Dreaming of Rio

Just recently I had the opportunity to travel to a city I’ve always dreamed of visiting: Rio de Janeiro! Gorgeous beaches, fantastic music, great food and some incredible scenery make “Cidade Maravilhosa” (The Marvelous City) a wonderful vacation destination. In fact the world renowned scenery of Rio de Janeiro has just gotten the city named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Before I even started checking into flights and hotels, I found a local private guide for Rio on my go-to trip planning website: www.private-guides.com . I just searched for a private guide in Rio de Janeiro and found exactly what I needed. I got to know Leticia and Valeria (Rio Plus) pretty well in the weeks prior to my trip, getting some really great advice and wonderful assistance with my travel arrangements. Two of my dearest friends, also widowed, made plans to come to Rio with me for a fun Girls Only vacation. Of course, we just had to plan our arrival in time to experience Carnaval!

I loved every minute of my two weeks in Rio de Janeiro! Our wonderful guide met us at the Galeão International Airport and whisked us away to our hotel, the fabulous Copacabana Palace Hotel! (My giddy girlfriends and I kept trying to sing the lyrics to Barry Manilow’s song but couldn’t get any further than “Copa..Copacabana” over and over between fits of giggles.)

Our private guides were patient with our silliness, and very thoughtfully planned several wonderful excursions for us to enjoy. They arranged for us to take the train to Cordova and the incredible giant statue of Christ the Redeemer. (With their intimate knowledge of Rio and its many attractions, they were always great about arranging our adventures at the best times to avoid the normal tourist crowds.)

We saw all of the highlights of Rio, such as Sugarloaf Mountain, Buzios Beach, the Burle Marx Botanical Gardens, the Palace of the Emperor at Petropolis, and of course, we danced the samba in the streets of Lapa at a Carnaval parade. We also had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in some of the local culture when our private guides took us to a fantastic local family restaurant where we got to have a little Brazilian cuisine cooking lesson. Our guides helped us bargain with street vendors for hammocks, we drank caipirinhas and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Rio de Janeiro is by far one of my favorite travel memories, and my wonderful private guides did a fabulous job of making the entire visit completely enjoyable! I haven’t yet decided where my next travel adventure will take me, but I definitely plan to take advantage of a private guide wherever I go!