Preparation

As I get more and more comfortable with traveling abroad I find that I am starting to do less and less preparation. Contrast that to my first Thailand trip in 2001 where I spent about six months before my trip reading every bit of detail I could about the country, culture, sex and nightlife scene, etc. That is not to say I didn’t prepare for my first trip to Brazil. I do need to do a certain amount of preparation to feel comfortable, but it just seems like my preparation for my last two trips, Argentina and Brazil, were lacking compared to my trips to Thailand.

So what did I do to prepare? Well, I felt the biggest obstacles for me having a good time in Brazil would be the language, finding the nightlife and sex places, staying safe, and finding a good place to stay. Thank goodness there are several guides to Brazil that take care of finding the nightlife and sex places and finding a good place to stay. Highly recommend are Bwana Dik’s Rio Guide 2003 (Revised Edition, August 2003) and UWphoto’s Rio de Janeiro Cheat Sheet. Armed with those two wonderful resources, I was well on my way to finding what I needed to make my first trip a success.

Looking through Bwana_Dik’s guide I decided to book the Arpoador Inn Hotel for my first night in Rio. Since he recommends it, I figured it would be a decent and safe bet. But during the course of further research and reading, I decided that the Princess Copacabana ClubHombre.com Discussion, Internet Website was where I really wanted to stay. I booked that for my second night there through Bobby at Blame it on Rio 4 Travel. The rate for the single suite apartment was R$ 224.00 per night with a R$ 60.00 per guest fee.

So armed with Bwana_Dik’s guide, UWphoto’s cheat sheet, my reservations for the first couple of nights made, the next thing on my checklist was to learn a little Portuguese. Now let me first say that I am pretty bad when it comes to languages. I took two semesters of Spanish while in college in 1998. I also had learned a little bit of Spanish while growing up and I did a little bit of Pimsluer’s Spanish before going to Argentina. To say I am bad in Spanish is a huge understatement. I am not even conversational in it. But I know a few of the basics and speak about a few minor things when I go to Mexico. The same was the case when I went to Argentina last April.

This made me feel empowered while traveling, at least a little. Instead of being a complete fish out of water I at least could say a few things. And between that and someone who speaks a little English I was usually able to get my point across. It also helps with the taxis and then when talking and negotiating with the girls in the bars. I usually at least try and strike up a basic conversation. I could not get much beyond the basics, but I felt it still helped.

So with that in mind I set off doing 30 Units of Pimsleur’s Portuguese I. But I also wanted to learn how to read and write it. So while I was listening to the CD’s, I went to Altavista’s Babelfish or FreeTranslation.com and typed in the word in English to get the word in Portuguese. It didn’t always work, but that is when help from other members on the board kicked in. I logged all of my Portuguese learning adventures on the board under -Off-Topic-: -Foreign Languages: Portuguese: Pimsleur. Being able to see how the word was spelled helped a lot with pronunciation. I found it rather difficult to just duplicate the sounds the speakers made just by listening to it. I am a visual learner.

Having a little background in Spanish helped tremendously. A lot of the words were spelled exactly the same with just a different pronunciation. This also made it difficult sometimes as I could slip in and out of Spanish while attempting to practice the language.

The other thing I did was take a whole bunch of 3x5 index cards with me. I didn’t want to carry around a big spreadsheet or maps, so I planned to just write down the names and addresses of places I wanted to visit so I could show them to the taxi drivers. I figured there was no way in hell they were going to be able to understand my pronunciation of a street I had never heard pronounced before. So the index cards were the plan.

Airfare and Visa

At the time I purchased my plane ticket the fares were going for around $800-$1000 for the dates I wanted to travel. I went over to Priceline.com and bid $400 for the dates I wanted to travel. Stops and time are unimportant to me because the dates and times I travel are very flexible. They did not take $400 or $450, but they did take $500, which later became $600 with taxes and extras. There was a stop in Dallas and another in Miami before heading on down to Rio. American Airlines accepted my bid.

