I have changed planes in Honolulu 2 or 3 times and I think this was the 5th time I stayed there for a few days. The first time, probably 40 years ago, I absolutely loved it and thought, “this is a place I could live”. I went to an excellent luau, the people were natural and friendly, and I hoped to return soon..

Unfortunately, I liked it less and less each time I went. With Hawaii Five-O and Magnum on television, Hawaii began selling itself as “paradise” to the tourists, the prices went up, and the culture seemed fake.

I was there with my girlfriend in October of last year. We stayed in the DoubleTree in Waikiki. I think we paid something like $350/night and the room did not even have a microwave or a refrigerator. The first night, we went to a Luau on the north shore … it was not good at all.

This time, I stayed at the Pagoda. It had an excellent breakfast each morning for $5 / person. The room did have a refrigerator and a microwave. It took 20 to 25 minutes to walk to Waikiki from there. If I go back to Honolulu, I will stay there again.

My friend wanted to go to a luau. I wasn’t thrilled because I have been to 3 luaus before, but since he will probably never get another chance to go, I agreed. We went to one on the top floor of one of the Waikiki Hilton buildings. It cost almost $200. Of course, it was not authentic because they were unable to roast a pig in the sand. We had to stand in a long line for an hour before we were admitted. We were given one Mai Tai that did not seem to have any alcohol in it. It rained and there was no shelter.

On the positive side, the food was good and the show was not bad.

However … that’s it … no more luaus for me!!

My friend wanted to go to Maui to see the volcano, but we did not have the flexibility with our flights to do so. It’s a good thing!! The fire in Maui started on the 8th, the day we flew back to the mainland.

In those days, I was traveling with Virgin America. I miss them. I have yet to find another airline that provides the same level of comfort in domestic first class as they did. Their premium economy was also superior because it included not only drinks but also food and the upgrade price was reasonable.

Watch the Virgin America safety video below. It is the only safety video I ever looked forward to seeing. Virgin America was cool!

Anyway, Virgin America was purchased by Alaska Airlines in 2016. If anyone had to buy them, I’m glad it was Alaska. I had never flown with Alaska Airlines before, but they did some things right. Their frequent flyer program was excellent. I am sure I will have lot to say about Alaska Airlines in future posts.

Brazil is one of the countries, I know best. I will probably have lots to say about it in future posts.

It has a reputation for being dangerous and there are many places where the reputation is deserved. It is the 5th largest country in the world (both in terms of land mass and population). If Alaska were not a U.S. state, Brazil would be larger than the USA. Like any country of that size, it is hard to generalize.

I spent most of my time in Porangatu, a city of 70,000 people in the state of Goiás not far from the border with Tocatins. I enjoyed the 3+ weeks I spent there very much. However, it is safe to say that if I told my friends to take a vacation there, most of them would come back and tell me that I am crazy. You would be hard-pressed to find someone there who speaks English. It was hot and dusty and I walked everywhere. It seems like they got Uber since last time I was there, but the one time I tried to call Uber, I got a message that it was not available.

So why did I enjoy it so much? I am fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, so the language was not a problem. In addition:

• The nature was beautiful, especially around the lake in the center of the city
• It was easy to find delicious food
• I could hardly believe how inexpensive it was!

















I paid under $300 for 11 days for a room with breakfast in the hotel right in front of the lake.

Typically, I spent $5 for dinner with a large (600 ml), ice-cold beer. When I felt like splurging, I went to the Wembley Hotel for dinner where I had an excellent muqueca de peixe, a fish stew that is a specialty of the state of Espirito Santos. Dinner will all the fixings (rice, pirão, and farofa) and a beer cost $10.

]]> https://www.ditditditdah.xyz/a-month-in-brazil/feed/ 0 https://www.ditditditdah.xyz/hello-there/ https://www.ditditditdah.xyz/hello-there/#respond Wed, 12 Jul 2023 04:12:01 +0000 https://www.ditditditdah.xyz/?p=8 My name is David. I am retired and live in southern New Hampshire, USA.

I’ve lived in 4 countries on 3 continents and had permission to live in 5th country.

In the past 10 months, I have visited 6 continents. I am scheduled for a trip to number 7, Africa, in May of 2024.

I returned from a month in Brazil last week. My next planned trip is to San Francisco and Honolulu at the end of this month and the first week of August.

If you also have the travel gene, I suspect you will find many of the things I wish to share with you interesting.

Welcome!

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