My ticket to see Lollapalooza in Brazil took my travels to a town just outside of São Paulo called Bragança. When I was in Brazil with my best friend for the World Cup I was introduced to Vanessa, who took us out for dinner and drinks one night in São Paulo. We have been in contact ever since then and she very kindly offered to have me stay at her house.

Van picked me up from the airport with her Mum and friend on Thursday and it didn’t take long for me to experience their kindness and generosity. Not long after putting my bags down at their house I was being fed a home cooked meal and my clothes were being washed!

The weekend was spent at the Autodromo de Interlagos for Lollapalooza. I was here to see Jack White again who was headlining the festival on Saturday. I went with Van’s friend Marina, her cousin and his fiancée, who again were amazingly nice people. We grabbed a few beers (called 'chopp' in Brasil) and sat down to see Kasabian, then went and picked a good spot for Robert Plant and Jack White. Needless to say Jack’s performance was again amazing, and I really enjoyed seeing his show at a festival, which did had a lot more atmosphere to it than the smaller side shows. At night we needed a place nearby to stay, so we settled on a cheap motel. It did the job, but I spent most of the night sweating and swatting mosquitos.

Sunday we met up with more of Vanessa’s friends and saw a bunch of great bands - Interpol, The Kooks, Foster The People, Calvin Harris and The Smashing Pumpkins. One of the cool things about Lollapalooza was the “Chef Stage” they had, where famous chefs from around Brazil had stalls selling interesting food - I tried a Donut Hamburger and some Tapioca cubes, both of which were really tasty. It was an absolute nightmare to get home that night - we waited for over an hour in the rain to get a taxi back to Marina’s, then Vanessa picked me up at about 1AM to take us back to her place.

The rest of my time here was spent hanging out with Vanessa, her brother Gustavo and their parents. My search for the best coffee in each city continued, so this time I dragged Vanessa to a place called The Coffee Lab in the Pinheiros district of São Paulo. I splurged on a coffee tasting ritual which involved 3 different types of pour over coffee from around Brazil. They were all superb coffees. We tried a Japanese restaurant in Liberdade (a big Japanese district) for dinner, and although the menu was confusing, we had a nice meal.

I had such a great time in Bragança, and Vanessa and her family really made it feel like a home away from home for me. I never once felt hungry in my whole time at their place - I was constantly being fed amazing Brazilian food and going back for more. Unfortunately it was time to leave but I’ll never forget this place, the friends I made and the memories that were shared.

A while ago I had the opportunity to come back to Porto Alegre and see Jack White, one of my favourite artists of all time, live in concert. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I booked my accommodation and a flight back to where my journey began. That was the easy part!

Once I had my mind set on it, I HAD to get that ticket. Back in Australia, I tried a number of times to buy from the official ticketing website with no luck. I thought it was due to not being a Brazilian citizen, so I asked one of my Brazilian friends at work to try - no luck either. Turns out you need to actually purchase the ticket with a Brazilian credit card! I asked some of my friends in Brazil to buy the ticket for me, but by this time the tickets were sold out. Unfazed, I started looking for other means of getting a ticket.

Next option was a third-party ticket reseller. I had some luck last year with viagogo, even though they are fairly expensive. I took the plunge and purchased the premium section ticket I was after, and forked out AUD $300. I was so determined to be at this concert that the price didn't faze me for one second.

A few weeks into my trip I received an email from Viagogo saying they were unable to secure my ticket, so they refunded my money. I immediately logged back on to their website and tried to buy again from another seller. This time it was a littler over $300 and again I didn't think twice about purchasing. I was going to be there!

A couple of days later, the same response from Viagogo. At this point I did start to panic a little. Sitting in the hostel in Curitiba, my mind was racing trying to think just what other ways I could get a ticket. I searched on Facebook for an event listing, and eventually found the official event. I clicked attending, still not a doubt in my mind I'd make it there.

Over the next couple of days I scoured the posts on my phone, constantly switching between the Facebook app and the Google Translate app, to figure out what everyone was saying. I decided to put my own post up there, translated in to Portuguese, asking if anyone was selling a premium ticket. Now to wait...

A few days later, I received a friend request and a private message from a girl in Brazil. Success! She couldn't make the concert and was willing to sell me her ticket for face value. Bonus: it was an e-ticket so she could just email it to me. The final hurdle (or so I thought) was getting the money transferred to her. She wouldn't accept PayPal or Western Union, and my bank wouldn't allow me to transfer her the money (plus it would've cost considerably more than the actual amount she was selling it for). So I had one last option - ask a HUGE favour of my friend Vanessa in São Paulo to pay this girl the money, then I would have to pay her back in cash when we meet up in São Paulo. She immediately agreed (I kinda sold it to her as a big deal) and transferred the money - it made me so happy and thankful to have friends like this around the world that would help me have these amazing experiences.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and I arrived in Porto Alegre from Florianópolis. As soon as I checked in to the hostel, I set out on the city to find somewhere to print my ticket. Easy I thought! If only they spoke English (or I guess, me being able to speak Portuguese is more reasonable). It took an hour or so to find some sort of printing shop, only to be told in finger wagging and basic charades that they would only photocopy. The man pointed me across the road to a shop that would print documents for me.

I printed the tickets (and one spare!) at the shop across the road, folded them tightly in my pocket and headed straight back to the hostel. After all this, I even put the tickets away in my locker to make sure nobody nicked them!

Finally, the day of the concert arrived and I was all set. I got to the arena a couple of hours early and sat down in line to make sure I'd get a spot on the rails. The doors opened at around 8:30PM and after briefly panicking over the possibility of my ticket being rejected at the door, I was finally let in. Jack and his band came on just after 10, and It was absolutely AMAZING - everything I imagined it would be and more! The band was on fire and the Brazilian crowd were loving it.

He played until midnight, and straight straight after the show I darted to the merchandise stall and bought a concert poster to mark the occasion (and to add to my collection back home of shows attended). Then it was a sprint across the road to the airport to get the last bus of the night back to my hostel. Back and feet aching, I held the poster above my head all the way home on the crowded bus to make sure it wouldn't get wrecked.

I slumped in to bed at around 1AM - hungry, dehydrated, ears ringing and body cramped, and it felt amazing.

Bragança, Brazil

The Ticket Hunt