Final Check List for Rio

[Big Daddy]

I am heading for Rio on Wednesday the 22nd, arriving around 11 AM on Thursday. I have mentioned the fact before that I am a very inexperienced traveler, at least to very exotic International destinations (or very inexotic Internatinal destinations for that matter) and am still somewhat anxious. I have read everything on this list since the beginning, so feel that I will be as well prepared as any novice can be.

 

I want to travel as lightly as possible. I am going to be in Rio until the 4th of November. I am planning on bringing my Phoenix winter clothes, which means nothing very heavy or warm. Walking shorts, casual pants, casual shirts, T shirts are what I am planning on packing. If I need anything else, will just buy it there. I am assuming that I can get anything in Rio that I can in Phoenix. I do have a few questions, which I know may annoy some of you.

 

1. Do I have to bring my own Equal or Sweet and Low. Do restaurants normally have it available? Are diet sodas available like they are here?

 

2. I have read, but cannot now find it in the archieves that upon entry, customs will give me an exit permit or some paperwork that I must present when I leave. Is this true or something I imagined?

 

3. I know I should copy my passport and Visa. Should I carry my passport with me at all times or should I leave it in the hotel and carry the photo copy?

 

4. Has anyone developed a check list of what to bring to Rio, and could share it with me.

 

I am really looking forward to competing with Tomcal. Like some atheletes, I do not use performance enhancers. So I may be at a disadvantage. Perhaps we could have two catagories in the competition. 1. Most boys without Viagra and 2. Most boys, no restrictions, all the Viagra you want.

 

Big Daddy

[trilingual]

>1. Do I have to bring my own Equal or Sweet and Low. Do

>restaurants normally have it available? Are diet sodas

>available like they are here?

 

All restaurants and cafés have artificial sweetener. If for some reason it's not on your table, or they don't bring it, just ask for "adoçante." (Pron. ah-doh-SAHN-chee) Diet sodas are available virtually everywhere. The two most common are "Coke Light" and "Guaraná Diet." Plain sparkling mineral water ("agua com gas") is also available everywhere.

 

>2. I have read, but cannot now find it in the archieves that

>upon entry, customs will give me an exit permit or some

>paperwork that I must present when I leave. Is this true or

>something I imagined?

 

You didn't imagine it. You'll receive a two-part form on the plane that you fill out and present when you get to Brazilian immigration. They'll stamp it and keep the top copy. The second copy will be returned to you. That's the exit form, which you should keep with your passport so it can be turned in to immigration at the airport on departure.

 

>3. I know I should copy my passport and Visa. Should I carry

>my passport with me at all times or should I leave it in the

>hotel and carry the photo copy?

 

Unless you're going to change money or do business in Brazil, you won't need your passport. Leave it in your room and just carry the copy in the unlikely event you will need to show ID. You'll need your passport number for the registration form when you check into the hotel. If you're planning to travel in Brazil, you'll need the original passport to check in, just as you would need original ID to check in for a flight in the U.S.

 

>4. Has anyone developed a check list of what to bring to Rio,

>and could share it with me.

 

Besides the Magnum XLs, your favorite lube, and a few gifts/trinkets for the boys, you'll be fine. Your Phoenix wardrobe will be perfect for Rio. DO remember to bring any prescription meds. Carry them with you on the plane if you will need to take them during the umpteen hour flight, and to avoid being without them in Rio if your bags go astray. Film, suntan lotion and insect repellent are worth bringing from home, because they are not cheap in Brazil. Anything else you can get in Rio, if you forget your toothpaste or shampoo or socks or whatever. There are several supermarkets, drugstores and a Lojas Americanas store (similar to the late, lamented Woolworth's) near the hotel where you can pick up those kinds of items. There are zillions of clothing stores in Copacabana or in the RioSul shopping center nearby, too, if you need a new shirt, swimsuit, etc.

 

Happy travels!

[CT Dick]

>1. Do I have to bring my own Equal or Sweet and Low. Do

>restaurants normally have it available? Are diet sodas

>available like they are here?

I traveled with a diabetic friend and he had some trouble finding artificial sugar. I'd carry some. Yes, diet sodas are available.

 

>2. I have read, but cannot now find it in the archieves that

>upon entry, customs will give me an exit permit or some

>paperwork that I must present when I leave. Is this true or

>something I imagined?

Yes, you will get a form that you must give them to exit. I put it in my passport.

 

>3. I know I should copy my passport and Visa. Should I carry

>my passport with me at all times or should I leave it in the

>hotel and carry the photo copy?

I carry the copy and leave the original in my hotel room safe. BTW, you get a key on a chain at check-in and the safe is usually in your closet.

