I think this is the most stuff I have ever packed. The white bag has scarves that I will sell. Hopefully they'll sell right away so I don't have to carry them around.

I'm about to head out to get some lunch and then I'm off to the airport. First leg of the trip is Paris, where I'll spend 11 hours. Hoping to make it into the city for a while.

Really the point of this post was to test photo posting. It works?

I had some scarves made just for the World Cup. They are a custom design that I put together. I've got a very small number of these and I am selling them for $25 each. All proceeds will be donated to Nothing But Nets. If you'd like one, get in touch before 6/9 or find me in South Africa. I'll be taking whatever I don't sell here at home with me to SA.

Just a quick note that I will be blogging from South Africa starting next week. I am leaving on Wednesday, 6/9 so watch for new posts then!

Much attention has been given to the price gouging going on by airlines and hotels in South Africa.

iAfrica had this great piece on airfare hikes. It is great to see that smaller lines like Kulula (also a wireless carrier for those interested in getting a phone plan) and Mango potentially offering a lower cost alternative.

The time is near when we will find out which cities our teams will be playing in next summer. The draw will be televised live on ESPN2 at 11:00 AM CT (12PM ET/10AM MT/9AM PT) and also on FIFA.com. I'll be watching at Sweetwater, so please join me there if you can.

FIFA has begun to crack down on what it considers illegal ticket sales.

I saw this article from FIFA.com and thought it was an interesting possibility. With airfares between Cape Town and Johannesburg running between $500 and $700, how much worse could it be to stay in another country for part of the trip?

As I suggested in an earlier post, I think it is a good idea to wait until after the draw on December 4 to buy plane tickets for the trip. As it currently stands, flights on Delta from Minneapolis to Johannesburg vary as much as $800 depending on departure and return dates. I don't even know if Johannesburg is where I want to be yet, so I'll wait until the groups are determined on the 4th.

I've got a lot of updates in the works and they'll be posting in the next few days. For today, however, I wanted to direct you to a great travel guide put together by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl. There are tons of good bits in there.