Brazil Travel Guide
6/25/2008 at 12:35 PM
Tags: Richard Branson, Virgin Brazil, New Airlines (all tags)
Billionaire and serial airline starter Richard Branson now wants a piece of Brazil. He just announced that he's in talks with partners in the country to launch what we can only assume will be called Virgin Brazil.
He'll certainly need the help of locals: The nation only allows foreign investors to control 20 percent of a given domestic airline. That's a problem David Neeleman was able to avoid with his own new airline because the JetBlue founder has Brazilian citizenship.
Branson says talks are ongoing, which makes sense: It took Virgin America years to get off the ground because of foreign ownership concerns, hyped by already-established airlines in the US. We can't imagine TAM and Gol will be too keen to compete with him on their South American turf.
Related Stories:
· Virgin's Branson May Launch Brazilian Airline [Reuters]
· Rampant Speculation: A Neeleman-Branson Airline? [Jaunted]
· Richard Branson's Indian Dream [Jaunted]
[Photo: Jaunted]
by pbb
6/13/2008 at 3:45 PM
Tags: Crime, Drugs, Drug Travel, Dangerous Travel (all tags)
The Brazillian government is cracking down on masked militias after an incident last month where several journalists were tortured for more than six hours by a gang of armed thugs wearing ninja hoods. The reporters had gone undercover in one of Rio de Janeiro's infamous favelas to investigate the "illegal economy" in the notorious slums.
MORE...
by Hunter Walker
5/30/2008 at 3:31 PM
Tags: Brazil Travel, Jungle Travel, The Natives Are Restless (all tags)
Experts with the Brazilian Indian Affairs department captured rare photos of a lost Amazon tribe while flying over one of the remotest corners of the South American jungle. The pictures show loincloth-clad warriors decked out in bright red body paint--waving bows and arrows at the photographers.
The experts who took the photographs say they arranged the flights in order to raise awareness about the more than 100 so-called uncontacted tribes living in the Amazon. These groups are currently in danger due to logging and the loss of their land.
Most of the isolated Amazonian tribes are spread throughout Brazil and Peru. Let the countdown for jungle vacation packages with mud massages and poison dart-making classes commence!
Related Stories:
· Rare Uncontacted Tribe Photographed in Amazon [Reuters]
· Jungle Paparazzo in Airplane Photographs "Uncontacted" Tribe [WorldHum]
· Brazil Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Survival International]
by Hunter Walker
5/29/2008 at 11:30 AM
Tags: David Neeleman, New Airlines, Airlines, Embraer, Azul, Brazil Travel (all tags)
David Neeleman's new Brazilian airline, Azul is chugging right along. The latest word is that the first flights will happen in January of 2009, and to tide us over, the carrier has released its new "corporate identity."
Yet again, we're seeing a lot of JetBlue in Azul. For starters, the livery on these Embraer jets looks familiar. B6 paints its E190s the same way, with blue on the bottom, white on top and a fancy tail pattern. Both airlines also have their web addresses stamped on the sides of their planes. Azul uses the Helvetica typeface--you've seen it at American Apparel, on American Airlines and on the NYC subway--while JetBlue works a slightly different sans serif face--called DIN--to get that jet-set look.
Inside, the similarities continue. Two-by-two leather seats are standard, and Azul plans to be the first Latin American airline with live TV in-flight. (Which JetBlue subsidiary company is providing it? LiveTV.)
Now, we're not saying all this copying is a bad thing; if the JetBlue model ain't broke, don't fix it. Want to join us in Brazil around, say, January 2009 to give Azul a try?
Related Stories:
· Neeleman's New Airline Name Sounds Familiar [Jaunted]
· Top Secret Airline Watch: Neeleman Hard at Work in Brazil [Jaunted]
by pbb
5/09/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Brazil Travel, National Parks, Animals (all tags)
Although most of the travel news coming out of Brazil recently is a bit odd--think floating priests and blue airlines--the Chapada Diamantina National Park has also been pumping out a few press releases, simply because it's stunningly beautiful. Their words, but we tend to agree.
