Discovering Brazil on a whim and three weeks to spare

By Andrew Porteous

My friend Tim and I had three weeks vacation available that we had to use before the end of year or lose them. Tim left the decision as to where we would be going up to me. So, on a whim, and after an hour spent with the travel agent, I called Tim up to give him the news.

“Brazil,” he said amazed. “Wow, what’s that going to be like?”

“No Clue,” I replied honestly.

It was the truth, I had no idea what Brazil was going to be like. The flights had been a special deal and I wanted to amaze Tim with a destination that would be a bit different from the norm. One week later we met each other at Heathrow. Tim was already dressed in shorts and t-shirt, despite the outside temperature barely above freezing. Twelve hours later we landed in Rio de Janeiro, and figuring we’d play things by ear, we booked into a hotel for two nights while we sorted out what exactly we were going to do in Brazil. (more…)