olgsr

Hi all,

Last november I visited Brazil to my first time. I've been meaning to visit this gorgeous country for quite some time, it just never worked out for some reason. Originally I booked two J tickets on AA using BA avios, later I canceled the return leg when I was able to snag a couple of revenue tickets thanks to the well-knowned BRL to USD fares ( thanks again flipside). I'll share a quick summary and some pictures of the journey here, if you want a more detailed review you know where to click.

How did we end up in Hong Kong on our Rio de Janeiro trip: Introduction
American Airlines 772 Zodiac business class New York to Rio de Janerio
Pousada Abracadabra, Buzios
Santa Teresa Hotel, Rio de Janeiro
Lounge hopping in São Paulo (Star Alliance, TAM & American)
42 hours on American Airlines 77W business class São Paulo to Dallas to Hong Kong and back
@HarbourRunners TramDash 2015: Racing the last tram in Hong Kong

American Airlines 772 new Zodiac business class New York to Rio de Janeiro
AA973 New York to Rio de Janeiro
9:30PM – 10:38AM (+1)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seats: 2A/3A

Lounge
The only lounge in the terminal is the Admirals club, luckily we were able to use the Flagship first class section thanks to our Executive Platinum status. It does the job but it needs a refurbishment which will actually happen later this year. If you’re stuck in the business class section don’t have your hopes up, dinner means cookies, brownies, pretzels and maybe an apple if you want to finish somewhat healthier.

Seats
The new Zodiac seats huge step up from the old ones, giving not only more space but direct aisle access for every passenger thanks to its 1-2-1 configuration. American’s 787 Dreamliners have those exact seats and layout.
If traveling as a couple I’d recommend center seats in the odd numbered rows if you’re in the front cabin or even numbered in the back one. Those are closer to each other so you can talk without shouting from one side of the plane to the other.I picked window seats because of two reasons:

• I didn’t know how high the dividers are between the rows ( aka am I gonna face the passenger behind me facing backwards?).

• I’m a complete nerd who likes looking out the window while take-off and landing.

Next time I’d probably pick the center seats, the divider I’m talking about was well above eye sight.

The flight
Thought that will be the perfect flight. Leaving late at night, eat my dinner, watch a movie and then sleep for a couple of hours. Doors close, the plane doesn’t move, the captain comes on the PA to let us know it’s something with traffic control. After 30 minutes we start our taxi through JFK but it’s incredibly slow. At one point we stop and the captain updates us again but this time with even worse news. Traffic control’s system shut down so naturally no landings or take-offs were allowed. He said it will take some time so they had to turn off the engines because if it goes on for a while we’ll have to return to the gate for fuel. Well, it did go on for a while. To be exact, 2 hours. Of course that’s completely out of their control so no hard feelings. The crew did come around with some water and snacks.

Ok, since I mentioned the crew… All flight attendants were Brazil based but one who was from a neighboring country. I can’t say they were especially friendly but fine to (our low) US carrier standards. Except one who was having a bad day and of course I was lucky enough to have him working on our aisle. I don’t know if he was just hungover from the night before, jet-lagged or just a b!tch in general. Clearly he didn’t want to be there but what’s worst, he made sure everyone felt the same way around him. On positive thing though, at least he poured huge glasses of wine… so he didn’t have to return to refill them.😉

Verdict

American finally stepped up their game and started to retrofit their business class fleet-wide. The seats were comfortable, the IFE was what you expect on a big carrier in the 21st century and the food was not only edible but actually tasted good.

US carriers are really lucky. They’ve been getting away with crappy service for decades mostly because they’re all consistently bad so that’s what we’re used to. You have to give them credit for that.

Jokes apart it’s sad that this is the norm and it’s surprising when you find a dedicated worker who actually likes his/her job. Thankfully it got better on my other 3 AA segments on this trip.^

olgsr

Buzios and the Pousada Abracadabra

Background:
With a week in Brazil we wanted to see something in addition to Rio. Sitting in Ipanema for 7 days sounds fantastic but we’re all about exploring, seeing new things and having diversity in the scenery. I know the Bahia Peninsula up northeast, specifically Fernando do Noronha, is regarded as having the most beautiful beaches in the world but our time was limited so wanted to stay somewhere near the city. We’ll leave that for next time.

