In this episode of the Tuesday Get Together, hosted by Ismar, we explore going on holiday. But with a twist. Sebastian and Frank are in Europe and Igor is in Brazil. With gentle provocation, Ismar asks all to look at holidays from the opposite end of the spectrum. This is after we finally discover that in the Western Hemisphere, we talk about vacations, but in Europe, we speak about holidays, which are not a vacation. As the subject of carnival came up, there are some videos at the end of the transcript showing the transatlantic differences. This Get Together was recorded on February 21, 2023
Transcript
Ismar Okay, gentlemen, as I said before, my good afternoon and my good evening for you again. But this text, it’s something that I’m not so used to do it, to moderate a meeting. It doesn’t matter what kind, although sometimes I do it something similar at my Toastmaster Club, but I gave a word to Frank, but Frank did almost everything.
Then what I ask you is almost what Frank has done, but I just added some ellipses during the questions that I present to you. After the subject is holiday, I suppose that almost every one of us loves holiday, but it’s a pity when we can’t travel. It doesn’t matter the reason because to travel, to take advantage of your holiday, for example, if you want to travel or you don’t want to stay at home relaxing, you need some, some prerequisite. For example, first you want to travel or to plan a holiday. You have to have time. You have to have money. You have to be in good health and maybe you have to have a good weather and probably you need some other prerequisites to travel or to take advantage of your holiday. Unless you have decided to stay at home, watch something on TV and playing something with your family. But fortunately, we have here a Brazilian, Igor, and two European people because we try to contrast how European people and how Brazilians think about the holiday. Of course, we face the holidays in different ways. But first I will direct my word to Igor and Igor, in your opinion, what are the typical Brazilian holiday that you suggest for a European person?
Igor I suggest the Carnival, which is the one you are living right now, by the way, because Carnival, although I don’t like Carnival personally, I think Carnival kind of summarizes the Brazilian culture because we have a lot of parties, like a lot, everywhere you go you’re going to find, I don’t, it’s like street fest is where people agglomerate to sing, to dance and go on the streets.
So there are a lot of happiness. You have very traditional drinks as of course beer, but you also have caipirinha and things like that. And lastly, that’s a good opportunity to visit places that you wouldn’t visit if it wasn’t Carnival. For example, my mom, she lived in a very small town here in Brazil, in a state which is called Minas Gerais, and it’s not a popular town, it’s not too risky, there’s nothing very special. But Carnival is very nice, I don’t know why, but on Carnival a lot of people from different parts of Brazil go to this town to celebrate and sing and be happy. It’s a very safe environment. So I would suggest Carnival for these reasons.
Ismar Igor, what’s your mom’s town?
Igor She lived in San João del Rey, which is…
Ismar It’s a famous city, yeah? Yeah. For us, for us Brazilian. And for example, if an European person would like to come to Brazil and you suggest Carnival, but it’s something different from other people, would you suggest someone to take some classes of Samba before Carnival, or you think that’s not necessary, it’s possible to learn at the day at the moment because they will have to drink something, they will be more relaxed, it wouldn’t be easy, it’s not necessary to have some Samba classes?
Igor No, I don’t think it’s necessary, of course, if you take lessons you can dance better, but the thing about Carnival, it’s not about performance, like no one is caring how you dance, so I don’t think it’s necessary, and I suggest going to Carnival without knowing how to dance because it would be more fun for you and for your friends.
Ismar But about safety, would you suggest something interesting for foreign people to take a good time at Carnival in Brazil, or it’s not necessary?
Igor Well, that’s a very important point to consider if you are coming to Brazil, to Carnival especially, because we have places that are very safe, you can relax 100% and you have places that are very dangerous, so it’s a point to consider, so I would suggest looking for a local who would tell you where is safe in this specific city, and if you are in a capital like Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, and you don’t know anyone, I would definitely suggest you go to places which you have to pay to enter, but yes, it’s a very important point to consider.
Ismar Do you consider that Carnival is a good activity for all ages, or for only adults, for only men, for only women, what kind of people, in referring about ages, do you think that Carnival is good?
Igor Well, I think that there are, because we have plenty of parties, and all kinds of parties, so you have like crazy ones, like American Pie, American Pie parties, and you have like old people relaxing parties, so I think there is a place for every age possible.
Ismar Okay, thank you Igor for your suggestion.
Igor You’re welcome.
Ismar And Sebastian, you as an European, did Igor convince you to come to Brazil and take good times at our Carnival period next year, 2024?
Sebastian I think it’s a really, really long trip, so I need more information that I’m convinced, but we also have Carnival here in Europe, or in my area, but it’s totally different to your Carnival, I think. We also have parades, is that correct? Yeah, it’s totally different to your Carnival, and I’m not visiting so many parades. We had, in the past, we visited a Carnival party in our town, but I’m not the biggest fan of Carnival, but I can imagine that it’s really different to our Carnival, so I think it could be really interesting to see it one time in my life, but it’s a long, long journey. I don’t know, how many hours is it, Frank, or how do you know it?
