Westbound Boarder

This blog post is the fourth entry in a 10-part series on traveling to Rio de Janiero. Click here to view the previous article.

Before you even think about planning a trip to Brazil, you must first be aware of Brazil’s fairly strict Visa requirements, and make sure that you plan your trip far enough in advance to account for enough time to get your travel Visa.  For me, this was the most cumbersome part of traveling to Brazil, so i thought it would be helpful if I outlined the process and added a few tips on applying.

The process is actually quite simple, but it does take about two weeks from the time you first visit the consulate to request a Visa to the time it is ready for pick-up.  For me, I found that the most time-consuming part of the Visa process was actually filling out the application and getting all the necessary documents in place, so we’ll start there.

To begin the process, start by visiting this site and find the location of the Brazilian consulate nearest you (if you live in DC, don’t make the mistake of going to the Brazilian Embassy, like I did).  If you don’t live near a consulate, as they are only in select, major-city locations, you will have to look into hiring a company or agency to complete the process for you (they do not accept applications by mail).  Check out this FAQ page for more info.

Next, go here and check the Visa requirements.  If you’re going to Brazil for a quick vacation, you’ll most likely want to apply for the tourist Visa.  If you are not a US citizen, make sure you check your own country’s Visa requirements, as the information may be different.  You may not need a Visa at all – check this page to see if you do.  After you’ve briefly reviewed the requirements, you’ll need to go here to electronically fill out and submit the Visa request form.  (You can fill out a printed application, but it is much easier to just do it online, and it makes the process go quicker).  Also, make sure you’re applying for the correct Visa.  For example, if you select “Business Visa,” when you really want a “Tourist Visa,” they’ll most likely make you resubmit the form and come back a different day.  Print two copies of the finished and submitted form – one to bring to the consulate, and one for your records.  One thing to keep in mind is that Visas are only good for 90 days (or three months) from the date of issue, so you have to make sure you don’t get them too early.  I know someone who applied 6 months before her trip, and only after she had her Visa in hand did she learn that she had to complete the application process all over again.  On the contraire, it does take at least 2 weeks to process your Visa, so make sure you plan accordingly.  I’d give it a month, just to be safe.

Other items you’ll need include:

• Your passport. Make sure you don’t need it for two weeks, as you’ll have to drop it off and the consulate will keep it as your application is being processed.
• A copy of your printed Visa application form, filled out and submitted online in advance.
• A passport-sized photograph, taken within the past year (so, no, a photo-copy of the photo on your current passport that was taken when you were 12 will not work). To get a passport-sized photo, you can go to your bank, Costco, CVS, or a number of other places, but if you want to save the $10 or so bucks it costs, simply take a photo yourself, take it to CVS and print a copy, and ask to use their passport cutter to easily cut it down to passport size. (Note: The first photo I took, my face was too big, so I had to go retake the photo and come back later. To minimize this hassle, try taking a few photos with different zooms).
• A copy of your round trip or multi-destination travel itinerary. I printed out the confirmation for the plane ticket I purchased on Travelocity, which worked just fine.
• A copy of your birth certificate, IF you are a minor.
• A money order in the amount of $140 (if you have a US passport). Yes, it must be a money order – you can get one from your local bank – and they do not accept checks or cash. I know it kind of sucks to have to pay an entrance fee, but just remember, the fee is purely political. The fee is a reciprocity fee – since the US charges Brazilians to get into the US, what does Brazil do? They reciprocate the offer, of course.

When I was going through the process of gathering all these items together, I made a checklist and put everything together in a little folder, just to make sure I had it all in one place when it was actually time to go to the consulate.

Once you have all the necessary items, you need to go to your local Brazilian consulate (you can find a list of all the locations here).  Depending on the day and time you go, it’s usually a pretty quick process (especially compared to the bizarre stories I heard from my former roommate about visiting the Italian consulate.  Crazy Italians.)  I went on a Thursday morning on my way to class, and my appointment (including wait time) took a grand total of 5 minutes, plus or minus the 15 seconds it took me to get the heck outta there.  I have heard stories though of the appointment taking a long and grueling 20 minutes, so be prepared and plan accordingly.  And if you don’t live near a consulate, you can hire a Visa service or agency to complete the process for you (they do not accept applications by mail).  Check out this FAQ page for more info.

