Brazil Travel Guide
Tags: Thanksgiving Alternatives / Thanksgiving Travel / New York City / Rio de Janeiro Travel / → All Tags
Skip The Macy's Parade For Four Nights In Rio This Thanksgiving
If it's good enough for Madonna and Jesus, then it's good enough for you. As we reported today, the transformative Queen of Pop recently landed in Rio de Janiero for "humanitarian" work and quite possibly to meet her boyfriend's parents. We're not sure if this contributes to Rio's international appeal or detracts from it, but we did happen to stumble across a four-night travel package, airfare included, for Thanksgiving travel to the Brazilian city.
Travelzoo recently posted a $699 (base price) all-inclusive deal which includes roundtrip travel from New York City, daily breakfast, four nights accommodations, and the option to tack tour extras onto your package. The catch is, as we mentioned, the date that you'll have to depart—either dangerously close to Thanksgiving on the 19th, or the day itself. So, you'll have to decide whether forgoing turkey, football, and that yearly screening of the MACY*S parade is worth the $700 pricetag.
Tags: Celeb Travel / Rio de Janeiro Travel / Christmas Travel / Madonna / → All Tags
Madonna Touches Down In Rio For The Poor And For Jesus
Madonna landed in Rio de Janeiro yesterday for a week long trip that may include meeting her boyfriend's mother and speaking with government officials about poverty.
Several reports are saying that the superstar is nervous about meeting Jesus Luz' family for the first time and that it may be a sign things are heating up between them. But Madge told Page Six the rumors aren't true and she is "there strictly for fundraising and humanitarian purposes.” We find it suspect that she would visit her boyfriend's hometown with him and not stop by to say hi to his moms. Maybe it's the age difference that is keeping her away, and we're not talking about the age difference between her and Jesus. Madonna also happens to be 14 years older than his mother!
Tags: Travel Tweet of the Week / Twitter / Twitter Travel / Brazil Travel / → All Tags
Tweet Of The Week: Direct From Brazil's Iguazu Falls
We love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because the day brings many travel tips and quips as "Travel Tuesday" on Twitter, and we're going to share our favorite with you. Got an avid travel twitterer we should follow? Let us know.
The announcement of Rio's win of the 2016 Olympics may already be weeks behind us, but the good feelings continue as the tourism focus turns decidedly southern. For this reason, we specifically loved @sambayogi's unique addition to #traveltuesday—a live-tweeted picture of her visit to Brazil's Iguazu Falls:
Iguazu Falls, Brazil took my breath away- worth 14-hr bus ride from Floripa!
For the 14-hour bus ride alone, she deserves "Travel Tweet of the Day," and for those who haven't yet had the fortune to spend some time on Brazilian beaches, "Floripa" is short for the city of Florianopolis. Because of Floripa's exotic oceanside scenery and nightlife, the next few years should see some Olympics-prep refurbishment right along with Rio, so add it to your list.
Related Stories:
· @sambayogi [Twitter]
· Twitter coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Very Awesome Stuff / Azul / All-You-Can-Jet Pass / David Neeleman / Jetblue / Airline News / Brazil Travel / South American Travel / → All Tags
Azul Announces $285 All-You-Can-Jet Pass For Brazil
It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the final day that Jetblue's All-You-Can-Jet Pass is valid. While the AYCJers return to solid ground after tomorrow, they now have a new option for extending the fun, if they're willing to very adventurous. David Neeleman, who originally formed Jetblue and now has his own LCC based in Brazil, is inspired by the AYCJ Jetblue model, and has announced the Passaporte Azul from Azul.
Do you know how genius the All-You-Can-Jet Pass was? Well, the Passaporte Azul is possibly even more genius: for 499 BRL ($285), you can fly Azul's route map just as freely as you did Jetblue's, only this time you'll be hopping through a country wholly excited by Rio's Olympic win and full of cheap and vibrant places to discover.
More details, after the jump.
Tags: Olympics / Olympics Travel / 2016 Rio Olympics / Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Travel / Video / Sports / → All Tags
Thinking of a Master Plan: Snazzy Video Nabs 2016 Olympics for Rio
As an American, I was disappointed that Chicago didn't win the 2016 Summer Olympics, but I've got to admit that Rio looks like a pretty spectacular choice. I've never been, but watching their official candidate commercial yesterday moved it to the top of my list of dream trips. Today I happened upon the city's master plan pitch, and it really looks like Brazilian officials have thought this thing through. I'm not surprised the I.O.C. believed that South America in general, and Rio in particular, would be the perfect host for the games.
Tags: Olympics / Olympics Travel / 2016 Rio Olympics / Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Travel / Travel News / → All Tags
And The 2016 Olympic City Is...Rio de Janeiro!
It's time to break out the Mardi Gras beads and barely-there bustiers and learn how to spell "Rio de Janeiro" without hesitating, because Rio is indeed the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games. All this morning and early afternoon, the world was glued to their TVs and Twitter as the Olympic Committee first heard final pleas from the delegations from Chicago (Prez Obama was there), Rio, Tokyo and Madrid and then announced their decision in favor of the first Olympics to be held in South America.
While people rush onto Copacabana and Ipanema beaches to celebrate, we can already imagine the tour operators and airlines brainstorming their deals for travel to Brazil in 2016 and even these next few years as the city strengthen its infrastructure and emerges as a true hot destination.
