Welcome to my hidden world!

Today was our last day in Rio.  In the morning we did not rush.  We woke up went to eat breakfast went back to the room to pack and check out.  We left our luggage at the hotel storage where we were offered beach towels. 

  Buffet breakfast

This morning we woke up early, to eat breakfast and go on the city tour.  The weather was perfect!  The sun was shining, the sky were clear, the ocean was blue and it was pretty hot.  On Saturdays, they closed the Atlantica Avenue that runs along the Copacabana beach and there were so many people walking on the roads and on the beach.  It was a perfect beach day too.

We met our tour guide who greeted us happily saying “Hi Mr. Boris!”  We got on the airconditioned tour bus and went to collect more people for the tour.  Most of the people were from Brazil.  There was only one family from Buenos Aires, Argentina and we were telling everyone that we are Russian tourists.

Today, as I planned, we did pretty much nothing, just were resting, napping, walking, and shopping.  The weather was better then yesterday.  It was much warmer and there were only two times when it was raining.  By the afternoon it cleared up and we could even see the blue sky.  It looks promising for tomorrow’s tour.

This morning, I woke up at around 8:30.  It took a while to wake Boris up.  By the time we got ready to go to the breakfast it was almost 10am.  The breakfast usually ends at 10:30.  At the breakfast we met Orlando and Olesia, I asked them about the soccer game.  Olesia told me that it was an experience, however, she did not enjoy it because it was raining and they couldn’t see the game very well.  She said the only good thing about being there was experience the energy of the fans on the stadium. 

Today we spent time exploring Ipanema beach and Leblon area.  In the morning we ate breakfast at our hotel.  The breakfast is included in the hotel price.  The food was very good and there were a lot of different choices such as eggs, sandwiches, fruits, blintzes, and different fresh fruit juices and hot drinks.  It was really yummy.

Our trip to Rio de Janeiro is under risk of not happening.  Apparently, there is flood and who knows if it will be cleaned by the end of the month.  It just happened today and airlines have not updated their flight information.  The article explained that there was a big traffic in the airport and a lot of canceled flights. 

I called Orbitz and found that I can cancel my hotel with no penalties 7 days before reservation date and I could cancel our tickets, only that would cost us $250 per person.  I absolutely don’t like this fee thing.  So, I started to explore other options.  We could still fly to Rio and take another plane to go to Iguacu and stay there instead of Rio.

Well, we have more than a week to see what’s going on there and if we would have to change our trip.  I am determined to go to Brazil because we already spent money on our visas. 

In fact, yesterday we got our visa documents back because they were missing signatures.  We signed the papers and Boris mailed them today, so hopefully next week we will get our passports back with the visas.  One problem after the other.

I am Off the leash—ready for vacation!

Finally, baby is little bit older and we have not gone on real vacation for years now.  My renewed passport arrived yesterday and since last week I begun negotiating with Boris our vacation.  The negotiations usually are not easy.  So, when we actually go somewhere, I truly appreciate my hard work.

The world is the limit!!! That makes me very excited.  I was looking at the countries that I have not been before.  I considered a tour around Spain, however, Boris made a good point that we want to get rest too.  The tour around Spain would involve waking up early, riding on the bus from city to city from museum to museum and we will just get more exhausted. 

So, I started looking at Argentina, Buenos Aires.  Air and hotel are very affordable, however Boris does not like that it will be a long flight (well he will have to survive it anyway).  I looked at Argentina’s weather in April and it turned out not as warm to go on the beaches. 

So, I started looking at Brazil, Rio De Janeiro.  The flight is few hours shorter then Buenos Aires (not really, but I told Boris that it is).  The weather is high 81F low71F in April. 

I found very reasonable hotel right on the Copacabana beach plus we can take city tours and enjoy other activities.  I know that we are late for the carnival, but still, should be very interesting.  I have never been to any country in South America and this sounds great to me!!!

Done deal!!! We are going to BRAZIL!!! At the end of April!!! (After all of my conference presentations).

Any advice  abt travel to Brazil would be appreciated!!!