Tickets. Flights. Visas / Passports. Lodging.

Those are the four key elements we needed to look into in planning for Brazil. That didn’t include getting time off from work (if you need to request it - ha!), or the money you need to have saved, or figuring who's going, or who's gonna watch the dog, the house, etc.

I've been to Brazil twice, when I was with FC Dallas. However I didn't have to plan anything…the team admin did it of all. But this time I was on my own…we were.

WHO’S GOING?

There was never really one day where I said, "I am going to Brazil for the World Cup." I kind of always knew that I'd be going. I look forward to this trip every four years.

By March we kinda knew that the group we would be from 6-10 people. From Denver it would be myself, my buddy Clint and his fiance, Ashley, and our friend Kieran; and, also originally from Colorado…Curtis (living in Chicago) and Brett (England). Joining us in Brazil would be our friends Evan and Andy (living in Atlanta), Matt (Seattle), and Kieran's brother, Brendan, and his friend, Paul (Washington D.C.).

We communicated through emails. Everyone would be on their own for tickets and flights, and Brett took the lead on accommodations. Four of us have traveled to past World Cups, and the rest would all be going to their first World Cup outside the U.S.

TICKETS TO THE GAMES:

All of us intended on going to the USA games…thought we’d be coming in at different times. The six of us from Colorado would be arriving for the first USA game in Natal. Andy and Evan in time for the second game in Manaus. Matt, Brendan and Paul for the third game in Recife.

I've always attempted to buy World Cup tickets through FIFA. I've also been fortunate to have a nice network of people in the soccer community who have helped in the past when I needed 1-2 tickets for key U.S. games.

FIFA has a few phases where one can try to buy tickets - all through their website. The first phase was last year, even before we knew which teams had qualified. I woke up at like 4 a.m. back in November to see what it was like, but never got through the online queue.

The next phase was after the Draw. Anyone that wanted to purchase tickets had to have an account on FIFA with all the details of everyone applying, including passport numbers. We had agreed that I'd apply for me, Kieran, Brendan, and Paul. We all joined the U.S. Supporters group at USSoccer.com, which allowed us to enter FIFA's lottery for fans of select teams.

In early February I applied for the three group games and the potential Round of 16. A few weeks later, we got the news that we had gotten tickets for the second game - USA vs. Portugal in Manaus - and the Round of 16 game if the U.S. advanced. FIFA said that 3.5 million people applied for tickets worldwide, so on one side we were lucky to get at least two games. On the side, we still needed tickets to opener - USA vs. Ghana in Natal - and third game, USA vs. Germany in Recife. That said, Brett, Curtis, Clint, and Ashley got all the games. The other guys got their games, too.

On March 12 FIFA held a first-come-first-serve phase to purchase tickets. I got up at 3:45 a.m. and at exactly 4 a.m. the screen changed to an online queue. I saw that the USA-Ghana game in orange and clicked. Next thing I know I had purchased our tickets for the USMNT's World Cup opener.

I sent a note to the group and then let everyone I know, know that I was now looking for four tickets USA-Germany on June 27 in Recife.

In late April my good buddy Steve called to tell me that a friend of his - who had helped him get tickets for games in Brazil - had a friend that was looking to unload four tickets to USA-Germany.

The conditions were simple - he'd sell the tickets at face value, but it had to be to another USMNT fan. I was obviously the perfect customer.

This friend of Steve's is named Eric. Eric's friend is Dave. Dave and I began exchanging emails until we were satisfied we could trust the other. It turns out, Dave and Eric work together for as a client for FIFA. I sent him the money through online banking and he mailed me the tickets in mid-May. We were now set for three, potentially four USMNT games.

I received the FIFA Official Ticket Confirmation certificates about three weeks before my flights. We’d use these certificates to pick up the tickets once we arrived in Brazil.

VISAS AND PASSPORTS:

Aside from flights and game tickets, one of the key pieces we need to take care of in order to make it to Brazil is obtaining a Brazilian visa - a document that is stuck to your passport that gives you permission to enter the country. Not every country requires this, but Brazil does.

The standard tourist visa costs $160 for U.S. citizens, but FIFA has worked it out that if we have tickets to games, or are working the games, then we can request a special 'World Cup' visa - which is free.