So now that you have your plane ticket and travel itinerary, you’re ready to travel to Rio!  Stay tuned for more posts in this series discussing what to do once you actually get there.

This blog post is the third entry in a 10-part series on traveling to Rio de Janiero. Click here to view the previous article.

When traveling to Rio de Janiero from the US, or really from any location outside South America for that matter, pretty much your only option is to go by plane. As Rio is still a developing tourist destination, there are not many direct flights that go straight to the city, so I’d recommend booking your flight well in advance of your trip to ensure you get the best deal. A plane ticket will run you a good $2 – 3K during Rio’s summer (our winter), but you can find significantly better deals if you travel in the offseason instead. For example, my multi-destination plane ticket that went from DC to Rio, Rio to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to NY, was only $1,300 – significantly cheaper than Christmas-time prices I had researched a year prior. Rio’s winter really doesn’t start until July/August, and even then the country still offers relatively temperate weather. So in my opinion, early May was a great time to go. It wasn’t as crowded, prices were cheaper, and we still had relatively nice and warm weather (despite the few days of rain we experienced).

As for getting around in Rio, there are many different options.  From the airport, you can either hire a cab for $50 – $80, depending on where you’re going, or you can take a bus to your destination for 9R.  I, of course, opted for the less expensive bus option, and it was very simple – just as easy as taking a cab (and, hey, I kind of felt like a newfound local in the process!)  It didn’t take more than an hour to get to our hotel, so considering the 60 bucks we saved, the bus was well worth it.  Oh, and we met some backpacker Americans and we asked where they were going.  They responded, “no clue, how about you?”  Then when we told them where we were staying, they preceded to ask if they could crash on our floor.  Ha, solid, and never would have happened if we took a cab.

If you’d like to take the bus, once you grab your luggage and exit the airport doors, head to the info. counter, ask for a map, and ask them which bus to take to your final destination.  One thing you’ll quickly find in Rio is that people (well, most people) are so darn nice and friendly, and always willing to help out a traveler in need.  One thing to note about the busses in Rio, though – Unlike in the US, where busses have scheduled stops and timetables, in Rio they really don’t.  The bus driver simply stops when he’s flagged down from the outside, or when someone from the inside yells at him to stop, so you really have to be on your guard and pay attention to your map while riding.  I actually thought at one point in time that the man sitting next to me would punch me if I asked him one more time if we were almost to Ipanema.  But, like I said before, people in Rio are terribly nice – I’m sure the thought never even crossed his mind

The metro (Metrô Rio) is a great way to get around the city as well, and it goes many places, but I wouldn’t recommend taking the metro at night or by yourself, as it can be a bit dangerous.  Click here to see a full map (but beware, the site is in Portuguese!  At least they have a nice map.)  Additionally, right now the city is in the process of building another line that goes out to Barra (pronounced “Ba-ha”) in preparation for the Olympic Games, as this is where the Olympic village will be based.  The construction is set to be finished well before the Olympic Games commence, so this will drastically help improve Rio’s transportation system as well… for tourists anyway.

This blog post is the second entry in a 10-part series on traveling to Rio de Janiero.  Click here to view the first article.   

Among tourists, outdoor enthusiasts, and foodies alike, Rio de Janieiro is known for its miles and miles of beautiful beaches, wondrous landmarks, and gorgeous views.  However, to economists and businessmen, Rio is known for something entirely different. 

For many, many years, Rio de Janeiro, one of the primary destinations in Brazil for leisure travel, was considered a developing country in dire need of change.  In 1998, Brazil had a Gini Index, which measures the gap between the rich and poor, of 60.7 (4^th in the world) and a very large percent of residents lived in extreme poverty.  However, over the past several years, Brazil has done a lot of work to drastically reduce this gap, and in the past 8 years Brazil saw 13 million residents enter the middle class.  As a result, Brazil is a key target for foreign direct investment, and their economy has experienced an annual GDP growth of 5% over the past several years, and an astounding 7.5% in 2010 (read more about Brazil’s current economic situation).