Tags: Travel Gear / Gear / Hats / Jam It or Slam It? / Active Travel / Fashion / → All Tags
Jam It or Slam It: My New Brazilian Cargo Truck Tarp Hat
So I got this new hat, and I think it's pretty neat. It's a Tarp Hat from a company called The Real Deal and it's made from the recycled tarpaulins of Brazilian cargo trucks that have traveled from the Amazon to Sao Paolo and back again. It's sturdy and has a nice wide brim, which is why I like it, as I'll take as much sun protection as I can get.
Tags: Travel Deals / Rio de Janeiro Travel / Travelzoo / Labor Day Travel / → All Tags
Head To Rio's Copa, Copacabana Over Labor Day For $599
This is how we want to spend our Labor Day weekend: kicking it in Rio de Janeiro and staying only two blocks away from the famous Copacabana Beach. And only $599 for a four-day trip with airfare, hotel and breakfast included? We'll be there with yellow feathers in our hair and a dress cut down to there.
Vacation-planning/tour-guide company Gate 1 teamed with Travelzoo to run the holiday special, which includes round-trip airfare from New York City to Rio (other departure cities are available, but you have to check with Gate 1). The airline that will swoop you off to Rio depends on availability; we tried booking the package several times and both American Airlines and Delta popped up as our carriers. With taxes and fees (and a "package airfare" charge of $362.44), the final price is $1,068.14.
To take advantage of the deal, you have to start your extended Labor Day vacay on Sept. 3, though you can opt to leave Sept. 10, 17, 24 for an extra $50.
Tags: Flight 447 / Air France / Tragedies / → All Tags
$24,500 For Families of Air France Victims, But Still No Black Box
With just over a week left to retrieve the black box of Air France Flight 447 before it gives up the ghost, search teams and airline authorities are beginning to wind down and instead turn their focus onto the families of the victims.
Although they've recovered approximately fifty bodies of the 228 on board and whole sections of the aircraft's galley, CNN reports that the "head of the French accident investigation board, Paul-Louis Arslanian, said this week that there is a chance the entire aircraft may never be found." Aircraft wreckage or not, Air France will begin compensating the families of the deceased, to the tune of $24,500 per victim regardless of class flown.
In addition to the money, Air France has sent counselors to the aid of some 1,800 relatives of the victims, who were of 32 different nationalities. The Wikipedia page on the tragedy has a graph of these nationalities and how many were on board, showing some from Gabon, Estonia and Lebanon even. This next week should bring the conclusion of major searches, but we're far from having questions answered.
Related Stories:
· Air France pays $24,500 to crash victims' families [CNN]
· Air France Black Box Search Borrows The Titanic's Sub [Jaunted]
· Flight 447 Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: AP]
Tags: Flight 447 / Air France / Tragedies / Submarines / → All Tags
Air France Black Box Search Borrows The Titanic's Sub
It's been exactly a week now since the mysterious disappearance of Air France Flight 447 somewhere off the coat of Brazil. At first, it seemed as though the search parties were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, with no definite search area and not even a solid guarantee that the flight had hit the ocean.
Earlier last week, what appeared to be debris from the fatal flight had been found, but this was determined to be run-of-the-mill ocean trash on Thursday. As of this weekend, be-logoed Air France airplane pieces have been found along with the bodies of 17 passengers, therefore confirming that the plane met with a tragic fate.
Tags: Breaking News / Tragedies / Air France / Flight 447 / → All Tags
Air France Flight Missing Off Brazilian Coast; Search Underway
This morning's beautiful weather quickly turned sour as the world learned of the possible loss of Air France Flight 447, traveling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris with 228 people on board.
Around 10pm EST, the twin-engine Airbus hit turbulence caused by storms over the Atlantic Ocean, causing an automatic message "signaling electrical circuit malfunction" to be sent out from the airplane. According the AP, there has been no other information regarding the fate of the plane except for the simple admittance that Brazil's air force has begun "searching near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha," an area 1,500 miles northeast of Rio.
Flight 447, which was supposed to have arrived at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport at 5:15am EST, is feared to have been hit by lightning. If lost, this possible crash would be the first for Air France since the tragedy of the Concorde's 2000 crash, which killed 113 people. Now however, we're looking at double the loss of life and a much more difficult location and recovery area.
We simply can't hold back: is anyone else thinking of Oceanic Flight 815? We'll be hoping for the best and watching the news as it rolls in, attempting to banish thoughts of Lost from our heads.
Related Stories:
· Air France Missing Plane May Be First Fatal Loss Since Concorde [Bloomberg]
· Missing French jet hit thunderstorms over Atlantic [AP]
· Tragedies Coverage [Jaunted]
[Air France photo: caribb]
Tags: Bike Sharing / Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Travel / Bicycling / → All Tags
Rio de Janeiro Sambas Into Bike Sharing
If cities like Milan, Shanghai, and Mexico City can enjoy successful bike rental programs, then we've been wondering when a South American capital would climb aboard the eco-friendly trend. As it turns out, Rio de Janeiro quietly launched their own bike sharing program last November, which welcomes tourists with open arms (or handlebars).
Appropriately named Samba, which in Portuguese conveniently means "Alternative Mobility Solution though Bike Renting," Samba is using this spring and summer to build up to 42 stations with 500 total bikes by the end of the year; it's a small number compared to Paris' Velib and its 20,600+ bicycles, but nonetheless a great start.
