I wrote this around 5:00pm today...
I just woke up from a nap on the floor of a friend's office in Miami. What am I doing here? Well, I should be in Brazil right now. I went to the airport yesterday at 2:00pm - plenty of time for my flight to Miami (then to Sao Paolo, then Belo Horizonte, Brazil). All set to check in, I was informed that the flight to Miami left two hours earlier. Apparently I had read my ticket wrong and mistook the arrival time for the departure time. Hm. Ok. What the hell.
(Colin, I still think your experience of going to DCA instead of IAD and missing your flight to the Bahamas is a more ridiculous story)
After the American Airlines guy scrambled to figure out my options (there was a good chance that I would have to forfeit my very expensive ticket and rebook everything) I had the option of driving really fast to Atlanta to catch the last flight to Miami, or come back today at 4am and do the whole thing again. Option two cost significantly less (I didn't have to pay for an entirely new ticket), so here I am in the midst of a 12-hour layover in Miami. Luckily I've got a few friends here. I'm at my friend Daru's office, and we're about to go have dinner with Andy Ransford and Patrick Betar, two really good friends from Rhodes. I haven't seen Betar in about 6-7 years... Gonna be fun.
So begins my three week trip to Brazil. A good friend from Fuqua is getting married to a Brazilian woman down there, so I figured this would be a great excuse to take an extended vacation. Most of my b-school classmates are going on world tours this summer... Mostly to Asia. Although I'd love to go spend a couple months traveling (when else am I going to have the chance?), three weeks will satisfy me. I've got a damn good job waiting for me in San Francisco (not to mention much needed paychecks), so I planned for a three week trip, then about two weeks in Birmingham, then on to California. Next on my travel list are North Africa, the Middle East, and New Zealand. Too many places to see.
My itinerary in Brazil:
Fly to Belo Horizonte, which is where my friends fiancée is from. I'll meet up with Dave, Cassia, and one of Dave's high school friends and go to Ouro Preto and Lavras Novas for a couple days (two old mining towns + some nature/hiking). If I hadn't screwed up my flight yesterday I would've been able to spend a night in Belo Horizonte with Cassia's family and friends.
On Saturday I'll break off from the group and take a 4-hour bus to Rio. This will be my solo time. In Tuesday a couple more friends arrive in Rio, so until then I'm going to do my own thing. Since I'm staying at a hostel in Ipanema on Tuesday and Wednesday, I booked a hostel that's in a more residential neighborhood. I may regret this, but I figured it would be a different experience than what the typical beach crowd has (although the first thing I'll do after getting to rio will be to walk around the beach). Plus the owners of the hostel got great reviews, so I hope they'll be able to direct me to some off the beaten path music venues and cafes.
After 4 days in Rio, the wedding attendees take a shuttle from Rio to Paraty (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraty) - 4 hours south of Rio. The wedding is on Saturday on an island about 15 minutes off the coast. While we're in Paraty (until Monday) there's going to be a big arts and jazz festival in town... Really cool stuff.
After Paraty I'll either head to Buzios for a day (the "Brazilian Riviera"), go back to Rio, or stay around Paraty for another day. Whatever I do, ive got to be at the Rio airport on Wednesday morning to fly to Salvador. From there, I'll meet up with my friend Matt, and with Dave's sister (Remember... Dave is the guy getting married). The three of us will rent a car and drive six hours to Lencois, which is the entry point to the Chapada national park. Dave has spent over 60 days hiking in Chapada and claims it's "like Yosemite times ten.". We'll see... I'll be there for five days. While in Lencois, we will probably meet up with other friends of friends (Americans) who have a house in Lencois. There's also a big festival that's going on (Brazilians will be on holiday), so the town will be jumpin. We plan to do a bunch of hiking to waterfalls and things like that. After five days, we drive back to Salvador. Matt will go on to Sao Paolo, Jess (Dave's sister) will head back to Portland, and I'll stay in Salvador for 3 days. I might go to nearby beach towns... I'm intentionally leaving this part of the trip completely unplanned.
Whew. That's my itinerary. Obviously, it's going to be an active three weeks. But, I think I've done a good job of building in some downtime. Aside from enjoying the moment, I want to come back refreshed and satisfied. A balance of partying (it's Brazil... Parties are inevitable and welcome) and days to myself.
One thing I'm thinking about right now - I despise the people in first class. Call me a player hater, but I resent their comfort. Contrast: me, shlepping a massive backpack everywhere and staying in hostels (and one nice pousada in Paraty). This has been the way I've traveled for the past ten years, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The struggle of traveling teaches you things... It does. Having to figure things out on your own and make a ton of mistakes in the process is how you learn - to take care of yourself and be resilient when you screw up. But, my 31-year old bones are telling me that this may be the last big trip I take in true backpacking style. We shall see. The people you meet when traveling this way always make it worth it.. No doubt about it.
Plane about to leave and there's an empty seat next to me. Thank goodness. Bedtime.
Glad you remembered. The kicker was that even though I went to the wrong airport they were willing to help me out and rebook, but since I had been paper ticketed instead of e-ticketed (I had no choice in the matter) they couldn't do it and I could only buy a new ticket, which would have been like $900.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sounds like you are going to have a blast.
I largely missed the backpack traveling phase, but I contend dragging 3 kids and a pregnant lady around isn't any easier on the 31 year old bones.
ReplyDeleteHave a good trip, and give me a ring when you head back to the ham.