Rio de Janeiro

Rio Olympics: Visual Feast, Civic Folly?

Published August 3, 2016 | By Clark Norton

Christ the Redeemer statue overlooks all of Rio from atop Corcovado. Photo from riodejaneiro.com.

Ah, Rio. One of my favorite cities on earth, and certainly one of the most beautiful.

Sugar Loaf Mountain… the golden beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema…the panoramic views from Corcovado (site of Christ the Redeemer statue)…Carnival…samba…churrascaria retaurants (all the meat you can eat!)….caipirinhas (Brazil’s delicious national cocktail, made of cachaca, sugar and lime)…the Cariocas (Rio natives) themselves, some of the world’s most sensuous people.

These are all images that will become familiar during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, which run August 5 to 21.

Perhaps less publicized will be the images of Rio’s sprawling slums (favelas), of toxic polluted waterways (including some Olympic venues), of shoddy workmanship in the Olympic Village (the accommodations for the Australian team have already caught fire due to faulty… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, Cities, Countries, South America | Tagged Brazil, Olympia Greece, Olympic Summer Games, Rio, Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro | Leave a comment

Are These the World’s Top Nightlife Destinations?

Published April 24, 2015 | By Clark Norton

The Hungarian Parliament Building, illuminated at night. Photo by Clark Norton

I see a lot of Top Ten travel lists of this and that, often filed away and forgettable. But a friend just sent me a particularly interesting compilation of Top Ten travel lists — ranging from the world’s best nightlife destinations to best culture and history to cheapest and most expensive places to visit — as voted on by 7,000 travelers who took part in a recent survey by hostelworld.com.

Now it’s true that most people using hostelworld.com, a site where you can book hostels and inexpensive hotels/inns/guesthouses around the world, are probably much younger than the typical baby boomer demographic. But I was struck by, well, how much I agreed with the findings of the survey – though perhaps for different reasons in some cases.

Whether that means I’m still a 20-year-old backpacker at heart, or… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, Cities, Hotels | Tagged Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Hostelworld.com, Koh Phangan, Krakow, London, New York City, Nightlife, Prague, Rio de Janeiro | 2 Comments

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.