Despite the fact that I’ve been reading Flyertalk for nearly ten years, I’ve never written a Trip Report. I meant to write one earlier this year when I went to the Shetland Islands (the short version: it’s amazing! go!), and then a few weeks ago after a trip to the Villa D’Este. But I didn’t. (Maybe I still will?) I recently spent a long weekend in São Paulo, and in planning my trip, I was surprised to see that there isn’t much (or much terribly recent) on São Paulo. Subsequent posts to this trip report will involve some flights on AA’s 77W in business class (which included one of the weirdest interactions I’ve ever had with an FA), the Hotel Unique, art and stuff, and (mis)adventures with Uber. Below you’ll find the introduction which covers such vital topics as why on earth are you going to São Paulo? And what luggage will accompany you there?
In part, one could maybe classify this as a Tier Point run (I’ve decided to credit my One World flights to BAEC going forward), and although I didn’t maximize the TP earnings with any connecting flights, I'll reach BA Silver (OW Sapphire) with the flights from this PNR. On the other hand, it was a chance to get out of town (home being New York) at a time when the getting out seemed good.
I had no real immediate desire to visit Brazil, but earlier this year I noticed that ex-EU prices to South America in J were rather cheap. What good are ex-EU flights to South America going to do me, a resident New Yorker, you might ask? I already knew that I would be going to Italy in early November, and miraculously enough, there was Business SAAver availability on AA to Milan. (Quite possibly because it’s such an incredibly mediocre business-class seat, but for 50,000 miles and $5.60 it was an acceptable value.) So I booked the reward ticket to Italy, and figured I would take advantage of the €1,500-ish round-trips to EZE, using New York as a stopover and then heading back to Europe in early 2017. I dallied in booking and one day, poof!, the fares to EZE disappeared (there’s a
lengthy thread over in the Mileage Run forum), and I realized I was really quite disappointed (effectively, I could fly back from Italy to NYC, take a long weekend in South America, and then fly back to Europe for not that much more than just buying a straight ticket from Milan), so that when reasonable fares reappeared— albeit only to Brazil, not Argentina— I booked without much thought.
Then I realized that, oops!, as a U.S. citizen I needed a tourist visa. Hmmm, I really didn’t think that through. I’ve never had to deal with getting a tourist visa before, and it was looking as if it would an extremely irritating procedure. For example, the address of my driver’s license doesn’t match my current address (that’s not an issue with NY State: I had updated separately with the DMV when I moved and that was enough), and I was very annoyed with the hassle of getting a new license. But then I realized that it was only the visa services that had that requirement, and if I went in person to the Brazilian consulate here in New York, a driver’s license wasn’t on the list of required paperwork. So I filled out a form online, popped over to the consulate, spent about 25 minutes waiting (and $160, harrumph), and picked up my visa two days later. It was perhaps the friendliest bureaucratic experience I’ve ever had. So, aside from the cost of the visa, which is billed as a reciprocity fee to match what the U.S. charges Brazilians, if you live in the service area of the New York consulate I would not let the visa requirement dissuade you from going to Brazil!
With visa in hand, I began contemplating hotels and pretty much saving any mention of restaurants, bars, and sights to Evernote and setting up a Google Map where I plotted things, thinking that I’d choose a hotel most convenient to the biggest cluster of activities (I ended up staying elsewhere.) I would only have two nights in São Paulo (bookended by overnight flights), but I’d arrive around noon on Thursday and not depart until 11:30pm on Saturday, thus giving me pretty much three full days. That’s not a lot of time, but it’s not nothing, particularly since I had no real idea what São Paulo had to offer…
The other element of planning involved deciding which luggage to take. I like luggage. I like buying bags. (Suitcases and travel bags, not “purses” or the like. God, not purses.) I’ve become a huge fan of Tom Bihn over the last few years, and with this trip in mind, I bought an Aeronaut 30, thinking it would be perfect for a trip of this duration. I inaugurated the A30 on a two-night trip to Chicago, and the bag is certainly plenty big and wonderfully organized. But a couple of months ago, on a lark, I walked by the Rimowa store and came home with the now-discontinued Salsa Business Trolley. I wanted something small— give me the smallest bag you have!— primarily to be able to wheel around my TB Aeronauts. I’m not a minimalist by nature, and I’m also extremely good at packing (defining “good at packing” as someone who can fit an absurd amount of stuff into a very small space; I have in the past had problems exceedingly weight limits with even small bags. Ask me about the 125lb bag I checked one time!), so a fully packed Aeronaut 45 can be uncomfortably heavy for me to carry. The itty bitty Rimowa (with a bag bungee) served its job perfectly at helping me wheel the A45 to Italy a few weeks ago (and note, I checked both it and the A45), and when it came time to pack for this trip, it kept calling to me.
