Trip Booked - Ladyboy Adventure in Brazil

[Rockheart]

Fuck this country and all the bullshit, I've booked a flight to Brazil in February for 2 months. Then I can watch the decline of Canada and the USA from a distance and have a bit of fun! Maybe i can beat Billyword's trip report. Not many other reports.

It's a 17 hour itinerary to Rio de Janeiro with a connection in Sao Paulo, so a little shorter than a trip to Thailand.
Brazil requires a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival and no quarantine. I've heard it is fairly wide open there with some precautions.

I plan to try booking on AirBnB for an apartment in Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon or Barra de Tijuca
Last time I was in Rio was 2002 and I stayed in Ipanema the entire time.
I plan to make a side trip to Sao paulo too.

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I want to do some mountain biking but the kind of trails we have in Canada are not as developed. I could bike in some of the favelas but I might get hurt or killed by gangs. I can rent the city bikes on every corner and ride them around the beach anyway. I see there is some bike trips out in the jungle and even through one favela in Rio.
https://www.viator.com/tours/Rio-de-...d712-68768P558
https://www.braziladventuretours.com...ountain-biking

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Here some pics from my 2002 trip. This trip might not be quite as crazy.

[flamingofarmer]

What's health insurance cost for this trip including for moutain biking ?

[flamingofarmer]

Those guys on the bikes in your video are amazing shit i don't think i would ever have ( or had) the skill or balls to do that. Slim margins for error

[Rockheart]

Those guys on the bikes in your video are amazing shit i don't think i would ever have ( or had) the skill or balls to do that. Slim margins for error

Those guys are pro mountian bikers. The Favelas are easier than many real mountain bike trails that those guys ride on over here.
In the mountains there is no guard rails, stairs, fences or roads mostly.

I would hope there would be and easier way down for and old guy like me. Stairs are not an issue if they are not too steep or very large steps.

[Rockheart]

What's health insurance cost for this trip including for moutain biking ?

I have a Group policy through GMS which is about $125 per month which includes medical and dental in Canada plus International Travel health insurance that has a 1 million dollar lifetime cap. They changed the conditions to allow for Covid and I have coverage for 60 days. So mountain biking or any other health concern would just go against my lifetime balance.

Effective November 12, 2020:

• The Travel Advisory exclusion has been updated with an exception allowing emergency medical coverage to be provided in countries where there is only an “Avoid Non-Essential Travel” advisory due to COVID-19.
• We’ll also cover medical expenses related to a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 up to $500,000 of your overall travel emergency medical maximum.

https://gms.ca/covid-19-updates

I check some other insurances. Royal Bank travel insurance will not cover out of country travel right now.

Air Canada includes Manulife covid insurance with all tickets but it is only good for 21 days.
I checked the manulife website and it would be about $400 for 2 months of Covid inclusive travel insurance.

https://www.manulife.ca/personal/insurance/travel-insurance/travelling-canadians.html

I am not really expecting to do any mountain biking that is even as extreme as what I do normally in Canada.
They have rental bikes on every corner so I can ride up and down the beach maybe take some other routes.
There is a tour through one favela but it is pretty tame roadbiking through a mellow ghetto. Generally I will not be going to any favelas.
I might even buy a cheaper mountain bike and donate it to my airbnb when i leave if I can't find a place to rent one better than the street cruisers.

Mountain biking is not really developed in Brazil like in Canada. Even if I go out to the National Park and find some real trails, most of it is dirt roads and there is no difficult mountian biking really just endurance. So I highly doubt I would get hurt and I am in decent biking shape so a heart attack is probably not likely. If I catch Covid I have a pretty high percentage of not getting seriously ill. So I am getting a flu shot just in case. That way if I feel sick i will assume it is Covid and isolate for a while.

I plan to bike every day in some way and swim if I can find a pool. Some apartments have pools but most are small and many require some type of medical certificate to swim. The ocean is beautiful and the beaches are huge but not great for swimming. The currents are very strong and I won't go in there unless I find a very calm bay or something. Perhaps I can play a little foot volleyball on the beach.

I'm hoping to find a place with a balcony to relax that has a beach view. I'm not planning to go out and party much or anything just try to keep safe. Sitting around my apartment in Rio will be much better than doing it here. I can try a few shemales and maybe just stick with one to keep the contacts down.
Maybe there is some biking tgirls.

Barra de Tijuca is very quiet and safe and upscale but boring, but this may be the right choice.
Still it might be nice to be close at Ipanema.

[Rockheart]

Of course I may not be able to get a PCR test in time. I was booked for a tuesday flight but the testing lab is closed on Sundays.
So I now changed my flight to Thursday to make sure i can get a test within 72 hours.
I have to pay for a private test which i have to send off to another city. Government tests may come back in 48 hours but 7 days is the quasi guarantee. At this point in the pandemic this seems ridiculous.

The politicians spend more time making sure I am suitably locked down. They don't seem to increase medical capacity or testing.
I'm not clear what is wrong with them? Airlines should have instant testing by now even in the most remote airports.

[Rockheart]

Seems biking is a big thing in Rio. There is rental bike stations all over the place and over 400km of bike paths with a majority along the beach.
There is dozens and dozens of bike shops so i should be able to rent a basic mountain bike. I can bike up to Christo through the Tijuca forest amongst other places.
If i bike along the beach i should be able to find beaches with calmer water for swimming too.

https://www.rio.com/practical-rio/biking-rio

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/the-most-scenic-cycling-routes-in-rio-de-janeiro/

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[northernguy222]

The politicians spend more time making sure I am suitably locked down. They don't seem to increase medical capacity or testing.
I'm not clear what is wrong with them? Airlines should have instant testing by now even in the most remote airports.

