I'm heading to Alaska, too... July 7 -> July 21 or so. Never been before... going to ride a motorcycle from San Francisco there.

Looking forward to having a free guest RV for  when people visit SF...

Power, great choice on Brazil...I went to the World Cup in 2006 in Germany and was one of those things you have to do in your lifetime. People from all over the world - watching matches, really friendly people, beer gardens, Hofbrau house, castles, museums, tours and what not.

I'm planning on heading again to Brazil in 2014. My 1 brother and 1 friend said they'd go so far, but you never know who is going to pony up as it's a pretty big trip. If you're interested let me know if you need people to travel with...You never know what's going on like 2 yrs from now, but depending on how much time I can take off from work or mini-break for a couple months, would be good to get to some other countries like Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador-Galapagos Islands while I'm down there.

Tickets are via lottery and go on sale in Feb/March usually, so that part is only 6 months away. I made the mistake last time of not applying as the demand in Europe was really great and only got 1 game, still was worth it for the experience...not sure what it will be like in Brazil, but figured on applying for team specific tickets that guarantees you all of US' base tickets and also if they make it to the playoffs and I'd apply to lots of individual tickets. You don't know who you are going to see until the brackets are made like 6 months later.