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.
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.
I wish there were more of this sort of thing. Wired is reporting on a new airline in South Africa called iFly Airtime that it says is trying to begin flying soon. The airline uses a model similar to pay-as-you-go cell phone service. You buy minutes and use them toward travel. The cost of minutes can change with the market, so you can try to buy when rates are low.