A friend who visits Rio quite often recommended Buzios, a beach town located 3 hours away from the city. Visitors are mostly locals escaping busting Brazilian cities and we met a surprising amount of Argentines.
Anyways after some basic TripAdvisor search I found the two most popular hotels. The Pousada Abracadabra and the Casas Brancas. They look quite similar and that’s because they’re sister properties right next to each other. Pricing helped me made the decision on which one to pick since the first one cost ~30-40% cheaper.

Where is it? How to get there?

As mentioned earlier it’s a 3 hour drive from Rio. You can hop on a bus from either the city or the airport (both GIG and SDU). The major player on the route is Bus 1001 but you can find smaller charter companies too. They don’t have an option for online booking on that specific route, just email the address shown on their site and they’ll reserve you a spot. Payment (~$8) was made when boarding, cash only.

First impressions:

I loved that it’s a small property with perfectly maintained grounds. The concept is interesting,felt like it’s the tropical light version of Niki Beach. You know the usual all white furnitures, lounging to 90s Buddha bar music, where people think they’re cool drinking Veuve Cliquot. Except that here people seemed super chill, I immediately knew it will be the right spot to relax for the next 2 days. I do have to mention it was shoulder season so the whole area wasn’t too busy.

Yet the number one selling point can be summarized in one word and that’s View. Okay, maybe two: infinity pool and view. The hotel is on a little hill- you have to climb about 100 meters- so you’re able to overlook both the city and the bay. I’m not a sunset guy but it was impressive for sure.

Room

I knew we’ll spend most of our time either by the pool or roaming the neighboring beaches so I went for a basic room. It was modest but perfectly did the job. We were on the ground floor ,which I didn’t like first, close to the pool an the restaurant and I thought it’ll be really loud. Well it was everything but.

F&B

Our first day we wanted to have dinner in town but thanks to a crazy downpour those plans were washed away. We decided to stay at the property and check out Mistico, the hotel’s restaurant. Normally we rather look for local joints but that wasn’t an option. The restaurant itself is formal at night, not a Michelin-starred suit up place but still requires a non-swimwear outfit. We wanted something more casual so we asked the servers if it’d possible to grab dinner on the communal table on the terrace (we needed space for the Macs ). They were super nice about it and had absolutely no problem accommodating us outdoors. As for the dinner: INCREDIBLE, probably the best seafood dish I had in Brazil. The set was just perfect, a warm yet not uncomfortable night with a summer rain, a glass of wine and amazing food. You can’t ask for more.

Final thoughts: On Buzios as well not just the hotel.

The hotel is very well located, it was clean, service was excellent and perfectly matched the vibe of this modern fishing village.

On that note, I’d say Buzios is a decent getaway from Rio rather than something a major vacation should be planned around. It’s nice but definitely not a “destination” that worth a 10+ hours flight regardless of what part of the world you’re coming from.

olgsr

Santa Teresa Hotel, Rio de Janeiro

Where is it?

The hotel is located in the bohemian district of Santa Teresa, hidden between the mountains surrounding Christ the Redeemer. The area is well known for its art galleries, cobblestone streets, “Brooklyn-y” vibe and of course the yellow tram which is finally operating again.

The easies way of getting there is by taxi, they are fixed rate from both the airport and the bus terminal. Public transport is limited to the earlier mentioned tram and a bus departing from “Centro”. If we wanted to go to the beaches normally we just walked to the nearest subway station called Gloria and took it to either Ipanema or Copacabana. The stop is 15 minutes away, we like walking but keep it in mind if you don’t.

The hotel

The hotel is hidden behind huge wooden walls. Once passing those you’ll find yourself in a lush tropical garden. Just by the reception area I knew the hotel will be fantastic. It was beautifully decorated with local art, dark tones dominated, giving it a sophisticated yet casual look.

Our room was located on the 3rd floor. Even that it was “only” a Deluxe one, I was really happy with it because it boasted with incredible views overlooking the north of the city and the Guanabara Bay.

The hotel isn’t too big so grounds equals to the pool and bar next to it. It’s a city boutique hotel not a resort in Maui. That’s completely fine, most of the people visiting the hotel are couples in need of a relaxing escape. The pool area was fantastic, mostly because its views but I let the pictures speak for themselves in a sec..

