Originally Posted by
tadive
For those of you who have traveled to Rio, what were your experiences? I almost feel like I should hole-up in the hotel room for the whole time, but that's stupid too. We're a well-traveled couple in our early 40s--I've never been so anxious about a destination before.
I'm also in my early 40s (well, 44 now) and have been to Brazil 5 times and to Rio on four of those trips. I don't want to make you complacent - I gather from your post that are not as you note the obvious precautions - but I think the dangers are over-hyped. I have stayed at the Rio International which is just 2 blocks form the Palace and never had any trouble. The one crime I saw - apart from discreet recreational drug taking in a club and on the beach - was two guys on bikes nicking a young girl's (age 11 say) mobile phone in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon when Avenida Atlantica was closed to traffic.
Might I suggest the biggest danger you will face is in the car. They drive like madmen and if your driver is more placid that probably increases the risk that you will be taken out by an 80kmh bus. The buses have manual gear boxes and the drivers all fancy themselves as Ayrton Senna's love child - they are at max revs in fourth gear just aching to shift up into fifth when some old dude in a Fiat Sienna decides to stop a pedestrian crossing of all places. Carnage ensues, unfortunately.
Seriously tadive, get out and about, Rio is amazing and beautiful and sexy and alive - you will be fine if you are as sensible as you sound.
James