Travel Journals, Travel Blogs and Travel Experiences of GVI Travelers

Rio day one

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 09, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Aftera 14 hour flight that took off late and after taking too long to get to my hotel room I am in Rio de Janeiro at Copacabana beach. I am stay at the Windsor Palace Hotel on Rua Domingos Fereirra, about a block off the beach. I didn~t get my credentiual yet because of a paperwork snafu. I have to go back to the media center tomorrow and get it. …
Deepak Jas - August 2007

by: Global Vision International

created on: Sep 26, 2007 | Thailand

Do I have any regrets doing this expedition? No! An emphatic no! The experience was definitely challenging and you get as much as you put in but being in Thailand and actually teaching is an amazing feeling. The expedition is based in a community called Ao Luk, where everyone is unbelievably friendly and not jaded by the tourism industry. It’s green and lush and distinctively authentic. …
A day in Pez Maya

by: Global Vision International

created on: Sep 26, 2007 | Tulum, Mexico

Welcome to paradise! Blue skies, clear waters, palm tree lined white sands…..Yet this is no ordinary beautiful ‘Holiday’ TV show type beach – this is Pez Maya! Pez Maya comes with the added luxuries of the most obscure, bizarre and stunning dive sites with an abundance of fish and fantastic coral; the fabulous beach hut accommodation which you will grow to love – especially falling asleep to the sound of …
Serenne Romanycia - February 2007

by: Global Vision International

created on: Sep 26, 2007 | Tena, Ecuador

I’m really sad to leave. This expedition has been really beautiful and wondrous and full of everything. I saw many things I thought I’d see and a billion things I never thought existed, like spiders with two black and yellow spikes on their backs, and moths that look like spaceships. The Amazon is a place filled with hidden things, and if you look hard and patiently everything slides/flies/crawls/hops into view …
Pay that thang!

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 28, 2007 | District of Columbia, United States

I finished my voucher for the Rio trip today. It came in about $900 more than I had planned, but some things - like the driver to get me around Rio - were not in the original budget. Once you check "this is my final voucher" in the little radio button, that's it. You have to file an amended report after that. But now it is in the …
The Favor of God

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 12, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Today I was wondering if I would get the last video I needed for my television piece for the Pan American Games. There was a rumor that the head of the Organizing Committee - Carlos Arthur Nuzman - was going to be in the Main Press Center today. I called all the contacts I could muster last night trying to find out. But it was not confirmed. Then not …
Favela photos

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 10, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I was riding past some of the favelas in Rio on my way between Copcabana and Barra. I was safe in my bus, but there are millions of people living in these slums. The authorities here say that it is a haven for drug dealers and criminals. One of the flightattendants on my flight down said some of the drug lords have offered a $10,000 bounty for …
In the midst of joy, sadness

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 18, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I got to play real reporter today. Unfortunately when I get to do that kind of thing, it usually involves stuff blowing up, burning, collapsing or crumbling and people are usually dead. That was the case today, in the aftermath of Brazil's worst air disaster in Sao Paolo in which as many as 195 to 200 people died. The plane slammed into a gas station and a building after sliding …
The green, green grass . . .

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 21, 2007 | District of Columbia, United States

of home is actually brown from a lack of rain. But that aside, it's HOME! My flight home was not much better than my flight to Brazil, but I did get some sleep. Several of the US medal winners - including rowers and the baseball team - were on the plane home. I was sitting next to one of the rowing coaches. I got into a bit …
All good things . ..

by: byrdmanva

created on: Jul 20, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I went to a smoking hot Brazilian club last night called Carioca da Gema to hear some authentic Brazilian Music. I closed the place down. It was GREAT!. Yesterday and today were beautiful in Rio and that kind of sucks because I have to leave now. But it has been a good trip. I really got a taste of Brazil. Next I get to …