A national park since the 1980s and in Bahia state in the northeast of the country, Chapada Diamantina is full of caves, rivers and hiking trails, some traces of gold and diamonds and tons of animals: parrots, lizards, and even jaguars and pumas.
Despite the PR push, info on Chapada Diamantina mentions that "there is no infrastructure support for visitors in the park." The tourist board recommends carrying water and sandwiches. We presume the sandwiches are to pacify hungry pumas that happen to pass by.
Related Stories:
· Valle de Capão, Brazil [About.com]
· Balloon Ride Goes Awry in Brazil [Jaunted]
· Brazil Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: philgee]
by amandak
5/07/2008 at 1:45 PM
Tags: David Neeleman, New Airlines, Airlines, Embraer, Azul, Brazil Travel (all tags)
The contest to name David Neeleman's new airline is over, and though Samba was the favorite among Brazilians, the airline mogul is instead going with the second-place name Azul ("Blue"). Of course, his previous venture was JetBlue. Must have a thing for airline names that match his eye color.
Now that the name is out of the way, Neeleman can focus on equipping his 76 new Embraer planes with leather seats and live satellite TV, two of the amenities that helped JetBlue earn so much customer loyalty soon after its first flight in 2000.
The new website for the airline, voeazul.com.br, doesn't offer much just yet, though you can fork over your email address for updates. We've already submitted ours, hoping Neeleman will ping us the second he makes another blue move.
Related Stories:
· Top Secret Airline Watch: Neeleman Hard at Work in Brazil [Jaunted]
· David Neeleman Confirms His Brazilian Airline [Jaunted]
by pbb
4/24/2008 at 2:30 PM
Tags: Dangerous Travel, Brazil Travel, Odd Travel (all tags)
Offered a hot air balloon ride? Make sure it's one balloon, not many: The Brazilian priest doing a charity stunt we told you about Wednesday has now been missing for five days after taking off from the coastal city of Paranagua. He was hooked up to 1,000 balloons.
Adelir Antonio de Carli wanted to raise money for a Christian outreach center for long-distance truckers, and parishioners said he had studied up on weather patterns and air currents in the region. But save a brief text message on Sunday night revealing he was about to crash into the Atlantic and traces of balloons found as far as 120 miles away, the priest seems to have disappeared, and local rescue workers are about to call off their search for him.
Maybe de Carli got the idea for his stunt from the 2004 movie "Danny Deckchair," in which an Australian man is mistakenly set aloft while sitting in a lawn chair. While fictional, the story was based on the real-life escapades of a Southern California man known as "Lawnchair Larry." These guys survived their stunts, but don't assume it's a good idea to travel this way--unless your destination is the Darwin Awards winner's circle.
Related Stories:
· Hope Fades for Finding Balloonist Priest [CTV]
· Here's Another Way to Fly Around Brazil [Jaunted]
· Dangerous Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: ctv.ca]
by egw
4/23/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: David Neeleman, Brazil Travel, Odd Travel, World Records (all tags)
While David Neeleman is working long hours to get a new Brazilian airline up and running, hopefully by next year, a Brazilian priest has been trying to show an easier way to get airborne.
We're guessing that Reverend di Carli thought something like "Who wants to wait around for an airline that doesn't even have a proper name yet," then hooked his chair to hundreds of helium-filled balloons and took off.
Okay, it might not have gone exactly like that, but it seems just as crazy, and the priest is missing over the ocean somewhere after losing his balloons. Seriously. The whole flight was supposed to be a record attempt to raise money, but it's raised hell instead. Now if only Neeleman's airline was already flying, they could help look for the reverend.
Related Stories:
· Brazilian Priest Still Missing At Sea [CNN]
· Neeleman Hard at Work in Brazil [Jaunted]
· Brazil Travel Guide [Jaunted]
[Photo: Mark McLaughlin]
by amandak
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