 

>I am really looking forward to competing with Tomcal.

Don't bother trying. :7

 

Dick

[jackhammer91406]

Big Daddy,

I am looking forward to meeting you. I arrive on Thursday the 23rd and depart on Nov 4th as well. Should be fun watching you and Tomcal go at it. Hope you save some time and energy to enjoy the other aspects of travel to another country.

I am in a flurry of activity myself trying to get everything ready. I have charged up a fortune in new clothes and have found everything needed except sandals (curracchis sp?) Also have been stuggling to load in program software to make pics in my posts possible. I am trying to learn the intricacies of my new digital camera as well. Part of me wants the remaining four days to go quickly and part of me is trying to fit all this activity into the time left. Talk about schizophrenic (sp?)

I will try to do a trial posts with pics over the weekend to make sure I understand the procedure, so look for Jackhammer's IN-BEDed thread soon. I can't believe this is actually going to happen. GRINGO, I wish you could be there earlier!!!!.

See you guys next week.

 

[Guest Gringo]

Jackhammer, Skewer, Tri, Tom, Gulliver, FloridaRob, and all the friends I have met in person or come to know through the written word online---my heart is heavy because I will not be able to share Octoberfest with you. But you know I will be there with you in spirit. My plans are to arrive in late November and stay through Carnavale. But I am sure Mother Brasil will warm your being and the tribal drums we have all hear deep in our subconscious all our lives will beat a rhythm beyond your collective expectations. Christo Redemptor awaits your arrival with open arms. It is unnatural to turn your back on the passion that awaits you---unless of course, that happens to be your preferred position. ;-) I wish you all the very best trip. If you give Rio half a chance, the magic will seduce you and you will never be the same again. Boa viagem. :+

[trilingual]

>I have charged up a fortune in new clothes and have

>found everything needed except sandals.

 

Jack, I'm not sure what kind of sandals you're talking about, but you might just want to wait until you get to Rio to buy them.

 

If you're looking for beach flip-flops ("chinelos" in Portuguese) you can find them for sale in supermarkets, drugstores, Lojas Americanas, etc. Havaiianas is "the" brand to get; they've become exceptionally trendy among the fashionistas, but there are other brands that are equally good. They're very cheap.

 

For leather sandals, try the Rio shoe stores. Brazil has a huge shoe industry, so there's a very large selection and quality is good. There are many good shoe stores, but one that has American styles you can wear back home is called Mr. Cat. There are branches in Copacabana and the RioSul mall. MUCH cheaper than in the U.S. or Europe. (When my friends from Berlin were in Rio a few months ago, they went hog wild at Mr. Cat. They loved the styles, and were just agape at how inexpensive everything was compared to back home! If I recall, they bought some nice sandals there, as well as some dress shoes.)

[Guest msclonly]

Traveling light!

 

My life has improved, since I have learned to travel with a rollon, and half the stuff, that I thought was necessary. Easier to be the first off the plane and out the airport door without lugging a 3 or 4 suiter. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, when I got to the airport, I learned, that I forgot to take the smaller carryon with Rx and supplements. Made it through the long weekend, anyway.

 

 

 

:+ :+ :+

[Guest Tomcal_]

RE: Traveling light!

 

My friend and myself, take a average size carryon for 10 days in Rio.

This is all you need...really:

One pair of jeans...which you wear on the plane

one pair of shorts/bermuda/skaterboard etc

One swim suit if desired

7 T's or short sleaved shirts, and one long sleeved shirt on the off chance that there might be a night with temps under 70!

Dont bother with underwear, your taking them on and off so many times every day!! lol

Pair of sneakers and a pair of sandles, no other shoes!

The Atlantico hotel has a laundry service that will have your clothes back to you in 6 hours, so if you get your jeans dirty, spill food on them at Corujinhas, the next morning send them to be cleaned put on the shorts you will be wearing during the day time anyway, and by 4:00 pm your jeans are back. Same with the shirts, bring 7, take the first 3 days shirts have them cleaned to wear the last three days of your 10 day stay, we won't notice you are wearing the same shirt as when you arrived, we are too busy looking at the boys. You don't want to hassle with checked baggage, especially if you flight has a change of planes/and or stops.

You can get into any restaurant in Rio in jeans or shorts. Last April we went to Marials, a zaget rated top restaurant in Leme, (I hope a group of us can go back there this time!!!) and I was wearing jeans and a T, my friend was wearing shorts and a T and no problem. Make it easy on yourself, remember the majority of the time you are only going to be wearing a towel!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!!

[Guest Tomcal_]

RE: Traveling light!

 

(Duplicate posting deleted.)

