Making Plans
I didn't plan for very long, I just found a good fare online and went for it. I mean Rio for Carnival,  it's like a travelers dream. Exotic, energetic fun in a word - Samba!

First Impressions
arriving at the airport in Rio - you see I generally travel alone so it can be overwhelming when you arrive at a new place and you are just trying to find your way around. I had a very good experience at the airport with a young women behind a travel information desk. I just told her the name of the hotel from my travel guide and she phoned them all in Portuguese of course and made arrangements for me. I jumped on the public bus worried about crime because Rio as a big reputation for crime so when I get to a new place my guard is really high bordering on paranoid bus driver conveniently missed my stop and made me walk further than I would have liked to well it worked I got to the hotel was really worried

Lodging
when I first got there I looked at a 5 dollar place with nothing more than a fan and a nasty shared bathroom but hey it was five bucks. I opted for the 12 dollar place with air-conditioning, private bathroom, very safe and right in front of a metro stop.

Food
you know how sometimes it can be hard to know what to eat in a foreign country will not in Brazil they have a beautiful concepts called by weight buffet unlike in the US where you pay a flat cost to pig out in Brazil they have a big
spread of many choices and you load up your plate with just what you want and pay for just what you put on your plate by the weight I ate very well in all of Brazil with the system.

Transportation
transportation in Rio is excellent they have a subway systems that takes care of most of your sightseeing buses to go beyond that are cheap and easy and dependable

Safety
What can I say, Rio is world-famous for crime. There is a huge divide between the rich and the poor. Rio and other parts of Brazil have a unique entity known as a favela or slum. They are on the outskirts of the main city. A good movie to watch is City of God which shows just how brutal and dangerous a favela can be. I stayed clear of these areas.

Fun
Carnival is amazing, so much energy and enthusiasm - music and dance. I arrived two weeks before the start of carnival, so I have a chance to scope out the parade grounds of the route.