Ismar It’s around from a big city, for example, Düsseldorf, or Frankfurt, I suppose, around 12 hours.
Sebastian Oh, okay. 12 hours? No more?
Ismar I think it’s not so long.
Sebastian Okay. So, next year?
Ismar I suppose that the EU, as a German guy that’s receiving Euros, it wouldn’t be expensive. It may be a thousand Euros for a plane ticket, and the hotels here, you have a good advantage for you when we exchange your currency. I suppose that you expand less money than if you go to United States or maybe to Australia or some other country. I suppose that to come to Brazil or Latin America in a whole, I suppose not. I’m sure that it would be a good option when you consider about how much money would you spend in a good vacation, in a good holiday.
Sebastian Because of the exchange rate?
Ismar Yeah. For example, for one Euro, you have around six Reals, Brazilian currency. And I suppose, for example, a small cup of coffee that you pay maybe 50 cents of Euros. I don’t know how much a small cup of coffee costs in Germany.
Sebastian What do you mean with small coffee and espresso?
Ismar Maybe two hundred millimetres.
Sebastian Okay. A normal Americano or something like that. I think in Germany it’s three Euros, three or fifty. Something like that at the moment. So really…
Ismar Two Euros and fifty.
Sebastian No, three.
Ismar Three or two.
Sebastian Three. Between two and three. So that’s really cheap in Brazil.
Ismar And if you want a good cappuccino, yeah, maybe three hundred millimetres of a good cappuccino in Brazil, you pay around two Euros. I think here for you, European person, our cost of living is very good.
Sebastian Okay. Sounds interesting.
Ismar And you, Frank, did Igor and I, with our arguments, have convinced you to expand your next Carnival 2024 in Brazil?
Frank It’s to a certain degree both of you have, but you didn’t have to actually push the hard sell for me. I have learned from the two of you that Rio is not the place to visit, which is for us Europeans a bit of a surprise, because when we think of Carnival and we think of Brazil, we automatically think of Rio. And so, what I found really positive, what Igor said, is go off the beaten track and find a place which is not so frequented by tourists and enjoy the Carnival there, because it’s probably going to be much more authentic than what you will see in the major cities. And to the question of, do you actually need to know how to dance the samba? I remember when I lived in London 30, 35 years ago. On a Saturday evening, I chanced on the London samba school. And I went in, and the place was heaving.
And I don’t think I moved much in terms of radius, because we were all packed in there like some like sardines and we were dancing the samba. And I just looked at what the people behind in front of me and to my side were doing. And I just followed suit. And it’s 30 odd years ago. And I still remember it like yesterday. So I think and I know four people in Brazil. So I think if I can combine to meet one of you four during Carnival, go to a samba party, watch the parade. I think I’d be a fool not to say, yes, I will try and get there for Carnival 2024. But I’m not going to go to Rio. I’m not going to go to Sao Paulo, which will put Rosie in a bad spot. So, we’ll have to see. But yeah, it was a good idea. And I’m also curious to know what an American pie party is as well.
Igor Oh, American Pie, there’s a very, do you know, Sebastian? The movie?
Sebastian I know. I know the movie. So it could be, I don’t know. Yeah.
Igor But it’s those, I’m using the term from the movie because on American Pie, I think there’s a four. It’s a really bad movie, I don’t recommend. But in the movie, it’s all around. The script is all around the parties, you know, and they are like crazy parties, very classic American that we’re watching movies that it’s inside the house. There is a pool. People get a lot of, people get very drunk, like guys, I don’t know which term to use, but guys is kind of, I don’t know. I never had to say it in English, but try to kiss women. I don’t know. I have to research which term is that one in English. I’m getting old. I don’t use more of these kind of terms. Like crazy parties.
Frank They try to hit on women.
Igor Okay. So that’s it. There are a lot of boys hitting on women, a lot of drunk people and the young people usually from college, this is American pie party.
Frank I think we’ll avoid that one. I’d like the authentic Brazilian carnival.
Igor Can I just tell something about Rio? I don’t like Rio, but I use it to hate Rio because Rio is very confusing. A lot of places are not safe, even to Brazilians, not only for tourists. And it’s a messed up city in terms of organization. So I used to hate Rio, but I have one cousin which moved to Rio about 10 years ago. And for the past three or four years, it happens that I would visit her more frequently. And she knows a lot of good places in Rio. So I’m changing my idea about Rio, but I would definitely suggest you go with someone who knows Rio. If you go as a tourist, a lonely tourist, or just with friends that don’t know Rio, can be a very frustrating experience. Maybe you’re going to get along, not necessarily you’re going to get robbed or things like that. There are a lot of safe places with a lot of police, but it wouldn’t be so enjoyable as if you were with someone who really knows the small places in Rio that are very comfortable and chilly and things like that.
