Chris Rattue: The other cup venues, where the planes take off

COMMENT

You have time to dwell on many things while covering a World Cup.

Like how airlines are perfecting the art of giving you things to eat that are increasingly difficult to eat.

In a giant leap forward, they have taken the exploding milk container to new levels.

They were obviously not happy with the contents of this cute little capsule merely spurting all over the tray.

Attempts to open them now result in a spray of white flying all over your lap and even hurtling beyond.

Don't approach the cockpit holding one of these devices, because you could be arrested.

After wiping down your fellow travellers and enjoying a coffee with two sugars and two drops of milk, you simply don't have the energy to attack the other nifty new food offering - an orange.

By the next World Cup, they'll be putting the milk in bank vaults and serving unopened coconuts.

What's this got to do with the World Cup?

Plenty, because World Cups are all about travel.

When you're a world away from the tournament, as I have been for the past three, they seem like compact affairs.

When you're slapped in the middle of one, it can be hard to find.

This journey started in Brisbane, getting to grips with the setting for New Zealand's match against the Tongans.

But while Brisbane braced itself for this mighty clash, the All Blacks were strolling around their hotel in the leafy boulevard that is St Kilda Rd in Melbourne, and the Tongans were hitting the tackle bags in Canberra.

For the semifinals, the English and the French have taken what these days is the highly unusual step of basing themselves in the same latitude and longitude as the match venue. The French are in Bondi, the English in Manly.

But true to form, the All Blacks are clinging to Melbourne, and the Australians are hiding out at their coastal base in Coffs Harbour, hundreds of kilometres away from the bustle of Sydney.

The World Cup is an airport tournament, and the airport action gathers momentum.

Unlike the Olympics, no one hangs around. Once you're out of the tournament, you're out of the country.

There are none of those Olympic-type festival endings, although the fans are allowed to stay.

Uruguay captain Diego Aguirre will be back running his graphic design business by now, the Namibian lion tamer will be cracking the whip somewhere, and the Georgians have long since packed up their tents, so to speak.

South African coach Rudolf Straeuli, who faces a race row inquiry, will be gearing up for his own potential final rather than preparing his side for one. After France whipped Ireland on Sunday, their fans mingled and celebrated loudly outside the Telstra Dome, some on shoulders, fuelled by the occasion among other things and singing and waving their respective tricolours.

At Melbourne Airport the next day, South African and Irish supporters wandered around, looking a little lost.

A Springbok fan quite earnestly told an Irishman: "You guys were brilliant in the second half."

The Irishman looked at him like he was nuts. Then he rested his head on the back of a hand, indicating that his side had fallen asleep in the first half against France.

"We're so disappointed," he said.

If the quarter-final form is anything to go by, one of the teams departing early next week won't have far to go.

Many of the Australian players will be able to drive home as the All Blacks head back to base.

And the form guide indicates that will leave the French and their enthusiastic supporters as the only team in Sydney town.

It is the high-priced Englishmen who are likely to be jetting away. With their budget, they probably won't have to battle with oranges, although they may not escape the exploding milk.

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