00:00Olá, bom dia, e welcome to the Smart Travel Notebook for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
00:05Now, Sao Paulo, not exactly what you call a holiday destination, but Brazil definitely is.
00:11So even though this might be a little more exotic than you're used to, it's well worth it.
00:16And do you know what? People often ask me, what's your favorite race?
00:20And if I'm honest, sorry Silverstone, it's Brazil.
00:23Why? Because it's just an exciting country. It's exotic, it's tropical, it's exciting, the people are great, the food is fantastic.
00:32It's just a little bit different and it's a great adventure.
00:35And South America as a whole is just a fantastic place to visit.
00:39Yes, you know, once you're down here, I recommend actually seeing a bit of Brazil.
00:44Rio, obviously you can go and see the Iguazu Falls.
00:47You can go north to a place called Fortaleza.
00:50And near Fortaleza, a place called Recife, which is lovely as well.
00:55And there are a couple of places, there's a place called Jericoquara, J-E-R-I-C-O, Google will help you with the rest of it,
01:03which is an amazing kind of sand dune village, which is worth going to.
01:08And there's an island off the coast of Recife called Fernando de Noronha, N-O-R-O-N-H-A,
01:15which is also an incredible kind of island in the middle of the Atlantic, which is just incredible, worth going to if you can.
01:23But so it is a holiday destination or that's the north of Brazil or you can go south to Argentina.
01:29And Buenos Aires, again, a reason why this is my favourite race, because before I was married with kids,
01:36I used to go down to Buenos Aires and live the great life down there, just seeing the sights with my mates on the crew.
01:43And Buenos Aires has to be one of my favourite cities in the whole of the world.
01:47It's got that European feel, but it's got that South American exciting feel as well.
01:51And the people are great. The stakes are to die for.
01:55Another good reason why we love Brazil as much has to do with food. I'll get onto it a bit later.
01:59So, getting here. Well, it's a bit of a long flight. It's 11 hours or so.
02:03But British Airways and LATAM go direct from London Heathrow.
02:07Or there are various indirect options you can do as well.
02:11TAP, T-A-P, Air Portugal. They have a lot of flights down here to Brazil.
02:17They also fly direct through Lisbon or Porto to Fortaleza as well, if you are going to explore the north of Brazil.
02:23Iberia via Madrid. You go Lufthansa, Air France and KLM, the usual European ones.
02:30Or American Airlines tend to have a... Oh, that's a nice car from Andrew Benson.
02:36Wow, nice. Nice BMW.
02:40So, yeah, American Airlines tend to have some good flights via Miami.
02:47They tend to be quite cheap.
02:48Right. Getting around. If you're going to explore Brazil, you need to get around by plane.
02:55And so there are two internal airlines. There's one called Gol, G-O-L.
02:59And there's LATAM, which is the other one. Used to be called TAM. It's now called LATAM.
03:04So that's getting around. If you're in Sao Paulo and feeling brave and you want to beat the traffic, which is terrible here, try the train.
03:12But don't carry any valuables around on you.
03:15That way, if you do get held up, you won't have much to give away.
03:19You can go on these buses as well. Again, if you're feeling brave, there are a lot of buses.
03:23But they're as vulnerable to the traffic as anything else.
03:26Or you just get a taxi, which are plentiful.
03:29Or you get an Uber, of course, which are plentiful.
03:31And they are traceable as well.
03:35Crime is a problem here, as it is in many big cities in South America.
03:39But if you take vague... If you take the usual precautions, don't do anything stupid.
03:44Don't go walking around by yourselves at night.
03:47Take taxis everywhere.
03:48Then, touch wood, you should be OK.
03:50I've never had a problem here.
03:52But then, if you take the usual precautions, don't go around fleshing crazy watches or jewellery or anything like that,
03:57then you shouldn't be troubled in that department.
04:01But just do keep your wits about you, because it is a bit more dangerous than cities in Europe, that is for sure.
04:09Right, where to stay?
