Customer Reviews

Globe Trekker - Brazil

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This Globe Trekker (formerly Lonely Planet) DVD covers traveler Ian Wright's travels to Rio de Janeiro and the NorthEastern part of Brazil. Ian is a amiable and entertaining narrator who always manages to provide good travel info with a dash of humour. The primary cities covered in the DVD are Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Belem. Ian also detours off the tourist track into the interior of NorthEast Brazil but just for a bit. I love this DVD! It gives a very fine overview of the cities mentioned, though I wished they had spent more time on Recife and Fortaleza. Brazil is a wonderful place to visit with warm people and great food. This Globe Trekker presentation gives the viewer a small but delicious taste of what it would be like to travel to the NorthEastern part of the country and the marvelous city of Rio de Janeiro. Take it from one who has been to Brasil several times, any of the cities covered in this DVD would be worth visiting and viewing this video tour will only spark your desire to head to the land of Samba and Carnival!

I really enjoy travel videos. This one was a good one. It is divided into two sections. The Rio section focuses on Rio De Janeiro, and the Northeast section focuses on smaller towns and rural areas north of Rio.

The host is fine. His method is to visit cheap places to stay, and downtrodden areas. That's fine with me. It shows where the real people live. I'd much rather see that than see five star hotels and tourist traps. You can get tourist traps anywhere. Though they make a great vacation spot, tourist traps aren't as interesting for a video. I'd rather see how the people live.

If I was going to Brazil, I wouldn't go where this video takes us. I'd go to something safer and catering more to Americans who want to have a nice time. But for a video, I'll take this one.

This video is very sexy. The Brazilian women are so scantily dressed and the cameraman had us pointed in the right direction.

One reviewer said that the host must be gay, and that the host was terrible. What a stupid child. First of all, I didn't see any reason to think the host was gay. Second, so what if he was. There's no excuse for bigotry. You are no better than a gay person. People are people. And no, I'm not gay. I am completely out of patience with bigots.

This is not a tourist video, it is a travel video, and Ian Wright is not a tour guide, he is a traveler, and a damn good one. What is a traveler you ask? Someone who is not afraid of trying new things and staying in places that most afluent or middle class Americans would likely avoid like the plague. Ian is not always the most well spoken nor educated about the places he visits, but in his defense, that is sort of the whole point of the series. Many people who saw this obviosly did not get it, but I am sure there are plenty of videos out there that will show you all the 5 star hotels, cruise ships, and tourist hot spots, if that is what you are interested in. One reviewer pointed out that not all of Brasil is poor. That is true. Only most of it is. If you like to travel, then Ian Wright is one of the best travel hosts I have seen. He will take you places most of us would never see, and it is very captivating.

Never an easy task to present an entire country in a short flick, but Ian Wright is solid as usual. You can see the locals enjoy his easy going personality, even though they don't understand what he is saying. There are very few consistently fun to watch travel hosts out there, IW is right up there near the top. After seeing this and other material covering Brazil, I want to go! The dvd will give you some idea about the country for sure. Other good sources: movies Manda Bala, and City of God. It is not all roses, but a colorful, unique and exciting country for sure!

Poor representation of the sites there. The facts presented by narration and special feature are interesting, but i dont feel i learned much and didnt see enough scenery. This show is definetely for hobo traveleres on the cheap, very basic and rustic travel here, not much overall the normal seasoned traveler would want to see.

I love Ian. I think he's funny, brave and unexpectedly sexy. He travels to the most out-of-the-way places. Yes, he looks like a narrow-chested British geek ("gay" in some people's parlance), but his travels take real courage. He does things that no one else would do, and he does them with aplomb and good humor (OK, aplomb and British humor, which takes a bit of getting used to. Somewhere in almost every video is a toilet joke, for example). He travels to so many countries that he can't learn the language of all of them, but he interacts with real locals in ways that seem real to me. He finds things to do that one could never imagine. No, it's not an overview of a country, it's a view of the country's off-the-beaten-path adventures. That's Ian's specialty and he's really good at it. I watch every globetrekker that features Ian. I have seen him hand-fish for Anaconda in rivers, walk on hot coals with bare feet, cross the Sahara on a camel. There is something really unexpected and beautiful in almost every video he does and that's what makes him sexy. I like the female hosts, but I love Ian for his physical stunts, sense of humor and sense of adventure. Don't be put off by the reviews, if you leave yourself open to the experience of Ian, you will really enjoy the places he takes you.

If you love travel, you will love the "Trekker" series. Excellent video and audio quality. I loved the tour guides. They were very personable and they covered the territory well. My in laws from Brasil loved it. Can't get a better stamp of approval than that!

Ciao!

Ian missed the best spots in Rio (Botanical Garden, Imperial Palace, Marina da Glória, Municipal Theather...) and also has a biased view on Brazil. How come someone come to a country and can't speak some of the local language? British attitud about the world? The few words his says in Portuguese are completly wrong. Terrible biased view of Rio and Brazil (Ian Brazil is Brazil not CUBA). The DVD is too old!!!! Was made in the early 90s and Brazil since then changed very much...Very disapointed as a Brazilian!!!!

I am a traveler and Brazilian...How embarassed I felt after seeing this video portraying my country and people so poorly. Ian missed so many historical, beautiful and meaninful spots. Believe me!! There are a lot more to Brazil than parties, macumba, and poor people.

The Globe Trekker DVD has the most annoying host ever imaginable. In addition to his 8th grade attitude he pronounces every Brazilian word incorrectly. Having spent several years of my life in Brazil, I found this DVD full of inconsistencies and errors.