Trip Report
Tickets Booked:
12/23 - MIA-GIG AA Business
12/27 - SDU-CGH JJ Coach - 4.5k BA avios + $9 tax per person
1/7 - GRU-MIA AA Business
The visa process was very annoying , lots of papers but we got it all done. it seems now theres an E-visa so i wont go through that process.
The AA were booked as a multi city one way coach , return business
1 ticket i used Amex BP 260k with the 35% rebate
other tickets paid cash adult $2350 / Child $1750
i used AA SWU to upgrade the outbounds
RIO DE JENEIRO
A family member referred me to a driver in Rio. Highly recommended, He speaks a nice english which is important there since no one speaks a WORD of english.
we paid about 500 BRL / day and had him at our disposal for 10 hours approx
He met us in the airport with a sign and drove us to our hotel
We booked the Hilton Copacabana (at an agent Discounted rate). We got a 1 bedroom suite with a connecting room which worked out perfectly for us and our 2 children
12/24 - Sunday - Day 1
after we settled in hotel and rested from the flight it was about 1pm and we went to go get some lunch
We stopped at Sushi place which is in the same complex as the Kosher store and Shelanu Meat store. - Its extremely hard to find your way around when you get there. The place looks like a rundown building and half the lights are off in the shul or whatever the jewish center is.
In the back of the building is the sushi in an alleyway - and up the steps in the front is Shelanu
and on the side is the kosher store.
Apparently due to Xmas a lot of things were closing early that day and NOTHING was open on monday - so we ordered dinner for that night as well .
We then hit the pool and tried a caipirinha which was quite disgusting - they didn’t know how to make it
we familiarized ourselves with the area and had an early night
12/25 - Monday - Day 2
First thing in morning we went to Sugar Loaf Mountain - took the cable cart up - Incredible views from up there and you can see the SDU airport as well and watch planes take off. and thats where i planned my seating for my next flight out of there so we can get a nice view of the city as the planes go in one direction !
its pretty stroller friendly they have these mini elevators in different places where you manually push it up and down
One thing nice about brazil is they have a line for pregnant , children, disabled and it helped a lot with our kids in many different places - also in airport on our return
we spent about 2 hours on sugarloaf
Then went to the hotel to eat lunch Thankfully we had some coldcuts/tuna and snacks as the restaurants were closed for Xmas
we then hit the beach and tried another Caipirinha in a Coconut which was also quite nasty. too much alcohol not tasty.
We had a scare at the beach. I hear a commotion about 50-100 ft away and i see someone trying to stab someone . Apparently the guy stop something from his pop up shop but at first it seemed he was running around wild with a knife. I picked up my kids and started heading back to the road while the rest of the beach was whistling for the cops who then settled it all
Off to the pool we went again
After some naps we took a drive around town - found the Famous Colorful steps “Escadaria Selaron” took some pics there and headed to the marketplace on copacabana beach where we bargained and got some souvenirs
12/26 - Tuesday - Day 3
8am we started our day with “the statue” - took the 20 min train up had incredible views
Theres no real place for strollers on there so you gotta fold up or get the first row which has some more legroom
on top we saw some incredible views although it was a bit cloudy it was still nice
after some Shelanu Lunch (since sushi was closed again!) we went to a park near Copacabana where we took Duck paddle boats on the lake and drank some coconut water from coconuts. we also found a bunch of moon bounces things for kids and we watched our son let out his energy there
For dinner , I headed over to Delite only to find out that it was closed until after new years for renovations. so back to Shelanu we went
at that point we were all Shelanu’d out!
SAO PAULO
12/27 - Wednesday - Day 4
8am flight to Sao Paulo - Against Dan’s advice we rented a car at hertz…. fully loaded chevy Cruze! The manager there spoke perfect english and i tipped him $10 which he refunded to take and i had to force him to accept.
Driving in SP keeps you on your toes and is quite wild. worse then NY and Israel
We have 2 relatives there and we stayed at one of them and hung out with the other.
If not for them i would probably skip SP . not much going on there other then the best Sushi I’ve EVER had!
We first went to eat lunch at a Buffet restaurant in the hospital lobby - i think its called Viena - Then went to the Sorbet /icecream store which was real good
For dinner thanks to my cousins who watched our kids we went to Sushi Papaia - TOP sushi ever had and best Capriniha also
I also fell in love with Guarana (zero) while in Brazil and (now i see they sell it walmart here in FL)
12/28 - Thursday - Day 5 - Asarah B’teves
Went with my cousins to see difference shuls and the Chabad run Amazing soup kitchen for the poor they run there (Ten yad)
Took it easy rest of day
For the Break-Fast we went to Celadon. Nothing better then breaking fast there!. Food is incredible , Service was great - 10/10 experience
12/29 - Friday - Day 6 thru 1/7
about noon time we Drove up to Campos Do Jordao about 2.5 hr drive - Up in the mountains where we spent the next great 7 days
Many People in Sao paulo and rio go to vacation there. they call it the Europe of brazil as the architecture and style resembles Europe and its more upper class people.
My cousins had a family friend who gave them their Beautiful house which came with a housekeeper and we found a babysitter for dirt cheap who watched the baby’s while we did activities.
Activities we did over that week Included:
Kids Jungle gym
Horseback riding (free style and Buggy style for kids)
Petting zoo (not like american style more like some animals walk around uncaged..)
Biking
ATV's (all manual gear)
Spa’s
Boating
One of the nights we arranged someone to bring from Sao Paulo a platter of sushi from Papaia! (yes its that good)
1/7 - Drove back to GRU - lots of traffic from city to airport - note for extra time
got Hertz (localiza) to drive us to the terminal with all bags and babys . There was a huge line at the airport to get to the counter, even flying business didn’t get you too far..
but thankfully they have the handicap, kids, old ppl line that we only waited 20-30 min on..
Flight home was uneventful other then AA losing the the case on the stroller.
Thats it for now.. till next trip !
Thanks all for your help and tips to plan
