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tartanb

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  1. Marinello, I failed to logon several times from my normal Ipad, before I eventually saw and followed the advice of the support team - i.e try logging in from a different device. So I did so from my PC and hey presto, I got in successfully.
  2. I purchased mine at 13:05 this afternoon with the ticket number 868, so all those of you on lower points will surely get a ticket without any problems
  3. Yet another disappointed loser, with 16 points, my lowest since records began. I’ve already booked flights/trains via Bergen , all I am missing is a single ticket, please PM me
  4. For anybody contemplating a fly in before the game, fly back out after the game approach, be aware of the importance of the Hayya card. For the duration of the tournament they are dispensing with the visas that you would normally purchase for £20 to get into Qatar. Instead you have to have a Hayya card to get into Qatar. In order to get a Hayya card you must have at least one match ticket in your name. If you haven’t got a ticket, then unless they change the rules, you won’t be allowed into the country. If Scotland qualify you’ll presumably be able to get a ticket(s) via the supporters club. If you’re not a bone fide member, you might have a problem. All the red tape for this tournament is painful. If Scotland do manage to get there I suspect the travelling support will be their lowest for more than 20 years, once everyone finds out what the actual cost of getting there. I was lucky, I used all my avios to get us there and back, but BA, Qatar Airlines etc have since withdrawn any avios seats on their flights to/from Doha.
  5. McTeeko, still down near Reading, getting ready for tomorrow nights game v Stoke, where a win would get us a little further away from the relegation zone. Despite my misgivings about Qatar (and I have plenty), we went ahead an booked a 72 hour stay there, where we’ve got tickets for 3 of the 4 quarter finals, grabbed in the first 2 FIFA sale phases. We’ve opted to spend the prior 10 days touring India, the sort of tour which ordinarily would have been in the host WC country, but off course who would want to spend 14 days in Qatar? The dilemma will be, what happens if Scotland do qualify? I decided to cross that bridge if and when that happens.My India/Qatar itinerary is fixed in stone. My only option would be to try and sneak out beforehand for say one group game, then fly back to Blighty immediately after the game, heading over to India the following week. The thought of that extra add on trip fills me with dread, but if push came to shove, you know me, I couldn’t not go and see Scotland in Qatar, even if I was just waltzing in for one game. My fan ID, which I need to get me in to Qatar, has already been arranged and could be used to get me in (I believe) for that extra game, even if I didn’t have any accommodation booked for my extra brief in/out visit. Might see you there?
  6. McTeeko The cruise ships are definitely expensive, as is everything else in Qatar is going to be. The price you mentioned (£500) was for a 2 bed cabin on the 5 star ship and included full board for 2 people, whatever that is. It was quite a hefty uplift over the B&B price on the same ship, about £120 pp. (which is why I’m rather expecting/hoping that free flowing alcohol is included as well?). The 4* ship was better priced, about 20% lower. However within the next fortnight I reckon all the cruise ship nights will have been sold. Not because they are bargain priced, but because they still haven’t made hotels available yet. The only other accommodation it’s been possible to book are the so called apartments, which are extremely basic. Most of these are in labour complexes outside the city (I assume they are letting go a lot of the workers that built the stadiums, hotels etc, if not permanently, then certainly during the tournament.) I had always been intending to ‘commute’ in to the country, on a one day per game basis, ideally not even staying a night there. However that idea got blown out the water when they raised the price of flights from the likes of Dubai (a 1 hour journey) four or five times. Things could change for the better over the next couple of months of course. All the early hype from FIFA about record number of ticket applications was totally artificial. All that happened was because fans realised they didn’t have to part with any money to make a ticket application, they just applied multiple times. The proof will be after this next sales phase, which starts tomorrow morning. Now that fans know who is playing who, they will stampede for the big name games and FIFA will be left with loads of unsold tickets for the less attractive games on their hands. They’ll eventually put bums on seats of course, to make the stadiums appear full - e.g. in Korea 2002 they had to bus load in civil servants, giving them a free team shirt, one team colour for one end of the ground, the other team colours at the opposite end, just so they didn’t lose face with a half empty stadium.
