Rio $$$$$

[Guest tomcal]

I was just talking to my good friend who got to Rio Saturday. He lives in NYC and flies almost weekly to major U.S. and European cities for business so he has a pretty good grasp on how expensive or inexpensive different cities are and he said Rio is now right up there with NYC or London for hotels/restauants/taxi's. Rio has gone within a couple of years from a really inexpensive place to visit to one of the most expensive. If you are used to London/Paris type pricing then you will be ok, otherwise be prepared for sticker shock! So if you go for great beaches, hot guys and don't worry about price you will be fine, but it's not a bargain anymore as far as cost goes.

As a example, the room I used to get for $72./nt at the Atlantico Hotel(very mediocre) is now U.S. $340./night (I just checked)

I switched to apartments 2-1/2 years ago and they are a bargain compared to hotels! Taxis are about 35% higher, it used to be a $18. - 20. R to get to Meo Mundo from the apt., it's now $32.

He said last night the admission to get into Club 117 was $65R, used to be 35. I don't know if he made a mistake on that or if it was a special event night or not, it seems ridiculously high.

The only bargain left is still the guys, and there is still a wide variety to pick from. Although he said last night he went to 117 and if was Steroid land! He's a twink lover so he didn't go with anyone there.

on a different topic, he just texted me this:

a group of your "bf's" sat down at my table Sat. night at Meo Mundo. LOL it's so funny. they all automatically assume that because I'm your friend I'm hauling all of them upstairs. Like being a giant whore is contagious! If you like one then 4 is better! When I say no I am only going with one guy, they look at me like I'm crazy! They can't believe I can be your friend and only want to do one at a time! lol

[MsGuy]

a group of your "bf's" sat down at my table Sat. night at Meo Mundo. LOL it's so funny. they all automatically assume that because I'm your friend I'm hauling all of them upstairs. Like being a giant whore is contagious! If you like one then 4 is better! When I say no I am only going with one guy, they look at me like I'm crazy! They can't believe I can be your friend and only want to do one at a time! lol

Thanks for posting this, Tomcal, it brightened up my whole afternoon.

[TotallyOz]

I really am not sure how the people from Rio afford the city. It just seems so expensive to me but then again, I am a tourist and the prices are not what those of a typical Brazilian would pay.

The price for hotels are just horrible. On my last several trips there, I use only points to stay as the rates are just too much for me. I will never pay 400 a night for a hotel. Anywhere on Earth (unless a cute boy comes with the room).

[Guest Paragon]

Good thing you are not going to the White Party in Palm Springs. Once the hotel at the main event sold out, other hotels raised their prices. A friend booked Hard Rock at about $400 a night. It was $200 when he first checked.

[caeron]

As your friend, I do think he owes it to the boys to hire four or five at once. I certainly would!

[ihpguy]

Less-wealthy Cariocas never take taxis. All residents are entitled to a Bilhete Unico. The "only card" transit card gets you a second mode of transit for no extra money to a bit more depending on the modes used among buses, trains, metro, ferry boats. Rio residents love to complain about everything increasing in price, but when the card came into effect about a year ago it was a great cost savings.

There was a great hue and cry when eggs and tomatoes went sky high last year but now that they have gone back down, ditto on garlic, no one seems to be happier. Eggs here right now are about 1.40US/dozen so not bad.

I think the most popular food item at McDonald's is the casquinha - ice cream cone. Cheapest thing on the menu basically. Whether the chain is McD's, Burger King, Bob's, Giraffa's or KFC, most residents don't patronize them. The food options and cost at the por quilos/kilos are just too great and a better value. One just needs to check your watch for the time and the menu outside the door which lists the varied prices per 100grams and at what time the prices change. Usually 11:30-Noon is cheap time and then either after 1:30PM or 2:00PM which has the lowest price points. Many por quilos might be at 2.20 or 2.40 after 1:30PM. The more expensive ones usually will have some fancier meat choices. Picanha and filet mignon instead of alcatara, for example. But every one will offer grilled chicken breast, chicken or pork sausage grilled and a few types of beef with lots of healthy veggie options. If you can get a great plate of food for lunch for 15-20Reais, much better than a small combo meal at the chains for 20-25.

One final mention as to food, fit Brasilians eat food and consider it as fuel for the body. The 1st world ideal of food bringing us pleasure or whatever - not here. And the base on the plate for everyone is rice, beans, farofa and some sort of protein. A fish filet, chicken thigh and leg or breast, beef, eggs and cheese, whatever with veggies. The fatter people you see now - we believe it is the invading US consumer culture with processed crap that it causing this - chips, hidden fats, etc.

