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Tam airpass world cup12/24/2023 If it was going to be dry season for the World Cup, this equatorial sun will be relentless. Within an hour I was completely sunburned. I hadn’t even thought about sun cream, I’d only brought an umbrella. It sapped my energy and I was soaked in sweat. Setting off from there to walk into town, I was happy I’d be able to report that the whole heat thing had been overblown.īut as I meandered into colourful back streets that rolled down to the historic centre, the clouds parted and blue sky appeared.Īt first I was chuffed, as rain had been predicted for my entire stay. I’d arrived after comfortable flights with Brazilian airline TAM via Sao Paulo and checked into my hotel, the Quality. Outside, there were moody skies and muggy air, but it wasn’t that hot. He insisted it wouldn’t be that hot – and less humid as it would be the winter dry season. In response, the driver had written this song. The proud citizens of Manaus had been incensed by England boss Roy Hodgson’s view that the city, way up in the Brazilian Amazon, was the last place he wanted to play due to the heat and humidity. Up until that point he’d hardly said a word.īut when I mentioned I was English, it was the green light for him to start gushing. “That Englishman who’s complaining it’ll be hot,” he crooned as we passed the shiny new stadium where England will play in the World Cup, “doesn’t know in the arena there’ll be fried fish, prawns and booze. Though Americans are publicly bummed about Manaus, it's nothing like the battle that England coach Roy Hodgson is having with the city - he publicly called it the city to avoid and, upon hearing the news that England would playing Italy there, Manaus' mayor said he didn't particularly want England there - which doesn't bode well for a revival of colonialism or getting a pro-England crowd for that crucial match.The taxi driver started knocking out a samba rhythm on the dashboard as we weaved across the lanes of the highway. (Think flying to Albuquerque as opposed to Denver.) It sounds like it's not going to happen - though fans going to Brazil might want to consider either making Recife their home base or moving a TAM Brazil Airpass up the priority list. were to use Recife for its home base for group play? It would certainly make travel more manageable - flying to Natal is akin to a JFK to Boston hop, and Manaus is only a little farther from Recife as compared to Sao Paulo. And there won't be as much jet lag only Manaus is in a different time zone than the other three cities.īut what if the U.S. The Sao Paulo to Natal journey is akin to flying to Dallas, the journey to Manaus is roughly equivalent to a flight to Denver, and Sao Paulo to Recife is like flying to New Orleans. team was basing itself out of New York and flying in and out of JFK. Unfortunately, it's a terrible home base when all your group matches are at least 1,300 miles to the north.īut is it really that bad from the American perspective? To use American distances as a rough comparison, imagine that the U.S. These distances assumes one key factor that's almost entirely settled - the Americans plan to stay and train in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, the site of the tournament's opening match, and a home base location that gets more reasonable the deeper the U.S. didn't get an ideal draw by any means, but Group G isn't as bad as it looks.
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