So now I have to get my visa. I am under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles. Jesus F**cking Christ you need a lot of shit to apply for a visa.

Let’s see, I needed:

• a passport valid for a minimum of six months from the date of intended arrival in Brazil (with at least one blank page available);
• one Visa Application Form, filled out, dated and signed by the applicant (parents must sign for minors under 18 years old);
• one recent 2”x 2” passport-photo, front view, white background. Snapshots or computer pictures are not accepted;
• a copy of a round-trip ticket or a booked itinerary showing travel to and from Brazil, confirming purchase of the ticket and passenger’s name, itinerary, flight number and arrival/departure dates;
• US passport holders are exempt from the visa fee, but must pay a processing fee of US$100.00 in reciprocity for an identical fee paid by Brazilian citizens who apply for a Visa to the US.
• an additional absent fee of US$10.00 will be charged for any application not submitted in person by the applicant. (Had to pay this because I don’t live that close to Los Angeles.)
• the Visa can be processed through the mail if the applicant lives within the Consulate’s jurisdiction. A self-addressed-stamped envelope must be submitted with the application, with the applicant’s name as sender and recipient. The Consulate only accepts United States Postal Service. The turn around time for mailed visa applications is approximately 2 to 3 weeks in high tourist season (November to February).

• Passport
• Photo Copy of Passport stored in a different location than my real passport. (BTW, I figured I would make a color copy of my passport this time around. Don’t try this at home. Doing so is a federal offense. Especially if you go to Kinko’s, the staff there will completely freak out on you if you try to make a color photo copy of your passport.
• Credit Cards + Backups stored in room safe
• Bank ATM Cards + Backups stored in room safe
• Calls to credit card companies letting them know the dates I am traveling in addition to carrying a printed copy of all my credit card numbers, expiration dates, and collect international phone numbers in my wallet. I also store a copy in my room safe so I can report the card lost or stolen.
• RCA RP 5012A Digital Voice Recorder from your local retailer.
• AAA Batteries for my RCA Voice Recorder.
• Gateway 450X with extra 8-Cell Lithium Ion batteries from Ebay.com for the long plane trip.
• Casio EX-S2 Exilim camera from DigitalETailer with extra 128 MEG SD memory. Costco and Wal-Mart have decent prices on these memory cards in their retail stores. (Review of camera here).
• Astroglide from Wal-Mart. Don’t forget to try their Free Sample.
• 3 Bottles of Vigel.
• Durex Extra Sensitive Condoms,my personal favorite for condoms.
• I didn’t bring any 50-Watt Foreign Travel AC Converters or 1600-Watt Foreign Travel AC Converters this time around, but I did bring two Grounded Plug Adapter Pk/2 for the plugs in Brazil that only have two prongs in them and not three. I didn’t bring any other plug adapters or converters.
• Then the standard stuff: Clothes, Socks, Boxers, Shoes, Soap, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Shampoo, Conditioner, Razor, Extra Blazes, Deodorant, Music CD's, CD-R's , Contacts, Glasses, Aspirin, Campho-phenique, Imodium and Bottled Water for the flight.

Xenono, great post as usual. I get a kick out of reading what you take and trying to imagine how many suitcases it all fits in and their size. Many you could list that also just to give a visual idea of how many porters you have following you through the airport(s). With the new restrictive rules concerning carry on luggage this last trip was my first where I had to check things to go in the baggage compartment. In a way it was actually nicer since for once I wasn't walking around airports with 50 plus pounds of junk dragging me down.

Concerning the language lessons and your willingness to post a written copy of each one on this site I want to really thank you. I'm done with #29 with one more to go in the first set. Your accompaning translations are a great help in better understanding what some of the words are. I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do once I hit #31. I know I also need to see something and use the visual aids for each lesson until I can get the entire 30 minutes down pat. I guess I'm just going to do what you did and write down the main parts of the lesson.

