I'm considering Rio for Christmas, if I go it will probaly be sometime around the 26 of December. I've never been so I'm in desperate need of some help with my visa, hotel, and someone to show me the ropes. I will know for sure if I'm going in about a week. And if your going to be in B.A. for Thanksgiving we can talk in great detail, lunch is on me.

Sign SuperJeff

superjeff
Christmas time has never been considered a good time for our hobby.

Don't know about Rio for sure, but in general you don't want to be in Latin American countries Xmas week or Easter week. Probably very little action to be had.

HC1

Does anyone have hard knowledge of what happens in Rio over Christmas week? With all due respect to the legendary hombres who have commented on this thread, so far I just see assumptions, no facts.

Do the termas close? Do all the beauties simply leave? Does Help empty out completely, leaving a bare shell of a building? And isn't it high season of sorts? I see the Hotel Drebet raises rates significantly come New Years'.

I should mention that I'm not in desperate quest of the legendary 10 - if I met a 7 or two who gave good GFE, I'd be blown away.

It happens to be the only vacation time I have, and as a result, it's Christmas Week or nothing, until I change jobs :-(. My vacation time runs from 21 December to 1 January, but due to horrid airfares during most of that time, I was thinking of going from 23 December to 31 December.

Sadly, Thailand and Manila are a bit pricey at $1,300-1,500 for the lowest fare. Rio is expensive but barely doable for me at a shade under $1,000. These are, of course, outrageous fares compared to what Hombres normally pay for out of holiday travel, so I'm more than a little bummed :-(.

Any other thoughts?

Thoughts?

D

New Years gets major raves from everyone (this is why the Debret's rates jump)...it would be a severe bummer if you go all the way down there and miss one of the bigger celebrations in the country by just a few hours...I would try to extend your stay for at least the day (return 1/2) if at all possible...where are you flying from (if I may ask) that your rate is so high? I know that's peak season, but still thought you'd be able to find something in the 800 ish range (be sure to check brol.com)...I can only add to the assumptions, as I don't live in Rio and haven't spent a xmas there, but general consensus seems to be that a lot of the girls (never all, but a lot) go home for at least a bit during the holidays (still a heavily catholic country) so you may be looking at slim pickin's...Dood or Don (email him thru rio trips) would have better insight, but I'd doubt that Rio would EVER be completely devoid of girls, just not bustlin' like usual is all...Bwana?

i have been spending something like 5 xmaxs&newyears.i would say that it is more girls just after christmas coming in for the new year.the girls at the termas are still at the terma.you will have the rio girls there and the girls coming in for the revellion!iggy sca.

Rexxx, I'm flying from LAX.

Examples: LAX to GIG, brol.com, $2,051.84 was the cheapest fare, depart 21 December, back 1 January.

If I sacrifice 1 January and leave on 31 December, the fare goes to $1,602.84.

Changing my departure date to January 2 mysteriously gave me First Class only on VARIG for $8,877.00. At this rate, I'd might as well charter a private jet instead!

The lowest fare I've found was through Orbitz and it was something like $962 from the 23rd to the 31st.

As you can see, this is pretty horrifying considering that most of the rest of the year it would cost maybe $500-700.

On the other hand, I'd be quite surprised if the Real didn't continue its plunge, so prices should be, well, absurdly low.

I'm thinking there have to be lower fares, but so far every travel site I've found has been pretty tough. It may be time for me to contact a human travel agent.

What happened to Don, anyway? http://www.riotrips.com seems to be gone, showing only an ISP configuration page.

D

Don's still around...he's not the most internet savvy dude in the world (no offense don!) and his typing skills suck, so couple that with the fact that he's swamped with mongers and trying to get everything together for a huge group incoming on Thanksgiving, and I think you can write the site off for a bit...email him, and his sister Rhonda who handles all the admin duties will get back to you within a couple days...

Sorry to hear about those fares, but it is peak of the peak season, so I guess it makes sense...maybe wait til last minute and try to do priceline or something? At those prices you don't have much to lose anyway...

By the way, my buddy told me they raised the Visa prices to $100 bucks on Nov. 1st. Is that true? If so, damn, they've doubled the price of the visas this year...

yes we raised it for them .. so of course they raised it for us.

Davidd- Try travelocity and United, UNited has incredible low fares now, even for Carnival, not sure about Xmas, never checked, but worth a shot.

Guys:

http://www.brazilianvacation.com/AirOnly.html, or call 1-800-BACC-RIO, preferably talk to Monica or Nice (pronounced Nee-SAY). They're based in NYC but will do LAX-GIG, no problem. I've been using them for the past 20 years....

Howver, it's more than a little late to be booking any Xmas season flights, they usually get sold out by August. You may just luck out, though.

As for Rio during the Xmas season, New Year's Eve is not to be missed, and there is nothing quite like laying on the beach with a cold drink in one hand and a hot "bundinha" in the other knowing that back home (Northeast USA, in my case) it's 10 fucking degrees and snowing. 8^D For that alone, the trip is worth it. However, Rexx and Iggy are both right - a lot of girls go home for the holidays, a lot of other girls make sure to come into town for the tourists ON holiday (brazilian and foreign) so it just about balances out. No, the Termas, etc do not close down... Xmas itself maybe somewhat dead (actually Xmas eve, Brazilains do the present thang on Xmas Eve, have a big party and then sleep it off on Xmas Day), but you are flying in on the 26th, right? Otherwise, make sure to line up some talent beforehand. Even on Xmas, there's got to be some puta somewhere happy to make a buck....

Enjoy!


BS