Brazil has 10 consulates throughout the United States, each responsible for a certain number of states. Living in Colorado, we have to use the Brazilian Consulate in Houston to request the visa. So, while we don't have to pay for the visa, we have to either fly to Houston or pay a company to process our visa for us in Houston.

Clint and Ashley found a company that got them their passports back within week. So that's who Kieran and I used. Here's what we had to send them:

Passport, with two blank pages.
A notarized copy of our driver licenses.
A copy of our flight reservations showing when we would be in Brazil.
A copy of a letter from FIFA showing our names were confirmed as having tickets.
And, after filling out the visa application on the Consulate's site, we had to send a signed print out of the confirmation page.

I paid for the service ($70 each) and FEDexed our documents to arrive on Wednesday, April 30. This company has standing appointments at the Consulate every Tuesday and Thursday.

The day the docs arrive, I get an email from them asking for a different letter from FIFA. I search through my emails and forward one.

We don't hear back from them until the next week - when they tell Kieran that he needs to send a new signed confirmation page. Apparently, when he entered his info, there was a typo. He had corrected it, but the system wouldn't print the corrected form. After getting instructions on how to print what was actually on the form, he Fedexed the new document on May 5.

A note on our account on the company's website showed our visas were 'processing,' and the expected date to receive the passports back was May 13. On May 15, I receive an email from the visa company. Click on the image above:

One week before our flights, I got an email from the passport company informing me that the Brazilian consulate had finally processed my visa and they were mailing it to me that night. I picked up the package at FedEx the next day and let out a sigh of relief when both mine and Kieran's passports where there, with the visas..

FLIGHTS:

Brazil was always going to be an expensive trip, but I was still determined to save money wherever possible.

Since me and Kieran were leaving from Denver we decided to try to find the same flights. After days of searching I kept finding flights that, while expensive, were reasonable for when we were going. Kieran and I got on the phone and settled on buying flights on Kayak.com from Denver-Recife on June 12 and returning from Rio de Janeiro. We entered all the info and quickly got emails with a note stating that we'd know in 2-3 days if the airlines accepted the price that Kayak.com showed us.

They didn't.

We found out a couple days later that we weren't booked. Our credit cards weren't charged.

We then decided to eliminate the middle agency and book directly with the airlines. We wanted the fewest connections, and least amount of travel time.

The following week we got back on the phone and bought flights on United.com. Same thing happened.

A couple days later we got emails from United saying one of the connections from their partner in Brazil was no longer available. Their alternate options didn't make sense for us, so our reservations were cancelled.

Another week passed before we found similar flights at similar prices on American Airlines. Within an hour we had confirmation that we had seats on all the connections. We'd be leaving Denver on June 13 on an overnight flight to Miami, then taking a mid-morning flight to Sao Paolo. Two hours after landing in Brazil we had a flight to Natal, arriving around 2 a.m. on June 15 - the day before the USA-Ghana game.

We now had to get flights inside Brazil - to Manaus and then to Recife, before heading to Rio.

This was a particular issue for me because I've not had to fly in any of the previous World Cup trips. It makes us have to plan where and when we're going, leaving little opportunity to decide at the spur of the moment to check out another game or adventure.

The biggest challenge we had was getting from the northeast city of Natal to Manaus in the Amazon in time for the USA-Portugal game on June 22. Driving was not an option and boat rides on the Amazon could take 4-6 days.

The distance between Natal and Manaus is about 1800 miles. That's about the same distance as Boston to Denver.

I had been checking every possible option to get us to Manaus and then back to the coast to Recife. Unless we wanted to connect all over Brazil, or even back in Miami, we're going to have to suck it up and pay.

We bought flights on a Saturday, May 10. On Tuesday, we got an email from TAM Airlines telling us that the Manaus-Recife leg was not option. It was mistake on their site that allowed us to buy that flight. A day later, they put us on another flight. We'll be leaving Manaus at 2 a.m. on June 24. Ouch.

And it's not over. We still needed to find flights from Recife to Rio after the USA-Germany game (we return to the US from Rio). Or, from Recife to either Salvador or Porto Alegre if the USMNT advances to the Round of 16, and then back to Rio.

What an expensive pain-in-the-ass trip.