Brasilians are like turtles - they can carry everything on their backs with a backpack. It is almost like everyone you see has these growths on their backs. As well as an added colchonette or foam rubber sleeping mat. Money on hotels - not. They travel, sleep with whomever they might faintly be acquainted and unroll the foam and go to sleep like sardines with one beside the other, more often than not, head to foot. Right now with Carnaval starting soon, there are even more of these tumors than normal.

[ihpguy]

I know that Lurkerspeaks likes his galetos or baby chickens. In the city the are now getting between 18-26 Reais for a plate with broccoli rice and molho de campanha - basically a non-spicy pico de gallo. But to give a basis for comparison, chicken breast - boneless, skinless - was under $2.00/lb. Big difference in price for the average Rio resident.

[Guest Paragon]

ihpguy, thanks for the local insight!

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

I know that Lurkerspeaks likes his galetos or baby chickens. In the city the are now getting between 18-26 Reais for a plate with broccoli rice and molho de campanha - basically a non-spicy pico de gallo. But to give a basis for comparison, chicken breast - boneless, skinless - was under $2.00/lb. Big difference in price for the average Rio resident.

I do agree, Ihpguy, I love me some of those baby chickens. And yes, they have gone up drastically in price since my first trip to Rio back in 2008. If I was to spend any long period of time in Rio, i am sure I would forgo the baby chickens to the more economical "regular" chickens.. But my philosophy is that I am on vacation. It is time to splurge on things that I don't do everyday back home. that is why I hit the saunas every day (try as I might, I cannot keep up with Tomcal) and I like to go to the more "touristy" type restaurants most of the time. I have nothing against the "local" spots. In fact, i am a big fan of the street food in Rio.. Love me some of the streetside grilled meats, churros, etc. I love the area between the subway and Meio Mundo where you can sample so many cheap treats. If I am THAT worried over the few extra dollars for the baby chickens, then IMHO, I shouldn't be there on vacation in the first place. I guess my motto is "Do it all the way, or don't do it at all"

[gap1972]

It certainly has priced me out. Hopefully the madness of hotel prices won't spread to São Paulo anytime soon. Please keep it that way

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

gap1972, if hotel prices are the only deterrent, you can find very affordable apartments to rent in Rio. Several have been mentioned in various posts. One bedroom apartments in Copa or Ipa can be found for around $100 per night. Plus, if you so desire, an apartment allows for cooking some meals yourself and thereby saving some more money.

[Guest Paragon]

One other factor to consider is that American Airlines often has frequent flyer award seats for as little as 40,000 miles R/T to Brazil You can't beat this. Delta recently wanted me to pay 50,000 miles for a domestic flight even weeks ahead of time.

[Guest tomcal]

Paragon your right but you have to work the system to get them usually. I have lifetime Platinum status on AA so they allow you to book "premium seats ahead of time no additional cost, like the exit row seats.

My next trip in March I am using miles, when I first started checking about 6 weeks ago they wanted 120,000 miles for R/T in coach!! that is multicity award since I usually fly into Rio and fly out of Sao Paulo. What I do is book the ticket and put it on HOLD, they give you 24 hrs. before you have to confirm it. This does two things, first it saves the seat you selected, since I am 6'4" I reserve a exit aisle seat otherwise I would never be able to fly that far in a regular seat. Then the next night if the milage requirements are the same, cancel and immediately rebook the flight for another 24 hr. hold, so I get the same seat again. The purpose of this is that usually at some point AA's algorithms will say drop milage requirement down(or UP). I did this for two weeks and all of the sudden one evening the 120,000 miles ticket was available for 40,000! I jumped on it and got it and the same seats I had been reserving for the past 2 weeks. the next morning the exact same flights were back up to a 120,000 mile requirement. This does not work if you are OCD and have to know for sure what your flights are going to be 3 months ahead of time. I have a friend who is that way and he can't stand not booking for sure and won't play the book and hold game. but it sure saves a lot of miles. Actually this is going to be a test for me as I haven't flown down to Brazil in coach in a long time, I usually have upgrades to use up but had none for this trip but at least I have the leg room!

[Guest Paragon]

Tenacity is one of my strong suits. I realize that the 40K seats can be work to find, but it's fun when you finally do. The other catch is that the routing is sometimes a challenge. Last time we did it, we had to go up to Seattle first, then back to LA, when a direct flight from Dallas would have avoided that. So we booked the long route, and then, in Sao Paolo, went to the AA offices, where the woman agreed that the return was ridiculous. She pushed a few buttons and we were then on the way to Dallas, no more Seattle.

