NW ✈ SE

 

Disembarking MV Ushuaia in early 2020 as the world began to pay attention to the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, our hot Dutch fellow Antarctic explorer Silvan was heading to Carnaval in Rio. I was so jealous, though in hindsight, I avoided the lockdown in which he got caught up with his freshly acquired (Argentine?) girlfriend. The idea of someday attending this hallmark event quietly burrowed itself into the ecosystem of my wanderlust. Some four years later, I discovered that in 2026, Chinese New Year would coincide with Carnaval; this isn’t the case each year. There was no decision to be made. I had plenty of time to plan and coerce people to join me. Several colleagues and friends showed an interest, but they pulled out over time. When I posted my intent on Facebook, several others raised their hands. Ultimately, though, interest waned, and in the end, it was just Sunny and me. Sunny had been a student at my school over a decade earlier, and her mom had been my colleague. At first, Mom planned to join, but Grandma insisted that Chinese New Year was family time, and Apple pulled out.

A note about practicalities. It is not possible to fly from East or Southeast Asia to South America without first stopping on another continent. I had the same issue when I visited Antarctica, which I approached from the southern tip of Argentina. On that occasion, I stopped in the Middle East on the outbound journey and in Istanbul and Russia on the return. This time, since I had an American visa in my passport, I chose to stop first in California and the US Southwest, and to return to Taiwan with a brief stop in Los Angeles. Sunny chose to spend a few days in Dubai on the outbound trip, and then a few days in Spain on her way home.

The world-famous part of Carnaval, the part that is widely televised, showing the massive floats interspersed with large groups of dancers in flamboyant costumes – this element takes place in the purpose-built Sambadrome. Getting tickets is quite the journey. Several companies sell them online, and for the most part nowadays the tickets are digital only. There is a plethora of blogs written by revelers about their experiences which include advice on how to avoid being scammed. Having painstakingly navigated the mountains of information, I settled on getting our tickets through bookersinternational.com. I signed up for a membership in September 2025 and set an option to be notified by email when sales started.

Access Group (smaller schools) would perform on Feb 13-14.

Special Group (main competition) would be held on Feb 15-16.

Special Group (elite schools) would perform on Feb 17.

Champions Parade would take place on Feb 21.

The tickets were cheapest on the earlier dates, growing gradually dearer until Feb 21. We’d planned to attend the champions parade, but with tickets priced at over US$1000, we were dissuaded. Additionally, I was expected back at work on Feb 21. While I would have been unapologetic about taking off a few days, the price of the ticket coupled with deductions in salary seemed several dollars too far.  

I gradually became aware that other pundits had likely started their ticket sales earlier and slowly panicked that I’d miss out. It would not have been catastrophic since there are other things to do in Rio; still, it was likely I’d only ever visit once, and I did really want to see the parades. Notification from Bookers International came 24 hours ahead of sales starting at 10AM EST on Sep 10th. Time zones meant I’d have to stay up beyond bedtime. Even before 10AM EST, the website crashed. I went to bed and tried in the middle of the night – no luck. In the morning, all cheap seats were gone, and the lowest price per person was US$228! Ten days later, a second stash of tickets went on sale, and this time I was able to get online and secure two. We got them for US$54 each. Much more palatable!

On my day of departure, packing was a breeze because I had the whole day – my flight would depart mere minutes before midnight. I very slowly set the things I meant to pack on one surface: my camera, nail clippers and tweezers, menthol patches, my international driver’s license, eye drops, mints... Then I carefully went through my wallet to remove what I’d certainly not need: membership cards to performance venues, pre-bought tickets to shows after the trip, my local driver’s license, my doctor’s name card with her available dates... I put these in a safe place for easy retrieval upon my return. It was not until we neared San Francisco, high above the Pacific Ocean, that I suddenly realized an international driver’s license was only accepted in conjunction with the home-country license. I had a car booked! I raged at my stupidity for several minutes before realizing that I could not resolve what I’d overlooked. It was only three weeks later that I’d realize that I’d packed no summer clothes, and Rio was HOT!

There is a chance that this travelogue could feel patchy. Unlike most of my trips, this one was spent with several friends, which was, without a doubt, a wonderful way to spend time. It meant, though, that I didn’t write down all my thoughts or observations. Some things I noticed were discussed in the car and then forgotten. Some of what went through my mind didn’t make it back home with me. I’ll do my best.

I did something out of the ordinary in this travelogue. I made substantial use of Google AI, both in the planning of this trip, and now again to check my facts and get a fuller picture. I decided in some cases to simply copy the virtual assistant’s responses and quote them here verbatim. Most of Google’s answers offered references. In some cases, logos of the sources were reproduced, but not always. If you are viewing this blog online, you can click on some of the references to follow their links. In the print version, I decided to leave them for visual appeal while not including a bibliography at the end. Interestingly, the same cyber agent suggested that a digital “bibliography” might be called a “webliography” instead.