At this point, he’s attended six World Cups, the most recent being Qatar 2022. Of those, four of them – Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Russia 2018 and Qatar – were travelled to by road.

Through his travels, he’s managed to visit 189 countries (he’s missing more or less 7 to have travelled the entire world, depending on who you ask) and has learned 10 languages (Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Greek, Nepali, Thai and Hindi).

The Qatar trip was made in a new van, one which will be used later next year for the Euros in Germany 2024.

Speaking to The Portugal News, Carlos Brum said the journey took “1.5 months from Portugal to Armenia,” where he had to stay for over two weeks trying to get a hold of his visa to enter Iran, the next country to have been on his route.

The trip started on the sunny shores of Portugal, heading up through Spain and then France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, then to Czechia, where he watched a game being played there. Then he went back down through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece before crossing over the Bosphorus and accessing the rest of Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t move onwards further, as his visa into Iran was rejected. On top of that, whilst the option of travelling through Iraq or Syria to bridge the gap did exist, Carlos considered it “not safe” enough to embark on due to the ongoing civil conflicts in either country. He ended up bringing the van back to Athens, where he parked it at a friend’s place and flew the remaining distance to Doha.

When asked about the highlights of the journey, Carlos mentioned the countries of “Turkey, Georgia,” and “Armenia.” The three countries, two of which split between Europe and Asia, were praised by the traveller for their “wonderful scenery,” characterised by soaring mountains and the lush forests on the Black Sea coast.

All in all, Carlos said the “journey went well, except for what happened with Iran.” The best parts to him were the nature he saw, as well as the people he met in the villages he visited. He may not have succeeded in completing his road trip from start to finish in the van, but maybe the real road trip was the friends he made along the way.

Carlos Brum will certainly be putting in his full effort to attend the next World Cup, taking place in North America in 2026. The plan for now is to just take public transport, as it’s difficult to bring a van across the pond, however, he’s stated he’ll ferry the van over if someone is willing to sponsor it.

Author

Star in the 2015 music video for the hit single “Headlights” by German musician, DJ and record producer Robin Schulz featuring American singer-songwriter Ilsey. Also a journalist.

Jay Bodsworth