  7. If Fifa/Uefa decide to delay the playoffs, even if just for a couple of months, there is a very serious ramification for any fans of Wales, Ukraine, Austria or Scotland who would like to attend the World Cup. They will have big problems trying to find anywhere to stay in Qatar. There is an acute shortage of hotel rooms in the country. Reports suggest there will be at best 70,000 hotel rooms available. Even if you add in the 4,000 extra rooms being proposed on a cruise ship and the 10,000 that was being suggested for a tented village in the dessert (that will be fun?), it’s a woeful number. Going by past FIFA practices the actual number will likely actually be even less, as FIFA always block book loads of rooms for all the officials, teams and invited guests. You still can’t actually book any rooms at the moment because the Qatar ‘committee’ in charge (!) hasn’t yet sanctioned their release via the single web site that will look after all hotel reservations. When they are eventually made available (likely immediately after the draw has been made in early April), there will be a minimum stay requirement of 2 nights and it has been reported that these rooms will be made available on a first come, first served basis. For the group stages there will be fans from 31 countries chasing these rooms. If you assume 3 fans per room (?), then the room supply runs out if on average each team has a travelling support of 8,000 fans. Admittedly some of the minnow teams won’t take that many, but the South American teams in particular and the big name European teams typically take a lot more. Airbnb might take up some of the slack, but Qatar is a tiny country and I haven’t seen any suggestions on how many extra rooms that sector might generate. My point is this. If our playoff game(s) are delayed, by the time we know who will have qualified from our 4 team group, all the hotel accommodation will likely have long since evaporated. This will be the 11th World Cup I will have attended. I’ve only seen Scotland in four of these, but I’ve happily got into the habit of still enjoying the tournaments, attending as a neutral. However I’ll be honest, I’m not looking forward to this one. Because of the likely accommodation shortage, we’ve only applied for tickets for 2 games, the last 2 quarterfinals, when there should in theory be a lot less fans chasing hotel rooms. The results of the 1st FIFA ticket application ballot will be announced next week, so we’ll know then whether we’ve secured any tickets. We’ll likely fail, but past experience says if we persevere online, we should get them in the later ticket phase sales. My original plan was not to stay in Qatar (I’ve been there, there is nothing to see), we were going to commute in and out for individual games. However Qatar Airways have made that difficult, raising their prices by about 4 times. All other airlines have followed suit. A day return flight from any nearby country typically costs about £1,000! If Scotland so qualify, then all of the Supporters Club members will likely be guaranteed tickets for the 3 group games. But be prepared to fork out big time to actually get there and see those games.
  8. Hmm, with the Foreign office tonight advising all Brits to get out of Ukraine, I guess that rules out flying to Yerevan via Kiev. Probably also advisable to ditch any plans to go to Ukraine in September,
  9. If you are expecting any pre-match entertainment, then I wouldn’t hold your breath on that. I did 6 games at Euro 16 in France. Clearly UEFA had total control at each and every stadium over what the pre-match ‘entertainment’ comprised. Basically there was nothing until just before the teams came out. Then you got a relatively short routine (exact same at every game), with flag waving kids, dancing/running in circles, out to the corner flag, another couple of circles, back to the centre etc. It maybe lasted 5 minutes or thereabouts. Again that very same routine was replicated at every single game. The biggest ‘excitement’ was the stadium commentator doing a 10 second countdown prior to the starting whistle, with the crowd counting in unison. It really was pathetic, especially when you see how much money Uefa were pulling in for the tickets, food, drinks etc. If maybe different in 2021, who knows. But just to be safe, if you really are wanting pre-match entertainment to keep you amused for 2 hours, I’d take a crossword puzzle with you.
  10. Was ‘t actually saying I would find Tirana boring, I just don’t want to be tied to the same place for 3 days. Of course we’ll get our little break to Shkoder for the game, but I’m not expecting to see too much of Albania on that particular bus outing. Like many of the seasoned TA travellers, I like to get as much as I can out of every trip, particularly when it’s a new country for me. I’ve been spoiled rotten this year with a 4 day trip to the Cusco region and Machu Picchu (wonder of the world) before the Peru game, a few days up at Queretaro (great place, was based there for the Germany game in 86) before the Mexico game, visiting the Chichen Itza pyramids the day afterwards (another wonder of the world). In Israel I made the 21 hour return bus trek to Petra in Jordan (yet another wonder of the world), the day before the game. When Scotland get gubbed, it’s nice at least to still have fond memories of your trip - Peru, Mexico and Israel are all a case in point, I really did enjoy these trips. Albania will be my 49th different country in which I’ve seen Scotland play. You’ll perhaps understand why I might struggle a bit, if I was forced to spend a ‘whole’ 3 days in Tirana, with no wonders of the world nearby! (I’ve ruled out a quick dash over to Rome, I’ve already seen the Colosseum)
  11. Berat : Long shot, I know, but ... Don’t want to be confined to Tirana for 3 days so I am going to take one of these day tours to Berat, which has go great reviews for a leisurely day out. I’m wanting to go on Friday 16th, the tours typically cost around £75 per person 9am to 6pm’ish I believe). Only issue is, all the tour companies insist you book a minimum of 2 people, so to travel solo the cost would double. If anybody has either booked already, or is about to and I could tag on my booking with yours, please let me know.
  12. Davy. Left it late, One seat for me please if still available, G Berry
  13. Hi, made a PayPal payment to you on August 2nd which I can now see from my statement has “not yet been accepted” by you. Four days after this I can see in your last list my name, tartanb, had moved from bus 13 to bus 20, but not showing PAID (consistent of course with the unaccepted payment) Have I done Something wrong? George B.
  14. Davy, Peru and Mexico busses were fantastic, so I would like a single seat please
  15. Thanks, being that I am probably the only person in the world without a mobile phone, in the circumstances i’m happy to regard myself as the guilty party. Looks like someone at the supporters club might find themselves on an unexpected ‘jolly’ to Peru (expensive flight!), although being confined to one meeting place for most of their trip whilst all the TA are enjoying themselves might be seen by some as a punishment, rather than a jolly.
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