F&B

Breakfast was served at Terreze, one of the hotel’s two restaurants. Similarly to the rest of the property I liked the tropical setting of it. It had both and indoors and outdoor seating, to be exact half of the restaurant had its floor-to-ceiling windows open. The two rooms were separated by a crystal wall (wine shelf) so it fitted both who preferred the fantastic morning breeze or the ones liking the A/C blowing in their face instead. Food was delicious, especially the Egg soufflé and those guayaba-white cheese danishes were to die for.

Final thoughts

We had a great time at the Relais et Chateaux Santa Teresa. We loved the area, it was exactly what we were looking for: A local neighborhood without the sh!tshow Copacabana and Ipanema is. Yes, their beaches are gorgeous but I can’t call them the most attractive places at night. On the other hand Santa Teresa is the exact opposite, just buy a caipirinha, a beer or whatever you like, stroll the area, meet people, listen to live music and soak the atmosphere in!

olgsr

Lounge hopping in São Paulo (Star Alliance, TAM & American)

Star Alliance Lounge

The lounge can be accessed if you’re flying any Star Alliance carrier’s business or first class, or if you are a Gold frequent flyer of the alliance. Believe it or not it’s also a Priority Pass lounge, I (and the Mrs.) had access thanks to my Citi Prestige card.

The space was huge which is well needed for a lounge trying to accommodate premium passengers of almost a dozen airlines. Most of those fly out in the evening, technically PP members have limited access between 5 and 9PM on some days but I’m not sure how strictly is this rule enforced. I started here to avoid being denied entry around the afternoon rush.

The design was stunning, with plenty of seating in different areas. While it’s only one big open space, the lounge is “divided” by the style of the seats giving it a cozy feel wherever you decide to set base. My favorite area was the lounging one right next to the entrance, I can’t call it a quiet room since there was plenty of traffic but definitely calmer than the rest of the lounge.

The “dining room” is at the far end of the lounge. Food consisted mostly of finger food, such as mini sandwiches but you found also pasta, salad, a soup and some delicious mini-cupcakes. As much as I like wines I was still feeling crappy thanks to a food poisoning the day before so I couldn’t take one for the team, apologies for that.

American Airlines Admirals Club

Next to the front desk there was a small lobby with 15-20 seats. Besides the fact that it was new, it looked modern, even classy and finally something different than the ones we’re used to all over the US.

The main seating was pretty big, I believe the whole lounge fits over 200, and looked even more sparse since besides me there were literally 5 other people,2 of those were employees.
Food was pretty similar to what you found in the other lounges. That’s a compliment, I’m happy to see something else that pretzels and nuts. Hope it stays that way but American tends to get cheaper and cheaper (which is ridiculous since they’re getting richer and richer) when it comes to catering.

LATAM Lounge

The lounge is big, probably bigger as the other 3 combined. Unlike in the Star Alliance one here it’s not only one space but a couple of different rooms. Right after entering you find 3 bigger seating areas with a massive self serve bar and proper restaurant setting in the center. While the food was similar to the other two, the selection was bigger.

At the end of the lounge you found a play room with a couple of Xboxes, a quiet room and sleeping room with actual beds. The first two rooms share (crystal) walls so if you sit right next to it you might have to listen to someone yelling for getting a red card on Fifa2016 or the sound of a Ferrari speeding from 0 to 100 in 10 seconds in Need For Speed.
So if you really wan’t quiet and relax, try to snag one of those beds…
I think this was my favorite lounge out of all, definitely your best bet if you’re a Oneworld frequent flyer. To all BA and Qatar flyers: just head here and skip the Executive one the airline is trying to ditch you to!

Bottom line

I was surprised at the quality of the lounges in Sao Paulo GRU new international terminal also known as T3. All of them were modern, offered plenty of space and great selection in both food and beverages. If you happen to have a long layover no worries, your options are better than you might think.

olgsr

42 hours on American Airlines 77W business class São Paulo to Dallas to Hong Kong and back

Instead of writing an individual (yet very similar) report of each flight I’ll just summarize my American Airlines experience in this single post. I never flew the plane before technically but I was familiar with the seat as Cathay Pacific offers the same which I flew from Johannesburg to Hong Kong and from there to the US on two separate trips. Also you find the same seats as First Class on American’s 32B transcontinental routes, I was able to sample that between San Francisco and New York ( Remember when the TSA called the bomb squad on me?).

