train to go down.
After the train journey down and meeting up at the coach we were told we were off to Samba city….
Great, so that’s the Brazil game I have missed and game 1 of the day which was Belgium vs Algeria and now Mexico vs Brazil. Now we were on the coach going to Samba city.
Due to Brazil match finished there wasn’t much traffic so we got there within 20 minutes. Now for a tour of the Samba City factory. What is this? Well this is where they make everything for Carnival and where they train to dance for Carnival.
After a quick tour around the main factory of where we saw floats in the making and other stuff we found ourselves on the top floor being served appetizers and drinks. We were then being shown masks and were asked to make some for ourselves. I turned to my dad and said “wow, this is like a school trip now…”
After escaping from the Art Attack part of the tour I sat down at a table and grabbed a drink and looked over the menu which was another buffet style. The Brazilian sirloin meat grabbed my attention and was looking forward to that.
Next up was this very energetic Brazilian man who took to the front of the room and asked for about 30 of us to come up and grab an instrument to help make some samba music. After 30 minutes of “weird” music coming from a bunch of drunken sleep deprived men and like 3 women it was done and we were served food. The sirloin Brazilian meat that caught my attention was awesome and on top of that there was more cheesey bread :3
Dinner was over and drinks were flowing and then it was time for a “mini concert” from the samba dancers. A band would walk out onto the stage first playing music and some Brazilian man was to sing at the same time in Portuguese. Then the highlight of the evening….the female samba dancers. Oh My, I have not seen as much fake boobies and ass’s in my life and I have been to many a strip club in my time. Wow! Curves everywhere, thongs everywhere and boobs. Well to say that cheered me up was an understatement!
Here is some pics and a video, they are slightly NSFW, but also not that much due to I was to busy looking to take any pictures and my dads fone was losing power so it wasn’t taking properly.
+ Show Spoiler [Pics] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sw3P2pH.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OQFmpZS.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/REawlHJ.jpg)
Samba Video
So after the 30 minute dancing session with Samba dancers shaking their ass’s it was done and dessert was served in which I didn’t have because im weird pretty much (trying to keep my weight down and I am weird….)
20-30 minutes after this and it was time to head back to the coach to return to the hotel.
It was around 9:30 when we returned back to the hotel just as the final whistle blew on the Russia vs Korea game, great. Now two days in a row in which I have missed all games
I got onto my laptop, went on skype and browsed TL for an hour, then posted my pic in my TL shirt as it was OFF TO THE MARCANNNNNNNNA tomorrow (Weds).
I then got into bed and went to sleep.
Wednesday – MARCANA!
I got up around 10:30 had a shower and began the HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE for the trip to Marcana. We were to meet in the lobby at 11:30 to get our tickets :D
After getting our tickets and waiting for the coach we set off around 12:00 to get to the Marcana! However this is Rio
traffic Is a nightmare. We left at 12:00 to get the affiliates village (aka hospitality village) so we could eat before the game which was a 4pm kick off Brazil time. We thought shit, everyone is going to be so pissed before this game with a 3hour wait. Nope!!!! This is Rio the traffic is horrdenus! We got the hospitality village around 90 minutes before kick off haha! Maybe 2hours. So 2pm onwards. After getting to the continental tent basically where we began to eat another buffet (another thing that happens a lot ) After grabbing a nice dinner and watching the last 20 minutes of Netherlands vs Australia it was time to begin our walk to the stadium. From this affiliates village it is about a 20 minute walk to the stadium due to how busy it is. Over a bridge would be how we get there which has been purposely built to take you from the one side of the road to inside the stadium park. This bridge was interesting to say the least. I know bridges are supposed to “flex” and move due to the many reasons I don’t really understand but wow, this bridges moved a hell of a lot! Enough to unease me so it was a quick walk from me Getting to the stadium and to my seat around 30 minutes later and wow, the view was incredible. It is a wonderful stadium the Marcana and everything I dreamt it would be. This the same stadium (changed a lot I think) that holds the record for the most fans recorded to watch a game of football of 99,000 something. Wow, astonishing
Here are some pictures from the game and some videos too of the stadium and the crazy Chile fans
+ Show Spoiler [Pics] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yyZdJdN.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wh4Lux0.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7z4gIxV.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aUjvHJ8.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3bi6LI5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fEH8ZFA.jpg)
Stadium 1
Stadium 2
These all were taken on my phone so they are actually pretty big file sizes so you have been warned.
