belkinDC

Hi all, I'm currently planning a trip to Brazil over New Year's. Thus far I just have my main plane tickets booked; I'm arriving in SP a few days after Xmas and leaving about two weeks later out of GIG/Rio. I had been planning to just spend a few nights in SP before heading to Rio for New Year's and the remainder of my time there. But, looking now at Airbnb (and hotel) prices in Rio over NY, it seems it's probably not the best time to visit for someone who isn't particularly interested in their NY festivities. The easiest option is just to stay in SP until 1/3 or 1/4, but I've already spent plenty of time in SP (including 9 nights in late Sept) and wondering if this might be a good opportunity to broaden my Brazilian horizons a bit (which has been limited to Rio/SP thus far; this will be my 6th trip, the first having been in Aug 2019). Does anyone have recommendations? I'm in my mid 30s, decent shape, American, don't speak a ton of PT but enough to get buy with GPs, and don't drink or do hard drugs (another reason I'm thinking NYE in RJ might be a skip for me). I've previously wanted to visit POA but recent reports from the city aren't too promising. Another option that a local I met in Lagoa recommended (not necessarily for NYE) is Buzios in RJ state, but that looks more like a destination to perhaps take a guy to once you've already set something up. Anyone have ideas, especially if you've spent NYE there in the past yourself? Is Rio worth taking a 2nd look and just biting the bullet on the higher prices (they aren't necessarily a deal killer for me, but just giving me a bit of sticker shock based on what I've paid on other trips)?

On a recent trip (Sept 2022) in Rio, I took the advice found on a Google review of the TIM store at Shopping Rio Sol and it worked flawlessly: https://goo.gl/maps/mDRGDEKmKn2oDq4x7 "* TRAVELER ADVICE * Avoid the TIM store on the ground floor (they try to sell you something extremely expensive) and straightly head to the 3rd floor! Buy a SIM card for R$ 10 at the C&A (yes, it sounds weird but just ask for “chip”) and head back to the TIM store (3rd floor!!). Tell the people you want to charge it with data and they firstly help you activate your SIM card and secondly sell you data against a fair price. We took 5GB (valid for 180 days) for R$ 50 and they helped us charging it on the phone. Super friendly people and we were lucky not experiencing what the other reviews are describing. Good luck!" The C&A store where I bought the chip is on the same level (3rd) as the TIM store. There was a friendly employee there who spoke great English who helped me get it activated over the phone with my passport info, and then they topped me up with BRL 50 for the 6 month plan. I'll be back in a few weeks and see if the plan is still active, but it worked throughout the duration of my 2 weeks in Brazil for that trip. From what I can gather, someone who speaks Portuguese or has a friend who does could probably replicate this process just by buying a TIM chip from a street vendor and then "recharging" at one of the many places that offer this service after you have activated it. The TIM store employee helped me to navigate the activation phone tree menu (which was in Portuguese naturally) to get to an English speaking activation agent who took down my passport info. That being done, they took my payment for the 50 BRL top-up but I think that can be done at many locations throughout Brazil and not just at TIM stores. Edit: Looks like the recharge can be done online with Xoom, PayPal's money transfer service: https://www.xoom.com/brazil/mobile-reloads/tim

what area do you prefer to book Airbnbs in Istanbul? A few months ago I stayed for 3 nights at an Airbnb that was just north of Tarlabasi Blvd, a few blocks west of Aquarius, and it was quite a bad area. Although the price was certainly right at about $33/night total with a large terrace. It was just a 5 minute walk to Istikal and I didn't end up having any problems, but it demonstrated to me how rapidly things can shift block by block in that city...

Many thanks @JunNJ for the detailed report. I was on the fence about a quick side visit to POA on a recent trip to SP/RJ but held off... sounds like I made the right decision.

As a kid: any episode of Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie. Now... the French spy thriller "The Bureau" (or as it is known in France, Le Bureau des Légendes), which they are supposedly doing an American re-make of. Highly recommend for anyone who likes espionage stuff. You can watch all 5 seasons for free with a VPN set to Australia and making an account here: https://www.sbs.com.au/

Nice! It looks for this official “guarantee” with the additional points you have to submit the claim centrally via IHG rather than through the individual hotel (although good to know individual hotels can also price match which is probably easier to deal with than IHG)

I can’t vouch for the ease of navigating the process as I’ve never done it, but theoretically IHG will match OTA rates due to their “best price guarantee” when booking through IHG direct channels. Maybe of use if you find yourself in this situation regularly. https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-guarantee

For Medellin from Tampa, you could also drive to Orlando and fly direct on Spirit… did a quick search and they have direct flights MCO-MDE in Nov from $460 roundtrip with all the “bundled” stuff included (checked bag, carryon, priority boarding etc). Potentially cheaper depending how light you pack. I know people rag on Spirit but for a sub-4 hour flight I personally wouldn’t hesitate.

Perhaps I was too quick to say Congress was at least too much to blame - even though I do think they were very shortsighted re: funding for Jynneos and other MCMs. The Biden admin absolutely have poorly played the imperfect hand they were dealt.

That's precisely my point. Yes - nobody knew that Monkeypox would emerge in late Spring 2022 and failed to prepare for that precise eventuality. But the risk of a smallpox attack - or some other orthopoxvirus emergence -- has long been a known risk. As the Politico articles notes, I should rather have said over two decades rather than over a decade that the need to stockpile smallpox vaccines has been a known need. I am not blaming Biden or his Administration exclusively but also and at least as much the US Congress for failing to properly fund our stockpile of medical countermeasures. I would suggest that if anything Congress failed to learn the lessons of COVID and makes our lack of preparation for monkeypox even more frustrating... when the shit hit the fan and tons of the PPE and ventilators that we had in the Strategic National Stockpile were found to be unusable, due to years of underinvestment and failing to maintain the stockpile, it should have been a wakeup call. Out of the 6 trillion or so spent on COVID-response writ large, they couldn't have found a few billion (or tens) here or there to beef up the procurement and R&D of biodefense medical countermeasures? As I said, I place at least as much blame on Congress. And not to nitpick, but it was approved 16 months before his inauguration rather than 9 months after. No argument from me on this point. Behavior modification should absolutely be part of the solution, and I think the decision of certain event/party planners to go through with big gatherings despite the risk and lack of vaccines was reprehensible.