It was a long journey with over 42 hours in the air plus whatever time we spent at airports, we left Rio on Sunday and got to New York on Wednesday. We stayed in Hong Kong for only 14 hours, just enough time to go for a walk in the city, nap, eat at the cheapest michelin-starred restaurant in the world called Tim Ho Wan and race the last tram between Happy Valley Terminus and Kennedy Town Terminal.

The cabin, the seats:

I flew 3 segments all in different parts of the business class section. Two of them in the mini-cabin and one in the “main” seating. I always try to snag seats in the mini-cabin, because of its size, it has a much more private feel. It only consists of two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. My favorite is row 3 since that’s the one furthest away from the galley and the lavatories.

I think American shot themselves in the feet with those seats. It questions the need for first class, it’s more private, not as wide but still offers plenty space for both lounging and sleeping. I wouldn’t bother with spending more miles or cash just to sit upfront.

While you’d think center seats are the obvious choice for couples I’d say grab one by the window. The distance between the two in the middle makes talking hard anyways, plus the one by the window offers more space around the footrest. Not a big deal if you’re 5’2” like my wife but matters for someone like me when you’re trying to sleep. Since I’m mentioning sleeping, the seat was quite long and the padding was soft making it comfortable even in bed mode.

In-flight

You won’t get bored that’s for sure. The IFE offering is plentiful with great movies, tv-shows, documentaries and more. The screens are big, not HD but crisp enough. American has been pretty good with keeping the library up to date. We flew them long-haul quite a lot the last couple of months and it was good to see that they keep refreshing it by adding new movies.

If you want to work or just upload a selfie to Instagram wifi was fast, definitely a good selling point if comparing to Cathay Pacific and prices were quite reasonable actually.

Food& beverage

This was probably the most surprising for me. Normally if flying Oneworld to Asia I vouch for either Cathay or JAL because of their catering. I have to admit not only that I didn’t have a single bad meal but they were all pretty good. I have to highlight the duck breast main on the Dallas to Hong Kong flight and the beef fillet on the return. They were both perfectly cooked, moist and well seasoned. If they would plate it better it easily sells as a first class meal. There was also a self-serve bar in the galley with snacks, sweets and wines.

I do have to say one negative thing though, between the US and HK and back there were only two meal services. The first shortly after takeoff while the other one right before landing leaving you for quite some time without a proper meal service. You can’t have the same amount of servings on a 16 hour flight as you have on a 10 hour one. True, you can snack and have delicacies such as instant noodles but it’s not the same as normal meal.

Service

Even I can’t believe what I’m about to say but American shined! Unlike on our flight from New York to Rio, all the flights attendants were fantastic all the way along.

Bottom line

I have to say we had a great experience with American. The airplane is as gorgeous as it gets, seats were private, finishes were pretty, it’s good to see the airline is going in a good direction. What I don’t understand is why they made a huge improvement like that one in business but kept basically the same first class product?

What surprised me the most were the soft products such as the catering and the service on board, it really felt like the FAs are actually enjoying being there.

Now the real question: Would I take them over my beloved Cathay (if flying business)? If flying from New York probably no because I value convince over anything, so the non-stop flights would be my first choice. If flying from LA that’s a different story. Same seat, good food, excellent IFE, internet, better mileage earning in both redeemable and elite qualifying miles, believe it or not American Airlines would be my go to.

Me and my opponent, 1AM race in HK:

olgsr

PS: Thanks for reading. Until the next one... (insert "peace out" emoji)

Madone59

I'm looking forward to the rest olgsr ^. Thanks for posting.

Bretteee

The AA service in Y still sucks. Their meals are mediocre. Entertainment limited.

At least UNITED made an effort and now serve decent meals in Y to Europe.

I now go on UNITED over AA. And I like the extra legroom for only $100 more.

Were you bitten by a mosquito?

pupicu11

cool photos!

Forrest Bump

Been at Abracadabra.
Fantastic pousada.

Pousadas is the way to go in Brazil.
Variety and charme make them part of the fun.
And there's nothing better than tropical fruit variety at breakfast to start the day.