I almost always check a bag. The trip to Chicago with the A30 was my first carry-on only trip in a very long time. I enjoy taking lots of toiletries, and pilfering good toiletries from hotels (thank you, Fairmont Hamilton Princess for keeping me in Le Labo!). I’m happy to let the airline do the not-always-so heavy lifting. I get two free checked bags no matter what. But it seemed like this trip would be easiest with just a small carry-on. AA has not always impressed me with the speed of luggage delivery, and the idea of walking off the plane without waiting around for a tiny bag seemed strangely appealing so this meant somewhat rethinking my packing strategy. (I mean, the volume or amount of stuff I take on trips almost always meets carry-on requirements, so it was more of a mental adjustment. I’m going to be one of
those people. I don’t know what
those people even means, aside from being someone other than my usual traveling self.)
I test packed everything (all my clothes plus swimwear fit into an Aether A30 Packing Cube), first into the A30 and then, on another lark, into the Rimowa. It all fit. (Of course it all fit.) (The Rimowa’s capacity is about 25L, and being a Salsa, weighs very little.) Somehow, the A30 felt heavier? And, in backpack mode, seemed more awkward with my ‘personal item’ (a
Tom Bihn Packing Cube Shoulder Bag) as a cross body bag. My partner surveyed the situation— and first tried to convince me to take the A45, which seemed ridiculously huge— and then, wisely it turned out, suggested that after a long flight, and not knowing if there would be vast distances to walk at GRU, that perhaps the ease of wheels would be appreciated on this flight?
So, I ended up cheating on Tom (seriously: the idea of not using a Bihn bag as my primary bag seemed wrong). But, to use the parlance of our times, the itty bitty RImowa sparks serious amounts of JOY. So tiny! So cute! So zippy! Maybe I was going to hate SP, but gosh, I was going to love the luggage I used to get there! (OK, small quibble: I wish the Rimowa had o-rings. I love o-rings. Curses to you, Tom Bihn, for making all bags without o-rings seem now somehow to be missing something important.)
Next installments: AA’s oh-so-delightful flight attendants, the joys of Google Translate, and hotel happiness.
And perhaps it has already become clear, but this trip report is being brought to you by the Power of Parentheses. (There never was a digression I didn’t like.) Onwards!
Oh, and since I can't figure out (yet) how to get photos to appear throughout the post, rather than at the end:
Photo 1: My ugly couch (I do so want a 2-seat Vitsoe... but travel seems to beat furniture in the budget tug-o-war) plus the Itty Bitty Rimowa and all its contents. (Ignore the Tom Bihn Daylight Briefcase in the back: that didn't go with me.) The pizza-shaped pouch is one of my favorite things, and has cables, adapters, and all that jazz. The purple thing inside the Rimowa is the
Aether A30 cube, with the clothes seen below.
Photo 2: I am nothing if not organized, and I use an app called Stylebook to keep track of my clothes. This was my packing list. As you see, I'm not really a minimalist (a caftan for lounging around is non-negotiable in my travel world), but at the same time, it's plenty of stuff and dresses take up so little space.