drupha

Best way to get them is to check it constantly like you have OCD, especially closer to the Games. It's all about a combination of luck, timing, and desire.

At this point, we should all be used to the fear mongering yellow journalism that abounds for every Olympics due to the media needing clickbait. I think that was highlighted nowhere more than in Sochi where NBC tried to say that as soon as you connected to the internet in Russia, hackers were having their way with you. It turns out that they just had a reporter type in Sochi, go to sketch unofficial websites and open attachments, and shocker, he got viruses... just like you would doing that anywhere in America. http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/nbc-hacking-sochi-dispute/ I went to London amid reports of the impending transit apocalypse, to find that it was actually better than any other time I'd been in London (as so many locals got scared away. I went to Sochi amid reports of "probable" attacks and that the water was brown. 100% fine (I didn't drink the water, but I wouldn't have anyways. It ran clear). Literally everyone I talked to in Sochi had a great time, and the Canadians I talked to universally preferred the Sochi games to Vancouver (the hockey double gold probably didn't hurt). I went to the last World Cup amid reports that there was no way that Brazil would deliver and protests and crime would take it over. It went fine. The media enjoys having something to write about, and the half built stadium pictures always drive panic, but the overall infrastructure is going to be fine. From a spectator standpoint, the only real worry is that the metro line 4 won't complete. Is the water going to be terrifying and will sailboats have to avoid dead dogs in the bay and marathon swimmers suffer serious health issues? Yeah, but we kind of knew that was going to happen.

So long as Toronto keeps electing known crack fiends as high ranking public officials, I don't think you've got room to talk trash about other cities...

So I've traveled to over 70 countries and Brazil, with Rio in particular, being notably magical. There's something about the culture and the hustle and bustle that is magical to me. Safety is a relative term. I don't think Rio is dangerous to the point where anyone except the very paranoid should cancel a trip. That being said, Rio is absolutely a dangerous city and you should take precautions. There's always safety in numbers, both within your group and with the surrounding area Understand the traffic flow where you are. I've stayed in centro a couple of times, and it absolutely shuts down at ~6 PM, making it pretty dangerous to be wandering by yourself or in a pair. Be on the watch for bands of young (9-16) boys roaming around. They do not give a damn about authorities (I was told by my local friends that juveniles crime is hardly punished at all), so they will be very brash with what they're willing to do. Nighttime in Zona Sul is known to be a favored time of Carioca stick up artists. There's always stories about people getting mugged on the beach at night or while jogging on the strand. Crimes of opportunity are rampant on the strand in front of the beaches, and if you hang out at a cafe for a few hours, the chance that you see someone chasing a pickpocket or a bag snatcher aren't bad. Also, don't show up with a mag strip atm card. Brazil is notorious for card cloning. The one rule to remember, above all else, is that regardless of what you're used to where you're from, if someone pulls a knife or a gun on you in Brazil, you give them whatever the hell they want, because the weapon isn't a threat, it's a promise. There's plenty of stories where muggers in Rio have killed their victims even with just a minimal level of resistance. It's not worth it. Don't bring anything you're not willing to give up. Please keep in mind that the Cariocas always know best, and that I'm just a well traveled tourist with a handful of visits. With my travel experience, I wouldn't hesitate to wander around Rio, and it's one of my favorite cities in the world. Just remember to minimize your risk and always be aware of your surroundings.

I don't want to answer 1 and 2, because I feel those are more resident questions. 3) Theoretically, travel is free throughout the city for every day you have a ticket to an event. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure they're separate. 4) There are meters, but a few are rigged. I once got one from SDU where it was flying. Otherwise, I feel that taxis are pretty affordable, especially compared to European standards 5) Check the route of the Real bus. If you're near a stop, it's super convenient. You'd probably get to the area around 6 AM after customs and baggage pickup, so you'd likely be fine from a safety perspective. 6) English is maybe marginally widely spoken among the educated class. I wouldn't count on a bus driver speaking English. If you speak Spanish, you can get by, although people will think you're an idiot (the route I took). Also, Brazil (mainly in the South, but some all over), has a lot of your former countrymen/women, due to mass migration after WWII. Many of them still speak, as my German speaking friend learned during during Carnival.

Man, and I thought that Cosport was bad. My friend just told me that Cartan is charging a $75 "delivery fee" on top of the normal 20% per ticket mark up. That doesn't sound so crazy. Cosport charges $35, Dertour charges about $100 for international deliveries. The difference is that Cartan doesn't send your tickets out. That's the delivery fee for PICKING UP your tickets in Rio. There is no actual delivery option.

Probably not what you want to hear, but I had a friend who was able to purchase both men and women team and AA finals. She was obsessively checking and refreshing though. By the time I got in ten minutes later, a number of things I was interested in were already gone. Swimming finals were gone, women's beach vball final gone. I was able to get a swimming prelim, men's soccer final, women's water polo final.

I could be wrong, but I think they pretty explicitly say they don't make guarantees about tickets being together. Hope and pray is all you can do. It wasn't an issue at Sochi, because most events weren't sold out, so they didn't have to make any difficult logistic decisions...

Does the airport still have the problem where cards used in the ATM machines at GIG get cloned and illegally used elsewhere?

I think BV and tennis should be really easy to move. Early BV is one of the best values on the slate. Four matches, on Copacabana for $25?

I got downgraded from A to C in a freestyle wrestling event in Round 1, so I can attest that they were doing that. It makes you wonder who the hundred or so people were who got the 100m final and didn't pay up for them...

Americans went savage on Cosport. Even ping pong is sold out!

In 2024, people are probably still going to have a voracious appetite for sporting events, and tickets are only likely to be harder to come by. This is doubly true if it ends up being in a sports loving country like the United States. The host nation will always end up getting the vast majority of the tickets as they're most likely to come. Your 50/25/25 allocation idea doesn't work specifically because of countries like Denmark. Smaller countries often don't have enough fans to guarantee 4,000-20,000 fans a game, especially should Denmark qualify in a sport they're not traditionally good at, like rugby. The IOC is dedicated to selling as many tickets as possible, and the mystery tickets result in diehard fans of the sport buying random tickets in hopes of getting the dream matchup that would be hard to buy once the matchups were known. I personally did this in Sochi to make sure I got into Russia/USA in ice hockey, but as a huge ice hockey fan, I enjoyed the Sweden/Latvia matchups too. The good news for you as a fan of sport, is that Denmark tickets don't have the same competition from other fans in the country that say USA Basketball or New Zealand Rugby would have to have, so you could most likely get tickets at a more reasonable cost. If you want to go to the Olympics and watch team sports, I think that you should be able to acquire Denmark tickets at the easier end of any of the teams. You guys only need to worry about producing another Peter Schmeichel. Oh, also, Cosport seems to finally have gotten ahold of some football/soccer tickets. My Canadian based former boss was able to snag me a ticket to the men's gold medal match. I'm happy, but a touch melancholy because it means I'll have to figure out a way to get rid of my men's water polo gold ticket as it's at the same time...

I would highly recommend trying to sell them before going, as you don't want to be mistaken for scalping in Brazil... Handball is hit and miss. If you get a game with Germany, it'll be easy to get rid of, but two unpopular teams and you'll likely have to take a loss.

Canadian Cosport is open for business. Not in the US yet. Lot of Athletics available.