However, it wasn’t until Rio won bids to host both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 that the country entered the worldwide center stage, and many people attribute their growing economy and infrastructure improvement opportunities as the primary reason it was granted the opportunity to host the two events.  Over the next 5 years, Rio will become a prime travel destination, and they hurriedly preparing to accommodate everyone. 

One of the downsides of Brazil’s economic growth (well, from the perspective of foreign tourists, anyway) are that things are expensive.  Over the past 10 or so years, Brazil experienced inflation rates of more than 2000%.  Additionally, US travelers used to enjoy a 4 to 1 exchange rate, however, it has since dwindled to 1.6R to 1USD.  Given these two elements combined, it has been estimated that the Brazilian currency is overvalued by about 40%.  To put it in plain English – Brazil is expensive.  Not only the flight, which will put you back about $2 – 3000 from most US locations, but actually being in the country is expensive as well, contrary to popular opinion that it is cheap because it’s a developing country.  But trust me – it’s worth it.     

In terms of tourism, about 5 million people per year visit Rio de Janeiro.  Over the past 10 or so years, Brazil has experienced steady growth in international tourism revenue (close to about $6 billion in annual revenue today), but during the past few years the actual number of people visiting Brazil has stabilized around 5 million.  But this number is expected to grow exponentially over the next several years, as the city readies itself to host two of the hottest global events.

One of the drawbacks to Rio de Janeiro, especially considering its expected growth in tourism, is the limited number of guests the city can feasibly accommodate at one time.  It is estimated that the city can only host about 28,000 tourists at any given time.  The limited supply of housing may cause increased prices, however, as I mentioned earlier, the city is working to at least double the number of tourists it can accommodate in preparation for the upcoming World Cup and Olympic events. 

So, in light of all that’s going on in Rio on the economic front, why go?  Rio is an excellent place to consider as a travel destination for many different reasons – it is a great place to go if you’re looking to relax and enjoy the beaches and scenery, or if you’re a student or interested in economic development and want to study the economic growth in Brazil, or if you’re an adventure-seeker and are looking to enjoy extreme activities.  And of course, Rio is an excellent place to go surfing.

And why did I like it?  I’ve traveled to many, many countries, and I’m getting to the point where, when I go to big cities, I typically feel like its “just another big city.”  What I liked about Rio is that it’s different, and just a little bit edgy.  It still maintains a certain amount of culture, despite being one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Brazil, and the people are nice, friendly and welcoming, which is something you really don’t see these days in most large cities.  But beware – As Rio is still a developing country, there is still a lot of poverty, and crime rates are high.  For the most part, as a tourist, you can avoid impoverished areas, but even I was surprised at the amount of poverty that still exists in the country.  Regardless, there is so much to do and so much to see, that Rio de Janeiro is well worth the trip.

For those of you who follow me over at my personal blog, or this travel blog, you probably already know that I spent the past month or so in South America.  If you haven’t been keeping up on my travels, I’ll go ahead and give you the quick 411.  Last month, I embarked on a trip to Rio de Janeiro to complete a consulting project for the 2016 Rio Olympic Organizing Committee.  It was an incredible experience, and while I spent a lot of time working and in meetings, I made sure to save plenty of time to explore the city as well.  And of course, being the blogger that I am, I wanted to share the experience with you all and highlight some of the great things to do and see in Rio.  Thus, over the next couple of weeks, I will be publishing a 10-part series on traveling to and around Rio, and I’ll be offering tips on where to go, what to eat, where to stay, and so on, so that perhaps, down the road, you might consider traveling to Rio too!

Right now, Rio de Janeiro is at the top of my “places to go once I have the money” list (and trust me, the list is a pretty long one) but watching this video made me want to go even more