Feb. 3 São Paulo

We were up just before 4 am to get ready to head to the airport. Our driver met us at 4:45 am for a speedy, no traffic drive to the airport. We were checked in by 5:11 am for our 7:55 am flight. Our take off was delayed about 20 minutes while waiting for a last minute crew change.  

It was an uneventful flight, but the problems started after we landed. We were seated in row 1 so we arrived quickly to the baggage area. It was weird that there were very few other passengers arriving and very few bags. One suitcase came and we waited and waited and the other did not show up. 

We went to the counter and using Google Translate, our new best friend, we explained that one bag was missing. They told us to go back and wait. We did and still nothing. We have AirTags in our bags so we could see that is was at the airport, just not where it was supposed to be. Half an hour later, it finally arrived. 

We went to our meeting point for the driver, but he was stuck in traffic. He showed up 20 minutes later and we headed off.  Once we left the airport and got on the freeway, traffic stopped. 

It took us 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the hotel when it normally would have been 45 minutes. A flatbed trailer got on fire and had 3 of 4 lanes closed so there was a lot of funnelling that slowed the traffic down. 

Our hotel is lovely. L’Hotel Porto Bay São Paulo is an 85 room, 14 storey hotel located in the Paulista neighbourhood. The rooms are located around a central atrium that extends up to the 14th floor. 

Our room was ready for our early arrival, so we dropped our bags and headed out for a walk along Paulista Avenue. São Paulo is the business capital of Brazil with a population of 19 million. Paulista Avenue is wall to wall skyscrapers, many with unique designs. 


We returned to the hotel before it started to rain. We had a complimentary welcome glass of bubbly at the bar before heading to the pool. It is a very small, shallow pool, almost as warm as a hot tub, but it was very relaxing. 

Dinner at the hotel tonight then hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow so we can do some more exploring. 


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