After the game which was interesting to say the least haha! It was back to the affiliates village in where we were treated to basically the left over’s from the dinner beforehand. To say that didn’t appeal to me was an understatement. Again because im weird I don’t like buffets because it is just everyone fighting for food and such which is not the way I like to eat. We have evolved from animals and are supposed to be sophisticated by now xD
Anyway enough of my weirdness. So after a drink for an hour or so and a discussion of the game we watched is back to the coach and away back to the hotel.
It was around 8pm by this time and the day had been the best, watched 1 and half games of football and had the evening to myself to come.
We got back to the hotel around 9pm which was good, I told my dad we can go to the local super market which is around some back alley somewhere (This wasn’t as risky as it sounded it everything apart from the main strip is a back alley!). After finding the super market which are the same everywhere I gathered some supplies for myself. 3 cans of Fanta, a pack of Oreos and 2 big bags of Doritos. That should keep me going for the next few days.
We then returned to the hotel and ordered a cheese burger and fries on room service for dinner. That was actually pretty good! Worth the like 30 Real it cost (£10 ish €12 $8)
Then I sat on TL and Skype again and the evening passed and so did the pack of Oreos :w
Thursday – D-Day!
So Thursday they had set out a Boat trip for the morning 11am? Ish to which they were going to go around a bay and see nothing to then get back for England game around 3pm and kick off is 4pm. I said to my dad there is no way im going on a stupid boat trip to miss more football when the traffic and shit is a joke in this city to potentially miss some of the England game. He agreed with me and we stayed in the hotel for this. We got up and went to the fifa designated souvenir shop on the strip at around 11:30 which was good if you like Fuleco the mascot. Everything in their had his face on it or was a figurine / teddy bear of him lol. The T shirts were pretty average and then the football shirts they were selling were so over priced it was crazy. Around £90/€110/$70. So we didn’t buy anything and returned back to the hotel, in to our surprise we found around 10-12 guys who didn’t go to the boat trip either! Score!
We sat in the lobby bar with them drinking and waiting for the time to go to the game. However, at around 12:30 it started to piss it down with rain, just like were in England. It also dropped in temperature like crazy too, from 24-28 degrees it had been the other two days to around 16-18 now. Damn, im there in my shorts and England top thinking damn this is going be fun.
We eventually decided to just head to the fan park around 2:15 to get a good look around and begin the party atmosphere on the beach. We got outside and well it was cold and still raining haha, we had been given some “bin liner” type mac things to put over us from continental but I wasn’t going to wear that lol this is standard English weather just I happen to be in shorts lol.
Onto Copa Cobana beach we went and well it was great, the atmosphere from the Colombia Ivory Coast game before was still alive and they were jumping up and down and shaking their ass’s like It was going out of fashion xD
This is also where I meet these two Brazilian girls who I thought id “troll” and get a selfie with. Into my surprise turned into them following me for the whole game and comforting me when we lost :3
+ Show Spoiler [Pic] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/x8mJA8P.jpg)
I was kinda trolling so I was like :DDDDDDDDDDDD face but yeh as you can see they have an umbrella and im in shorts and t shirt
During the game it was standard England mode, singing and shouting and jumping up and down. Great chances for England but then our defence let up and goals and everything just fucked up.
