Ready... - Set...
- Go!
Hello from the Orlando Airport in Central Florida.
In case we haven't met yet,
I'm Renata, this is Gordon, and we live here.
I'm originally from Brazil.
And in this video, you're coming with us
to see what a trip to the interior
of the fifth largest country in the world can look like
if you want to save some money.
440 reais, less than a dollar.
In total, we spent $185
on flights, trains, subway and buses
on a return trip for two.
[music]
PA: items that may have shifted during flight...
Hello from New York.
Yes, we're going to Brazil, and we left Florida,
and we're all the way up here.
This is the stopover.
We're flying with air miles,
and we got this amazing deal for 35,000 air miles
all the way to Brazil, return trip.
You're lucky if you find the same thing for 50,000.
So can't complain, absolutely fantastic.
What I can complain, at least a little bit,
was the experience flying until here.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Delta,
one of my favorite airline companies.
I fly Delta so much that I reached Platinum
on their awards program.
That's why I get to enjoy their lounges like this.
But this time coming here,
the boarding process of the flight here
was not very smooth.
I have a regular-sized carry-on,
even small compared to some people's carry-ons here.
And the gate agent looked at my carry-on
that was fully expanded,
and said, "You have to close that expansion."
So, okay, no problem, I'll just move over there
so that everybody can pass.
"No, you're not going anywhere with your bag like this."
She was mad, you know.
I got so surprised, got nervous.
Everybody looking in front of me.
I just started pushing the thing to close.
And I jammed my entire zipper.
Now I cannot open my bag.
I just got upset because everybody was passing
with their bags fully open, you know, fully expanded,,
and some carry-ons were much bigger than mine.
And she was only picky like this with me.
I don't know why.
Anyways, when my zipper jammed,
I was able to board the plane.
To go to Brazil, you need a negative covid test,
and it can be the antigen.
What's the advantage?
- It's cheaper.
You get the results right away.
-Mm-hmm.
- And nothing up your nose.
- Not as invasive as the PCR.
- Yeah.
- Do you miss Brazil already?
- Yeah. Maybe.
Sometimes.
- Ah, come on.
He's the one telling me all the time
"We need to go back to Brazil."
[music]
Huh, look at this.
After one hour trying, I finally got to open my bag.
Thank you.
No problem this time.
[Captain] Flight attendants, please prepare the cabin for departure
Some people watch movies,
Gordon plays game.
the whole flight, huh?
[laughs]
Oh, look at that!
Next level.
[Captain] Good evening, everyone. It's great to have you on board with us.
[Flight attendant]: WiFi is available when we reach 10,000 feet.
And power outlets are at your seats,
so that you can stay connected and enjoy free messaging.
- Four cheese ravioli, and it's delicious.
[music]
The next day
Egg and cheese sandwich and some fruits.
Wow! I didn't realize I slept that much.
Breakfast time already.
[music]
[Flight attendant] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to São Paulo.
Since São Paulo is our first port of entry into Brazil,
all passengers must pass through immigration and customs.
All luggage does have to be claimed here
and then rechecked to your final destination.
São Paulo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere.
It's the financial center of South America.
It goes without saying that it's Brazil's biggest and richest city.
But I'll show you this fascinating metropolis another day
because today, we still have a long journey ahead.
There's a free shuttle here between terminals outside,
and this will take you to where we want.
Where we're going? Something new for you...
Catch a train to go into the city.
Unfortunately, the shuttle here is not all the time,
it's like every 15 minutes,
and the train only departs once an hour.
We may lose the 10 o'clock train.
We arrived here,
needed to come here for the train.
The flight was just the beginning of our trip here to Brazil
because we're actually going to visit my family,
and they live in the interior of São Paulo,
it's a city called Ribeirão Preto.
We could have flied there as well,
but we're going to do this last leg of the trip
by train and then by bus.
Of course, it's much cheaper this way.
The train we're waiting for is this Airport Express here.
It's a new line in São Paulo,
but it only departs on top of the hour.
I'm glad I had some reais, it's the currency here in Brazil,
to pay for this ticket because they only take cash.
Hmm, that's nice.
Nice and comfortable train with air conditioning.