I've also bought a grammer book, Teach Yourself Portuguese Grammer, which is proving to be absolutely invaluable in moving faster ahead with verb endings and, lately, pronouns. They finely detail every darn verb tense there is with mutiple examples in English and Portuguese. The book ends with pages of all the major irregular verbs which also just happen to be some of the most commonly used ones. The funnest part of all this is taking the dialogues in Pimsleur and changing people and actions around to create new situations.

Thanks again for the time you've spent.

I have to agree with Tightfit. I have a good enough background in Spanish (3 yrs high school, infrequent practice in CA and FL), and I found combining Pimsleur Port I 1-30 (only made it to 22) with the Teach Yourself book (this is not a small book to carry around) to do the trick.

Note, I supplemented this with the Lonely Planet Port Phrasebook, which I used as a carry with me book (it's small / pocketsized). It may not do you a good job of teaching you grammer (before your trip) but it's great to use on the trip, and I would carry it with me some times to continue my learning.

Xenono,

Nice report. Thanks for the info.

Nice beginning! I enjoyed your list of items, but you are far from winning the "Most Anal Planner" prize. That goes to Barnes, who travels with full surgery and pharmacy.

For those interested in another language resource, the book "501 Portuguese Verbs" is quite useful once you've been introduced to the basics of conjugating verbs found in "Teach Yourself Portuguese Grammar."

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report, Xenono.

Xenono; Great start to your report. Thanks for taking the time and effort into the many links.

Roadglide

Xenono; great insight on your preps for your Brazil trip. still remenber the trip i made last year, want to go as soon as get back home, guess i have to get some things ready before that. agreed concerning the language issue. I speak spanish fluent and that's a good help in my case, portuguese & spanish are similar, NOT the same, even if you screw the portuguese gramatical order, the locals may figure it out what you're saying. would say for those interested, don't try to become an EXPERT in portuguese, just learning to say basic sentences and needs would be good enough. i can read ok, my writing is 50% good and my oral skills are fine, just have to think what i'm saying. understanding is a huge challenge, can understand what Brazilians say as long as they don't start talking too damn fast!?!?!? one good tool is the pocket study guide from Berlitz, comes with, 2 tapes (lessons 1-30), a dictionary and a study/lesson guide, think this is a great tool, not expensive and to the point. at least it works for me. i was able to go anywhere on my own, talk to the Garottas, order food, do shopping and even ordered an escort to my apartment. anyways, as long as it helps, is ok!!!

Planning a trip back later this year...I've been down 10-12 times and never had any real problems but do want to improve my portugese....whats best way to get the pimsleur cd(s)?

Tight_Fit,

It is not too bad with all the luggage, well ok, maybe a little. I take one big upright that I check. This has mostly clothes and a few hygiene items in it. Then I take some backup clothes and most of my hygiene items, electronic items, backup credit cards, etc in an upright that I carry on. Then I have my laptop case that I carry on as well.

Thanks for the compliments regarding the Pimsleur. It was fun to do.

Macmac,

Try your local library for getting the CD's. Amazon.com also has them used here.

You could also try Ebay. Do a search for Pimsleur Portuguese. They have quite a few results.

Everyone else, thanks for the kind comments. I will try and get Part 1 posted tonight. It was quite a "Welcome" to Brazil.

Great start... Lots of good ideas, even if they are "anal." I look forward to the rest of it...

So what's the deal Xen, your favourite Thailand vs. Brazil?

BTW, thanks for ALWAYS providing the link to the AAA batteries.

Looking forward to another terrific report.

-DJ

Ah yes. The famous Brazil-Thailand comparisons. You'll have to wait until the report is finsihed before I post my thoughts on that.

And you're welcome for the link to the batteries. I knew some of you out there were probably looking for that.

In prep for MY trip (thanks for the detailed tips, X), I went to buy the slim digital Casio camera, found it on dell.com for $199, shipping much less than E-Tailer (and I got a $30 discount as a repeat customer!)

I'd been thinking about getting mone of those anyway, ever since one of my clients showed it to me. This was the nudge I needed, will be good for in the termas--I'm still taking my good Sony for the private photo sessions.