More on this point from Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/18/u-s-officials-knew-for-years-they-did-not-have-enough-jynneos-vaccine-00052694 Before monkeypox outbreak, U.S. officials knew for years they didn't have enough of key shot The Strategic National Stockpile was supposed to have about 120 million Jynneos doses, enough for 60 million people, | Mario Tama/Getty Images By ERIN BANCO and HELEN COLLIS 08/18/2022 03:31 PM EDT Updated: 08/18/2022 06:26 PM EDT Officials said the Strategic National Stockpile did not have enough Jynneos doses for a potential smallpox outbreak because of a lack of resources. Top U.S. health officials have known for years that the country’s Strategic National Stockpile did not have enough doses of a smallpox vaccine that is now key to the monkeypox fight, according to three former senior officials and a current official working on the monkeypox response. The U.S. has stockpiled Jynneos, the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic, which is also being used to combat monkeypox. The U.S. never had the money to purchase the millions of doses that experts felt were necessary, the officials said. Now, that shortfall is hampering efforts to contain the growing monkeypox outbreak, one in which the Biden administration has come under fire for failing to deliver enough vaccine for the millions of people at risk. “Every time I meet a member of Congress, I let them know what the need is,” said Dawn O’Connell, head of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, in an interview. “The SNS … has been chronically underfunded. We need to get this SNS fully funded and stocked against what we think the next threats are.” The Strategic National Stockpile was supposed to have about 120 million Jynneos doses, enough for 60 million people, said the officials who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive government matters. Jynneos was stockpiled as an alternative to ACAM 2000, a different vaccine that is not suitable for people who are immunocompromised. Prior to 2019, the U.S. had just 20 million doses. In 2020, the U.S. purchased just over 1 million doses to replenish expired vaccine. Paul Chaplin, CEO of Bavarian Nordic, told POLITICO on Thursday that after the vaccine received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2019, the U.S. stockpile requirement called for the protection of 66 million at-risk Americans. That meant about 132 million doses of the Jynneos shot were needed for people who cannot receive ACAM 2000 in the event of a smallpox outbreak. “That’s people [who] are vulnerable who shouldn’t really receive first and second generation vaccines,” Chaplin said. An official at the Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 120 million dose figure was higher than the government threshold but did not dispute that the Jynneos stockpile level was below what it should have been, and declined to provide what the SNS requirements actually say. The senior officials who spoke to POLITICO said the requirements for the stockpile — levels set in part by HHS — often shift and are, at times, outdated. For example, one former senior official said the department kept two numbers on hand — the number of doses the stockpile could afford to purchase and the number of doses that were actually needed to distribute to a certain population. The number of Jynneos doses the government could afford as of 2019, that official said, was around 40 million. But money for Jynneos shots competed with funding for more pressing priorities and threats the administration perceived as more likely. “That’s not preparedness,” said the former senior health official. “It’s like telling the military … you have a requirement for 100 airplanes, but we’re only gonna give you 10 because that’s all we can afford. And then we have to fight. Good luck.” Since the Biden administration assumed office, there have been ongoing discussions within the ASPR about adjusting the requirement levels and about how to get additional funding to help ramp up supply of critical medicines and shots. In November 2021, senior officials from HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a meeting to discuss responses to a potential smallpox outbreak. Officials there spoke about the Jynneos shot and noted many doses had previously expired. They planned to ask Congress for additional funding to shore up supply, according to one of the former officials who attended the meeting. “There was a push after that to get hard, concrete numbers and budget numbers because they didn’t want to report … this huge gap [in supply] back to the White House,” one of the officials said. In May of 2021, POLITICO reported that the Biden administration rerouted $2 billion from the SNS to help handle the surge of unaccompanied migrants at the border. In its most recent budget request, ASPR asked for $975 million in funds for the stockpile, about $130 million more than was enacted in 2022. “We all saw what happened in 2020 when the PPE we expected to be there wasn’t there. I think Congress felt that acutely as well when their constituents were searching for things,” O’Connell said. “So it is really important for me to use that as a critical example of why we need to move forward and make sure the SNS is well funded against the current material threats.”

The re-emergence of an orthopoxvirus has in fact been contemplated and planned for by the US federal government for over a decade, which is why there is/was a stockpile of Jynneos and ACAM. At one point we had 20 million doses of Jynneos in the stockpile, which the government let expire without replacing them. That is indeed a failure and we would have been much better prepared for this outbreak if the stockpile had been maintained at those levels.

My understanding is that the driver is not shown what your destination is until they actually pick you up (or at least that’s how it used to be on Uber) because they wanted to prevent precisely that behavior. FWIW I used Uber in CDMX multiple times per day on a 10 day trip about a year ago without any major issues. But I’m curious to hear @Mavica’s fraud concerns knowing that he has much more experience in the country.

How does the fraud work? I always thought Uber was relatively fraud-proof compared to taxis because you are shown the price upfront and the whole journey is tracked by the company, and you can dispute/report any problems to them?

You should be able to get a free flight on a OneWorld partner like BA intra-Europe or AA domestic in US for a lot less than 80k.