04:10If you want to spot the drivers, the Hotel Transamerica has always been the classic place
04:15that the Formula One teams, the bosses, and the drivers stay.
04:18And you might have heard stories of, you know, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Elio De Angelis playing cards and the piano, you know, around the Hotel Transamerica pool.
04:27It's a classic, it's a classic, and it's near the track as well.
04:29Otherwise, try Morumbi.
04:31So, various hotels, the Hilton Morumbi, the Hyatt Morumbi, and otherwise, there's the Palacio Tongara.
04:40I think there's a new place.
04:42Or the Hotel Fasano, which are two Tangara.
04:45There we go.
04:46Palacio Tangara or the Fasano, which are two luxury hotels.
04:50What to do while you're here?
04:53Well, come to the race.
04:55But the other thing to do, since I mentioned Morumbi, is to go to the Morumbi Cemetery and go to Ayrton Senna's grave.
05:02It's a deeply brilliant, spiritual, life-changing thing to do.
05:09So, if you do come here and you're a fan of Ayrton Senna, like I was, make sure you go to the Morumbi Cemetery, Cemeteryo de Morumbi.
05:17Most cabs will get you there.
05:18They will let you in.
05:21Just check the opening times and go to Senna's grave, which is just beautiful.
05:27Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus.
05:30As it says, nothing can separate me from the love of God on the grave.
05:34So, it's just fantastic.
05:36Right.
05:37Where to eat?
05:37Now, this is another reason why you might want to come to Brazil.
05:40The steak and the churrasca rears, the steakhouses, are unlike anything you've ever had before.
05:45It's just delicious.
05:46If you're vegetarian, probably not the best place for you to come.
05:49But if you love your meat, then it's great.
05:52Fogo de Chao is the one that all the Formula One teams go to.
05:56There are two Fogo de Chaos, one in Villa Olympia and one in Santo Amaro.
05:59And on any given evening, you'll find the Formula One teams and drivers in there.
06:03There are the churrasca rears.
06:05There's the giardiniera.
06:07Another tip is there's a nice place with a fig tree growing out the middle of it called Figuera.
06:13And there's a Bernese chef works in the Vento Jaregano.
06:17So, try Googling that and see if you want to go there.
06:20What's a drink?
06:21The caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil and it's absolutely delicious.
06:27And they make it with cane sugar over here, white cane sugar, and with limes.
06:34And they muddle the limes and then they put Brazilian cachaça in it.
06:37And it tastes in Brazil authentic the way a caipirinha will not taste in your local cocktail bar anywhere else in the world.
06:44It's just delicious.
06:44Word of warning, do not have more than three or four because a lot of the sugar turns to alcohol in your stomach.
06:51So, you go to bed feeling, you know, nicely happy.
06:54And then you can wake up at three in the morning feeling much more drunk than you were when you went to bed
06:57because a lot of the sugar has turned to alcohol in your tummy.
07:00So, that is a warning.
07:02Do not go past five.
07:03On no account have more than five caipirinhas because you will regret it.
07:07Three?
07:07Perfect.
07:08All right.
07:09That's my top tip is to watch out on the caipirinhas.
07:12And finally, where to watch when you come here?
07:15Well, I would say, actually, these back of the grandstands here tend to be mostly corporate.
07:21So, that looks out onto the pit lane.
07:23Actually, the Curva de Sol, there's a big grandstand going down to, after the Senna S and after the straight there,
07:30going down to the left-hander, Curva de Sol.
07:33They are, by comparison, the cheap seats.
07:35And that is where the big atmosphere is.
07:37It's absolutely brilliant.
07:38The crowd get there from 8 o'clock early on on race day morning.
07:42There's a fantastic atmosphere.
07:44They're all there with their drums and their salsa and singing.
07:47And it's all just brilliant.
07:49So, that is the place to sit, to enjoy the Brazilian Grand Prix.
07:53And if I haven't sold it to you enough as it is, then, well, you'll never come here.
07:58But take my tip.
08:00It's worth it.
08:01Anyway, thanks very much for watching.
08:02See you for another travel notebook soon.
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