- 4,40 reais, less than a dollar.
- It's great. - That's crazy.
- I'd still charge 20 reais. - No, it's really great. Yeah.
Fantastic deal because it's really expensive to go
to São Paulo from this airport.
- Yeah.
Oh, we go from here.
Follow...
Oh. Uh-oh.
No, it doesn't go to Luz.
- It goes, yeah. The map is outdated.
- All the way to Luz.
Over here, look over here, Renata.
Updated map.
[music]
From here we can get the metro until the bus stop
or we can get an Uber.
What do we do? It's a short distance.
From here? - Mm-hmm.
- Uber. - Yeah, I think it's more convenient.
- Too many bags. - Too many bags, yeah.
- No Uber needed.
take the subway
to Tietê.
- Tietê. Yeah. - Tietê.
- It is so easy. It's all connected.
Real change of plans because it is so easy.
- It's easy like London, easy like New York,
easy like Singapore.
[music]
- Here we are.
Cheers! [in English and Portuguese]
Wow, if you're ever in a situation that you need to go
from the Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo
to the bus stop, Tietê,
this is the best thing that we did,
because it was so easy.
Once you get in the train, everything is interconnected,
the train with the metro,
and you don't even need to pay for a separate ticket.
- How much did it cost?
It was 4,40 reais. That was it.
How much in dollars? - In dollars?
- Less than a dollar. - Less than a dollar.
Oh, you miss Brazilian food, don't you?
[laughs]
Cheese bread. [in Portuguese]
And me here, I miss this appetizer so much.
This is called coxinha.
It's a snack with chicken inside.
Sometimes there's cheese as well.
I think this one is just chicken.
For me, nothing like Brazilian food,
especially after spending so much time abroad.
Major bus companies have lounges at the terminal like this one,
and they're open to everyone taking their buses.
No need for loyalty programs.
There's no free food over here,
but it's a more comfortable place for you to wait to board.
There is free WiFi and air conditioning.
[music]
Nice and comfortable bus.
We're at the top level where you have these executive seats.
This is the executive bus.
And at the lower level, flatbeds.
[music]
How spacious is this seat here compared to the airplane?
- A little bit more.
- A little bit? Come on, look at this.
[laughs]
It's like night and day.
And look at how much the seat reclines.
We just passed Campinas.
Here.
Campinas is another major city here in São Paulo.
And now we keep moving towards
the interior of the country.
All this is the state of São Paulo.
The city is here, and we're going towards the west.
It's like northwest.
Ribeirão Preto is in the northwest of São Paulo.
[music]
In total, it's less than four hours if there's no traffic,
as long as you drive through the main route here,
which is full of tolls and cameras.
Look at this.
So here you can have a better view of our bus.
We're at the top part,
and then at the bottom, they have flat beds.
The door is closed there, unfortunately.
I could not show you.
We traveled before and it is comfortable,
although the engine is in the back,
so it can be a little noisy sometimes.
Quick stop along the way here,
and I got a chocolate cake.
From door to door, it took us in total 32 hours
to go from Orlando to Ribeirão Preto.
But had we flied within Brazil,
would only have saved an hour
due to the long wait for connecting flights,
so it was worth it.
And here we are, all the bags made it,
and Gordon, too. [laughs]
Ribeirão Preto is one of the most important cities
in the interior of the state São Paulo.
But again, I'll show you in a future trip,
as this time, we're here to visit family.
We got here right in time for carnival.
Mardi Gras, the biggest celebration in Brazil.
- Tender.
It's very tender.
- The official barbecue person of the family.
- Thank you very much.
- Do you want to be on my YouTube?
- Absolutely.
- Look... Wave bye... - How do you give a little kiss?
[laughs]
- Go for it!
- Yay.
[singing Happy Birthday]
- Oh. - [laughs]
- No, Laurinha... It's not for the arm...
- Okay, I got something to say.
The Delta lady was actually right.
You know, with the expansion like this,
the bag becomes 2 inches larger
than what's allowed for a carry-on.
So she was right. [laughs]
And I'm sorry but, um...
If it is the rule, it should be for everyone, right?
You should be careful, Gordon, next time.
Yours was larger, too.