[trilingual]

RE: Traveling light!

 

Depending on your routing, you may want to consider checking your bags. There are fewer direct flights to Rio these days, and even with roller-equipped luggage it can be a hassle trying to rush through one (or two) big airports trying to make a connection. Especially if you're unlucky enough to have to go through security more than once!

 

I know there's always a risk of your bags not showing up (it's happened to me a couple of times over the years, although they always made an appearance within a couple of days). I'd suggest carrying-on something as small and light as possible with your shaving kit and any meds you absolutely must have immediate access to, plus a clean shirt and underwear. Depending on the size of the piece, you could also include a clean pair of pants/shorts and your swimsuit (if that's an important item for you.) That can get you over the hump if your bag does go astray. However, in an emergency you can always go shopping for something to tide you over if your bag stays behind in Miami, or something. If this happens to you in Brazil when you arrive on a Sunday, don't panic because of all the closed shops in Copacabana. Stores in the big shopping centers now open for part of the day on Sundays. Usually they're all open by 3:00 p.m. So just head for RioSul around that time to replace anything you need while you're waiting for your bag to show up and be delivered to your hotel.

[axebahia]

RE: The Secret of Travelling

 

>My life has improved, since I have learned to travel with a

>rollon, and half the stuff, that I thought was necessary.

>Easier to be the first off the plane and out the airport door

>without lugging a 3 or 4 suiter.

 

That's the secret of travelling as most experienced travellers know. Get a good quality expandable rollon with wheels on the side (not in the center) that move smoothly, and pack enough for about 3 days and then launder and recycle. The bitch is to get the shoes to fit, but that's less of a problem if you are vacation bound in Brazil. I would strongly advise against checking luggage. Given the large number of connecting flights, the short delays between connections, and random security checks for checked luggage, the risks of lost or delayed luggage are now substantial, the views of Rabbi Trisexual to the contrary notwithstanding.

[Guest pyell]

RE: The Secret of Travelling

 

Last January I flew from Canberra (the Australian capital) to Moscow. I had a plane change in Sydney and at London Heathrow. My bags arrived promptly on the carousel at Moscow Sheremetyevo.

 

I've had many other experiences of complex plane changes and the only time my bags ever missed the flight was when a plane from Calgary landed in LAX with only 20 minutes left to catch the flight to Australia.

 

So I'm with trilingual here: check your bags, and carry a change of clothes plus toiletries in your cabin bag. The probabilities are extremely high that your baggage will make it to the other end with you.

 

I travel overseas at least once a year. It is my invariable practice where possible to change some money into the local currency before I leave the previous airport. So when I fly to London, for example, I always have some pounds sterling bought at Sydney. Sometimes you can't do it (some currencies can't be bought abroad) but it's worthwhile just in case there's something wrong with the currency exchange at the other end.

 

Years ago I arrived in Budapest at the major international station - to find all the currency exchanges closed. Trying to find a hotel to change money at 10pm in a foreign country is a major, major hassle when you can't use a taxi or even a tram to get there because you haven't got any local cash!

[axebahia]

RE: The Secret of Travelling

 

>I've had many other experiences of complex plane changes and

>the only time my bags ever missed the flight was when a plane

>from Calgary landed in LAX with only 20 minutes left to catch

>the flight to Australia.

 

Lucky you, but in the past 5 years, I have had trouble with ;ost or delayed luggage in changes in JFK, Rio, Frankfurt, London and Hong Kong. Considering how frequently I travel, and how rarely I check luggage, that's a huge percentage. A good roll-on is all that is neeed. Why take the risk?

[trilingual]

RE: The Secret of Travelling

 

Each of us has his own comfort level with checking bags, of course. My own experience is pretty close to Pyell's. Bags have gone astray, but it's been an exceptional occurrence. It seems to me that it happens less now that I usually fly all the way to Brazil on American, which has computer-generated luggage check tags coded to the passenger's name and ticket. That's also probably true if you fly on airlines that use a similar luggage checking system. Sometimes, though, when I'm not going for a long period and traveling light, I go ahead and carry-on anyway. Now that the airlines have tightened up on how much stuff passengers can carry aboard it's not as much of a struggle to find an overhead bin in which to stow the bag. That used to be a real problem when passengers were allowed to carry on what looked like TVs and small refrigerators to carry home to South America!

 

You can reduce the risk of a checked bag going astray by insisting on seeing the baggage check tags before they go on your luggage. Be sure they have your name, the right flight number(s) and the correct airport code(s) on them before they get put on your bags. Once in a while the counter agent or even the computer system can screw up and print out the wrong destination, and your bag could end up in Riyadh when you're going to Rio!

