12. INFORMATION FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS TRAVELING FROM U.S.

First, thanks for coming!

This section is to help with planning your trip and give a rough idea of the costs. We realize it is not an inexpensive trip, and hope you can make it. Please remember- we don’t have a gift registry or any gift expectations- your presence is the gift!

Overview:

Our wedding will be on the island of Ilha Bela. Check out some pictures and the map at: http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=-23.827436&ln=-45.358429&z=6&k=2&a=1&tab=1

Ilha Bela is roughly halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, on the Atlantic coast of Brazil. We are planning on staying at the hotel near the wedding location over the weekend (March 27-30). After that, we will be moving to a different hotel on the island, and possibly going to the town of Parati (a couple hours north up the coast) for a few days. We’ll keep the website updated with our plans. Everyone is welcome to stay on the island (and travel to Parati) with us for the week following the wedding- in fact we’re hoping for this. It’s a long trip to Brazil and a weekend is not enough.

We are trying to make the logistics of the trip as easy as possible for everyone. Of course, for the more adventurous- feel free to head out on your own anytime, Dani put a lot of information on the website of things to go see or do in Brazil. Having been to Brazil a few times myself, I can say it is not the easiest country to get around in for English speakers, but it is a huge country with amazing places and friendly people.

One of the big things we’re trying to do is setup a bus or several large vans to transport everyone from the Sao Paulo area to Ilha Bela (once we’re all on the island we’re home free). Side note: getting to the island does involve a ~3 hour drive and a 15 minute ferry ride. Dani’s found a company that will be able to do this. This does mean (for those who want to do this) that we’ll need to sync up the arrivals- see the “getting there” section for the plan.

Here’s a planning checklist of things to remember/do if you do plan to come. There is more info on these in the follow-on sections. And, if you have any questions or concerns, email Dani or me!

* Get plane tickets to Sao Paulo (the airport is known as Cumbica and Guarulhos, the airport code is GRU)

* Get a visa to visit Brazil (you’ll need a passport first if you don’t have one)

* Make hotel reservations for the wedding weekend in Ilha Bela

* Staying in Ilha Bela for the week and/or travelling to Parati? Let us know!

Getting There

Direct flights to Sao Paulo leave primarily from New York and Miami, although I’ve sometime seen them from other cities as well. I would recommend a straight flight if possible- from NY it’s about 10 hours, from Miami about 8. Unfortunately, this is the expensive part… I’ve paid anywhere between 1000$ and 1500$ for a round trip ticket. The airport to fly into is called Guarulhos (sometimes also called Cumbica), the airport code is GRU. This is the international airport in Sao Paulo. The airport itself is nice – there are restaurants in the international arrival area and it is easily navicable. Flights from the US typically are overnight- ie leave late at night and arrive early in the morning.

There are a couple options (for those wanting to hop the caravan to Ilha Bela). Please, let us know which one you prefer before getting the plane tickets. Dani is organizing the van company to do the pickups and we’ll need to do some planning to pull this off:

#1) Leave late Wednesday (3/25) from the US, arriving in Brazil on Thursday morning 3/26. From there, take a cab to a hotel (hotel TBD) relatively close to the airport and stay there Thursday night. On Friday morning, the vans/bus picks everyone up at the hotel and we caravan down to Ilha Bela. The advantage here is that there is a rest day following the long flight, and if anyone’s plane is late we have some buffer.

#2) Leave late Thursday (3/26) from the US, arriving in Brazil on Friday morning 3/27. Hang out at the airport on Friday, and the vans/bus pick up at the airport and drive down to Ilha Bela. The advantage here is one less vacation day to use, however it’s a lot of continuous traveling (overnight flight plus ride down to Ilha Bela).

Our plan will be to have someone bi-lingual to assist with the travel and getting everyone on the vans (probably one of Dani’s friends). Also, the van company has some English speaking drivers. The one way cost for the vans looks to be about 50$ per person.

Getting a Visa

Brazil requires US citizens to get a tourist visa in order to enter the country. This is very important- they will turn you around at the airport if you don’t have one. To get a visa, you can start with the website of thee Brazilian embassy/consulate nearest you, and with enough lead time try and do it by mail – the link is a list of consulates. You can google the specific consulate to get more information on how to get the visa. http://www.consulatebrazil.org/jurisd.htm

Generally, the visa needs to be used within 90 days of the date of issuance. It is then good for 5 years after that. It looks like the current price is ~130$. Also, you don’t want to cut this too close (don’t wait until the last minute)… the consulates don’t do same day visa’s and they don’t lose any sleep if you miss your flight due to not having a visa.

If you go to the consulate in person, make sure to read the required documentation needed to get the visa before travelling to the consulate- these may vary a little from consulate to consulate but generally:

- *Need your passport, and it can’t expire within 6 months of your planned arrival date in Brazil

- *Need a copy of the tickets or the intinerary

- *Need to fill out the visa application form (available on consulate websites)

- *Need a passport style 2”x2” photo

Getting Back Home

This will really depend where we end up going, and who comes along. The company that Dani is working with on the vans has transportation options- we’ll just need to coordinate and see when people are planning on leaving. These plans will evolve as we figure out who will be able to come and what the travel dates are. But, we will get everyone home!