I totally agree...I cancelled my Caribbean trip this March because of the stupid 72 hour testing...where am I supposed to get this done in Cuba or the Dominican Republic? Since the government came up with this rule AirCanada and Westjet immediately laid off 2700 more people. Wish I could do something like you and just go away for a couple months, but I only had 1 month available. That would mean 2 weeks away and 2 weeks quarantine on my return.

Screw it...I'll sit at home and play with myself and hope that things are much different next year. Have fun man.

[Rockheart]

I totally agree...I cancelled my Caribbean trip this March because of the stupid 72 hour testing...where am I supposed to get this done in Cuba or the Dominican Republic? Since the government came up with this rule AirCanada and Westjet immediately laid off 2700 more people. Wish I could do something like you and just go away for a couple months, but I only had 1 month available. That would mean 2 weeks away and 2 weeks quarantine on my return.

Screw it...I'll sit at home and play with myself and hope that things are much different next year. Have fun man.

It is difficult to get a PCR test where I am but not impossible. Other provinces it is easier to get a test.
If you can fly international from Calgary they have a 2 day quarantine on the way back but there is a limited number of places to go direct from Cowtown. Still i have been pretty much locked down for weeks at a time anyway so a couple weeks on the way back isn't a big deal. I have to do my tax when i get back anyway.

Brazil has quite a bit of testing but I am still taking a chance on that. I'm hoping there is some shift in policy in Canada while I am gone.

WHO already said quarantines need not be more than 10 days. Canada could even get worse while I am gone, who knows.
Maybe they will jab me on arrival back in Canada and then whisk me away for scientific experiments at one of their secret Covid internment camps. I hope there is free weed.
Not clear why airlines have not come up with rapid testing on both ends.

Lockdowns here get worse as things get better, strange brew.

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[Tao1kiku]

Ahh, been there twice, both times in Rio. Rented an apartamento that was cheap, nice and 2 blocks from the beach. So many beautiful girls there

[Rockheart]

Ahh, been there twice, both times in Rio. Rented an apartamento that was cheap, nice and 2 blocks from the beach. So many beautiful girls there

This is my second time. There certainly won't be many gringo tourists there, so i will have all the girls to myself.
I figure biking should give me some good eye candy along the beach and maybe meet a few ladies.
Who knows.

[Rockheart]

Here is the Emergency Medical Insurance that came with my Air Canada flight.
It is not valid since I am staying more than 21 days.

[Rockheart]

Here we go,
Air Canada just rescheduled my flight due to down sizing because of Canada's new testing requirement.

Now there is a Brazil Variant everyone will panic over.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/h...-b1786847.html

I wil be forced to die here alone because I probably will never be allowed to go anywhere ever again.
It is illegal for anyone to visit me and I cannot go anywhere. What is the point of life? Who cares if I get some stupid virus, if I am not allowed to live?
If i die of loneliness they will probably mark it up as Covid to support the cause, whatever it is.

There have been thousands of variants so far, now everyone is in a panic over new variants.
There is more behind this than just a virus, why the sudden panic?
Really suspicious how this whole thing is playing out, it just doesn't seem natural.

[flamingofarmer]

Right I forgot that cC19 drives the cost of insurance up right now. I just remember when I travelled to Costa Rica years ago with friend of mine I got insurance for me and her and I think it was about a hundred bucks total for both of us or maybe a hundred and twenty. But I do remember that they asked about what activities we would be doing and mountain biking was one of them that they consider to be an extreme sport so it was going to cost another eighty bucks or something like that which is really not that much but I didn't go mountain biking so I didn't get it.
So now that your flight got rescheduled what's the deal now ..when do you get to go now you going to work your tests around that that sounds like it's going to get convoluted

[Rockheart]

My insurance didn't go up, just seems that other insurances are more expensive if you add covid protection.

They just rescheduled my flight to Toronto, not the other flight to Brazil.

Now you cannot get through to Air Canada or make changes on the website, can't seem to book any new flights. I can't even view my booking online. Perhaps the servers are still crunching all the flight changes. I suspect my flight will eventually just get cancelled.

As i say, there is no reason the government couldn't have an airport testing program in place after all this time. Just over one percent of cases are tied to Air Travel. Instead they just keep conspiring on how they can lock down you and me. If they put their efforts into protecting seniors and the vulnerable they deaths would stop. If they put some planning into travel and other activities we could be closer to normal now. All they know to do is Communist lockdowns that just get worse and worse.

After almost a year of his bullshit you would think they would have more to offer. Governments have failed us, specifically Canada's.

In reality true "extreme mountain biking" is riding downhill on rocky mountains with full equipment on.
If you are just riding a "mountain bike" on a road or path it is just cycling. Even if you are riding a "mountain bike" on a road or path in a mountain it is really just cycling. I don't expect I would do anything that would be categorized more than cycling. I like to ride uphill alot, and that is not extreme as your speed is very low. Even the Rio tours that say "mountain biking" just follow paved paths for the most part.

I've never been asked what activities I was doing when I bought travel insurance before.
I suspect if you buy things like this through a travel agency they may have many options to gouge you with. I would recommend not saying "mountain biking" if you are probably just cycling near the beach or whatever. If I am going to Whistler and say I'm going mountain biking that is serious, saying you are going mountain biking in some tropical tourist destination isn't really the same. All of Brazil probably doesn't have as many real mountain biking trails as Whistler.

Nothing in my policy would stop me from mountain biking anywhere. Mountain biking and skiing appears to be allowed by my policy.
Bungee jumping, parachuting and hang gliding are not covered for obvious reasons.

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