 

The last couple of times my luggage went missing going to Rio, the bag for some reason didn't get loaded onto the connecting flight in Miami, but was found there and sent onward the next day. These days, when so many Rio-bound flights stop first in São Paulo, there's also a risk that the bag may get unloaded accidentally in SP instead of Rio. However, if that happens, it's easy for the airline to get your bag back to Rio when it's found in SP, as there are so many flights a day between the two cities.

[jackhammer91406]

RE: Traveling light!

 

This has always been a problem for me. I tend to take long vacations (this time for two weeks, but often for a month). Even when there are laundry facilities at the final destination, I can never seem to pare down to the bare minimum of clothing. I am not a fashion horse as the guys from L.A. chapter of Hooville can attest, but for some reason I like to have a variety of shirts and shorts/levis available. I will try this time to go light on the back up clothes since Tomcal will be watching to see if I took his advice. As for checking bags, I have only had bags delayed once, and that was during the storm in NY & DC last February. My flight to DC was cancelled and I was rerouted through Denver (ugh!) The bag arrived the next day at 2 in the morning. But I got it. so this time I think I will take a small carryon with 1 days worth and toiletries/meds/snacks/dvds. The rest will go in a moderate sized bag with wheels to be checked. If it gets lost, then Tomcal will get his way, only I will have just one shirt, one shorts, one pair of socks, and one pair of underwear (no I am not ready to go back to au natural...the balls are already at my knees..heheh).

I am going to start to pack today (a first for me). Maybe this way, I won't forget anything.

See you in RIO.

[Big Daddy]

RE: Traveling light!

 

Thanks Tomcal, I really needed that! I plan on following your advice to a T. I was getting myself all worked up and my planning seemed to be based on my moving to Rio, rather than visiting for 12 days. I will be leaving behind suit, sweater, coats, dress shoes etc. and concentrate on T shirts, casual pants/shirts and 1 pair of shoes, plus sandles.

 

Went to the Phoenix Swap Meet this morning and purchased Arizona logo t shirts and baeball caps. Also got a dozen boxes of brightly colored rubbers. We can always use them as party balloons.

 

I had thought that I would be very anxious as my departure date approached. Instead, I have achieved an almost serene calm, knowing that in just a few days, I will be in what has got to be the closed thing to gay heaven that exists on earth.

[Guest msclonly]

RE: Traveling light!

 

Let's hear it for ROLLON!

 

[Guest msclonly]

RE: The Secret of Travelling

 

TomCal and Axe haver learned the secret to hassle free travel.

But seven shirts ? How about 3-4 wash and wears (Hawaian shirts) with two pair of slacks, 1 pr shoes and 1 pr sandals, some washable underware, swim suit and shorts. Even room for pj's to counter the air conditioning muscle spasms. Room left for toiletries and new purchases.

 

If your luggage ever got delayed or lost, you know just how little you really need to live comfortably and survive.

 

:+ :o

[Driver]

RE: Traveling light!

 

My bag with the gifts in hasbeen searched and the padlock removed at some point in the transit process. Even a sealed gift has been opened and the contents examined. However despite some tempting items, as far as I can see nothing has been taken.

[Guest msclonly]

Sweeter then sugar!

 

The finest sweetner comes from the Amazon in Brazil, which the Indians have used for eons. It is a plant, STEVIA REBAUDIANA.

The ground leaf has an earthy taste and is about 25 times sweeter then sugar and less the 1/2 calorie per serving with NONE of the side effects.

A tip of the teaspoon equals one teaspoon of sugar in sweetness.

 

An EXTRACT of the Stevia is even more concentrated without the earthy taste. It is a pure white powder and very palatable. I have seen claims of 300 times to 3000 times sweeter then sugar. I have used it for last 17 years and lost the taste for sweet sugary tastes and foods!

I put it in a salt shaker and use only a few sprinkles or specks, when desired. An ounce will last over a year! It is showing up in Health Food store, because of it's superiority and healthy aspects. Paricularly for Heart disease, diabetes, etc.

I will be interested to see, if they have it in the stores in Rio and the cost.

 

It really makes coffee and tea taste great. Artificial sweetners so commonly used, are detrimental to your health and the body has to eliminate them, since they are not metabolised by the body.

 

:9 :9 :9

[trilingual]

RE: Sweeter then sugar!

 

Stevia sweetener is available in the supermarkets and health food stores in Rio.

[bigguyinpasadena]

RE: Sweeter then sugar!

 

I have tried stevia also,It has a slight anise flavor which,while not unpleasant,can take some getting used to.

Trader Joes carries it at a fair price.There is a long history of stevia being undermarketed because of preassure from surgar cartels.