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For a Brazilian Vacation, 7 Rules to Save By
Brazil is too expensive for budget travelers. Or is it?
Evidence in the affirmative is strong. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are now the most expensive cities in the Western Hemisphere, by some measures. The dollar that used to get you 3 or almost 4 Brazilian reais at various points in the last decade now gets you just 2. Flying to Brazil from New York takes at least nine hours and can easily run $1,000.
But there is no need to be intimidated.
By following just a few guidelines, a trip to this country of astonishing cultural, geographical, economic, ecological, musical and culinary diversity might just be affordable. Or at least more affordable than you think.
Here are the Frugal Traveler’s Seven Rules for making every dollar (or every real, for that matter) count.
1. ‘CONSOLIDATE’ A LOWER FARE
It’s just plain dumb to book a flight to Brazil through big online travel companies or the airlines’ sites. Yes, dumb — as in feeding-cash-to-a-paper-shredder dumb. Instead, to find much lower fares, check with consolidators (agencies that negotiate with airlines for special rates) that specialize in Brazil. I generally call [OTHER PROVIDER], but this time, for variety’s sake, I tested a competitor, AirProjects.com. Searching online for a 10-day trip from New York to Rio de Janeiro four weeks out, I found a $923 (taxes and fees included) nonstop fare on the Brazilian carrier TAM. Repeating the search on Kayak and Expedia, the best prices were $998 with a layover or $1,109 for nonstop.
Photo Source: Felipe Dana/Associated Press Rio de Janeiro.
RIO – The cost of living in Brazilian cities is not high just for locals, but also for foreign tourists. Aware of the fact Rio and Sao Paulo the two most expensive cities in the world, the site “New York Times” has produced a list of seven tips to save on trips to Brazil.
“The dollar, which used to be worth between US $ 3 and US $ 4 in the last decade will now only purchase R $ 2. Flying to New York Brazil takes at least nine hours and cost easily over $ 1000. But there is no reason to be intimidated, “writes journalist Seth Kugel, which keeps the travel blog of New York Times Frugal Traveler and lives part of the year in Sao Paulo”.
The first tip is to avoid Kugel purchase tickets through the sites of major airlines and online travel companies. Instead, he advises buying through specialized agencies in Brazil to negotiate lower rates, such as [ANOTHER PROVIDER] and AirProjects.com. According to him, you can save almost $ 200 that way.