However the highlight was no doubt when England equalised and the amount of English fans on the beach that erupted with noise and jumped up and down and cheered and hugged was like being back at home so it was great. Also this is where me and the blondie kissed WOOP haha score :w
Anyway, but before we knew it we had gone behind again and it was all going down hill and then the final whistle blew and we were out
Not cool, then we were told we had 15 minutes to leave the fan park to get back to the hotel to get showered and changed before we had to go out to another meal to watch a band and crap. Oh great, me being even more Emo than normal now England lost and would rather stay with these girls or at least try some moves enough to create an infamous girl blog for TL!!!!!!!!! I was dragged away by my drunken dad, yay best Cock block NA Q_Q
Anyway, back to hotel where I was soaked as I entered as it had been raining the whole day non stop the other people were there already changed and what not. I later found out that around half the people from our group left at half time to back as they were “to cold and wet”. Gah, pussies!
After a fast shower and change it was back down stairs to get onto the coach to go grab some dinner in which I wasn’t fussed at all about.
I was looking pretty emo for the whole coach journey and not talking and my dad was so durnk and had also lost 60% of his voice from shouting like a teenager because of how drunk he had been I was starting to get even more annoyed xD
We got to this place which was RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO A FAVELA!!!! So security from our Brazilian friends was everywhere and they literally guarded us through the front door.
We were greated at the top of this like dance room again with a buffet and drinks. We sat down and started the night in which it was a Brazilian born man who is a jazz musician and his band. They were to play some music before inviting out two Brazilian women to sing songs. Then they were to invite out some dancers who were very pretty to dance to it. Great just how I wanted to spend my night haha.
Then the chef came onto the stage who was some famous French chef who now lives in Brazil telling us about what he had cooked for us, it was strange to say the least but I enjoyed it and had Brazilian mash potatoes basically which was very nice. Along with other things of course.
Dinner finished and the banned came back out and danced and sung for another hour before again the chef would come onto the stage and tell us what he had made for dessert.
This finished and dessert happened, again I choose not to have any for my reasons :w
Then after that they would invite the chef and his staff on stage and we would hear some stories before then leaving for the bus around 22:00. We got back to the hotel around 22:30 in which I grabbed a can of Fanta and Doritos and watched some terrible tv lol
Friday – Last Day
No sooner had it begun but it had finished, I woke up around 9am to my dad saying we had to meet downstairs for 10:30 to go to a mountain and cable car up sugar loaf mountain and a potential helicopter ride.
Erm, have you seen the weater, it is still grey and over cast everywhere and raining. I said I wasn’t going to go and were to meet up with them when he got back before we had out to the 3rd best event of the holiday which ill get to in a second.
So he went and I stayed in bed till around 10 before getting up and checking skype and what not. Did abit of work as I checked my emails lol, im very sad….
I ordered myself another cheese burger from room service and had my last can of Fanta before the Italy vs Costa Rica game came on.
After that game finished and England were confirmed eliminated from the competition my dad returned and we started to pack.
Now, we were meeting up around 4pm in the lobby to go to the Brazilian BBQ house/restaurant thing. Oh god I had been looking forward to this since they told me Thursday evening haha. All you can eat Brazilian meat which is cut off from huge sticks in front of you onto your plate along with an all you can eat salad bar. Yeah I didn’t touch stupid salad bar
this is meet city! So they gave me my pile of ketchup I ordered and I got a bottle of water and began eating the great bucket load of meat and wedges I had been served up. Damn, easily the best meal of the week and such great cooking! On top of this they had us in a private section of this restaurant and had a projector with the France vs Switzerland game on. Awesome! 7 goals plus the best meal of the week, SUPER! :DI didn’t take any pictures of this as I was too busy eating
and being entertained by the French for once. So that finished and it was around 6:30 and we then boarded our coach to get to the airport to check and begin our mammoth journey back home.
That concludes my tour of Rio and Brazil and all in all it was good, not enough football for my liking considering it was a fucking world cup trip ;_;
But I still got to see the Marcana and watched England so I can’t be to pissed and of course it was all free minus the food we bought from super market xD
Hope you enjoyed this mammoth read and pictures :D
I hope you come and stop by the threads in the World Cup forum and add your 2 cents to the debates
PS. Thanks to Shellybot for filling in the results when he remembered to do so when I was away
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/T2LBGxy.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.blobbyvolley.fr/apercu/bv.jpg)
