Arriving in Rio - The Perfect Travel Week

In the last seven days I've had possibly the perfect travel week. I visited Machu Picchu in Peru, Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil and “Christ the Redeemer” in Rio De Janeiro. All three of these appear on at least one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” lists and are all just as amazing as advertised.

Machu Picchu

Oh, and I also picked up my tickets for all three of Australia's group matches at the World Cup. 

I found out the night before boarding the flight that tickets could be picked up from Rio Airport, and from that moment I decided it would be my first task as soon I stepped off the plane. 

Turning up at the ticket booth I was expecting a large wait, but found myself the only person there and proceeded to pick up my tickets (from some quite nervous staff, suggesting maybe not many people had been through at all yet) before being interviewed by Chilean TV about my experience - as well as some gentle banter about our upcoming game the 13th. I've since been a part of another interview, this time for a Brazilian weekly magazine.

Shortly after picking up my tickets at Rio Airport

If this wasn't the perfect travel week, it was pretty close.

Ok, so the idea of “perfection” is highly objective and not really possible, but I've got to say from a purely tourist perspective, this has been the best week of travel of my life.

Iguazu Falls

When you're spending a long time on the road, you tend to space out such awe inspiring attractions and rarely get to see so many of them in quick succession, but sometimes it just works out, well, perfectly.

I hear what you're saying though, given my blog is called Long Road To Rio, surely arriving in Rio means its the end. This is far from the truth, however, as arriving in Rio is merely the beginning of what is set to be one of the biggest parties the world has ever seen.

Clearly though, I should have come up with a better name for the blog.

Rio is this awesome

Things are just getting more and more exciting in Rio (and Brazil as a whole) as the Cup edges nearer. Virtually every other foreigner you meet now is going to be attending the matches, or at least hoping to soak up some of the atmosphere while cheering their favourite teams on from the dedicated fan zones.

While it's hard to imagine any week topping this last one on this trip, if the World Cup all goes well then this will surely be one of the most exciting months of my life.

And if Australia can win a game it may even be, for lack of better word, perfect.