[MsGuy]

The purpose of this is that usually at some point AA's algorithms will say drop milage requirement down...

So AA is spending tens of millions of bucks a year to refine & re-jigger their algorithms to squeeze every last possible drop of revenue from their flights and not one knot-headed programmer has bothered to scratch out a few lines of code to stop this little scam? *

we had to go up to Seattle first, then back to LA, when a direct flight... would have avoided that.

Which is why black box auto-trading on the stock markets should be banned. Only an algorithm could come to the conclusion that flying you to Seattle and back first would maximize revenue per seat mile for the airline. Whaa ha haa ahaa haa haa, fucking insane!

====

* Or maybe the algorithm figured out that there were a certain number of folks like Tomcal who could only be lured into booking flights by conning them into thinking they were getting one over on AA?!!! Oh God, now my paranoia ia kicking in big time!

[Guest tomcal]

MsGuy, there is no algorithm needed to figure out my motives....I'm easy!! lol

[lookin]

Algorithm! Ah got aisle seats! Ah got peanuts!

Who could ask for anything more?

[Guest riosul77]

I agree, getting to Brazil, and flying intra, is increasingly pricey. For me, I only fly business class. Not for the peanuts, I just cannot sleep sitting up and am exhausted by journey's end. Thus, I only opt for lie flat seats. Expensive but it's a personal choice, eight hours of sleep, but ya gonna pay for it. Adding to the equation,travelling from west coast (Canada), and it's pricey.

Because of location this does not work for me but may be of interest to those of you that position out of Miami, or can get there easily, perhaps on miles. GOL now has a premium economy, MIA-GRU. It looks pretty good, think domestic (US) first. There is a one hour layover in SDQ, but it is a night flight getting you in to GRU at 5:00 a.m., well-positioned for connecting flights. The prices are excellent right now. A random check on ITA shows $1388 for premium economy. I have not tried this but if it is similar to COPA through Panama, would be value for the price.

Here's a link for those interested. Also, I believe you earn Delta miles on GOL, for those of that persuasion.

http://www.voegol.com.br/en-us/servicos/classe-comfort/paginas/default.aspx

BTW, if you base somewhere, such as Rio, I agree with many here, short-term apartment rental is the most economical way to go. Before having a place, I always rented.

Bottom line , if you want to travel comfortably, stay comfortably, anymore in the large urban centres of Brazil think NYC/London and sticker shock will not be too bad.

Now if the Canadian dollar would stop tanking...but another story most of you do not have to be concerned about.

Safe and happy travels, still an awesome place to travel to.

[Guest tomcal]

AA now has a flight from Miami to Porto Alegre with a one hour stop going down in Curitiba, but it's direct flight on the return Porto Alegre to Mia. It leaves POA at midnight, which means you can go to Mezziniu for the evening, tire yourself out and go from there direct to airport, which is less then 15 mins. from the sauna! the only problem is the flight down leaves Mia at 10:00 in the morning so impossible to get a connection from the west coast, but arriving the night before spending the night in Miami...at the boardwalk would work! The other problem is it gets you into Porto Alegre at 10:00 p.m.

[ihpguy]

USAir had a fare sale last week which I found through Kayak. $850RT GIG-ORD for the last week in APRIL so there are possibilities.

[Guest parisrio2000]

I want to point out that as the prices have risen in Rio, Club 117 has gotten emptier. At least when I was there last year for a few months, there were always the same few boys with almost no new ones coming in, which was unusual. Other customers agreed there was something going on. Then, Lagoa in Sao Paulo was exceptionally bad when I visited and someone who worked there confirmed that most of the great-looking boys don't go there anymore and the place is full of "vagabundos." In fact I would have stopped going to 117 as well, but my "friend" frequents it, for reasons, however, that are unique to his situation.

I've said this before, and people don't believe me, but until there's a real economic downturn this trend will continue. I believe what's going on is that the very high-rolling Brazilian clients are keeping all the top boys to themselves, either through prior contacts at the sauna/internet, and meeting new ones through some kind of word-of-mouth system. Or, as I believe, that there is a secret and much better sauna-type place in a location we don't know of, and that it's by invitation only.

Consider the movie "Eyes Wide Shut."

[AdamSmith]

Or, as I believe, that there is a secret and much better sauna-type place in a location we don't know of, and that it's by invitation only.

Consider the movie "Eyes Wide Shut."

Really never occurred to you that some of the very posters on this forum who insist there is no such thing might have very good reason to say that?

And, in fact, to be running their first-level membership tests here?

...How do you think you're doing, so far?

[lookin]

. . . the place is full of "vagabundos."

Full you say?!