Ismar I’d like to suggest that in a carnival period, that’s not only samba that is played. In Pernambuco state, for example, we have two rhythms. One is called maracatu, and another one is called frevo. But it’s not recommended for seniors, someone like me, because it requires a very good condition, physical condition. It’s necessary to be on feet. You have to go down and stretch your leg all the time in a very fast rhythm, and it’s not good for a senior like me, but it’s very interesting. They dance with a small and much coloured umbrella, and it’s very interesting. I would send you a movie after.
And you, Frank, which place would you recommend for a Brazilian or any kind of foreign people to visit in Europe?
Frank Yeah
Sebastian How to start.
Frank Yeah, that is the most difficult question you can ask because, and this is why this topic is so interesting, because Europe is so different in so many places, and they’re very close together. So it really boils down to what you want to do and what do you want to see and what you are interested in. So if you want to have a look at monuments, look at the history, then you would have to go to the major cities of Paris. You would have to go to Rome, even though Rome is a pretty horrible place to visit as a tourist, Lisbon, Madrid, you’d have to go to the big centres. But if you want to enjoy a tranquil life, some good food, then I would say, well, go to the Provence in the south of France, go to the southwest of France down to Bordeaux. If you want to have something more hip and more dynamic, go to London, go to the markets in London, go to Camden Market in London or Soho. If you want something family orientated and probably a little bit more expensive, then you should go to the Nordic countries. I remember I was in Poland many years ago in the city of Gdansk, Danzig in German. And what I found fascinating was that the orientation to the city was more towards the Nordic countries, to Finland and Sweden, because they are much closer. And you come to where I live in north-eastern France, of course, we have Germany just across the border, but we have these influences down to the Mediterranean.
And then of course, you’ve got the whole Mediterranean lifestyle, the cuisine, the weather. So what you cannot do with Europe, at least in my opinion, is sort of categorize it in one lump sum. You really have to know what you want to do and what you want to see and what interests you, and then you do that. And then in the process, you might discover, oh, that looks nice, that looks nice, well, that’s interesting, well, that was good. And then you have to come back again and do that. So, I could almost provoke this discussion by saying there’s actually no need to leave Europe because you’ve got everything you want within Europe.
You’ve got mountains, you’ve got the Alps, you’ve got lakes, you’ve got the lakes in Poland, you’ve got the gastronomy in France, the gastronomy in Italy, you’ve got the funkiness and the individualism of the United Kingdom. You go to Ireland, and you have countryside and good craic, as they say, yeah. The Irish love to drink, they love to party. It’s a beautiful country. My first wife is Irish. So again, it’s so diverse here. To recommend something, you really need to know what you want to do.
Ismar Okay, Frank, give us a bunch of suggestions. And you, Sebastian, if you want to enlarge your answer, as Frank did, no problem. But I would like to give you another option. You can restrict your option to Germany, but it’s up to you. You can say all about Europe or only about Germany.
Sebastian So I have been not in so many different places in Germany. I travelled to, I don’t know, to the States, to Thailand and to different far away spots. But yes, this is something I would like to do in the future. I want to travel through Germany to different spots there, but I think Frank said already that there are so many spots not far away. You just have to jump into your car or use a plan for one or two hours and you are, yeah, you are in different positions in Europe. And for example, after our wedding, we did a journey in Italy, and we just did a road trip from north Italy to south and then we flew back. And since that, every year we, maybe every year we are in Italy just for the food and for the, I don’t know, for the, it’s absolutely different. And on the other side, we stayed, I think, two or three times in Scotland, for example. It’s much not so hot. It’s totally different. We love the cold style or the cold conditions, but it wasn’t cold because we had 22 degrees on one trip, and we love to just use the car and drive all along the coast. And, for example, stopped in Edinburgh, is that correct?
Frank Edinburgh.
Sebastian Edinburgh. So yeah, there’s a lot of history and I don’t know how it is in Brazil with history and old buildings and so on, but there are many, many possibilities and you have to choose what you want, and you have many possibilities here, yeah.
Ismar Okay, Igor, you said that Carnival is a great holiday for Brazilians, but beside it, what is the other holidays that Brazilians appreciate most?
Igor Hmm, well, that’s a good, I don’t know which one would be the second place. It’s a good question. I would argue, I agree that maybe, I’m thinking Easter or not even Christmas, but New Year’s Eve because on Christmas, usually people have to work between the 26th to 31th of the year, so people cannot enjoy that much in terms of holidays. But I would say New Year’s Eve because it’s very hot, it’s summer, people have long vacations because kids are on the vacation, much professionals will be on vacations in January. So I would say the second one would be New Year’s Eve, but I don’t recommend no one coming because it’s a hell of traffic everywhere and a lot of people, everything expensive. That’s the time I stay at my house the longest because we have all those things in Carnival. We have traffic, we have things getting expensive, but at least you are enjoying. So New Year’s Eve, it’s just frustration after frustration.
Igor And you, Frank, in your opinion, which holiday European people appreciate more? It doesn’t matter if it’s a long or a short holiday.
Frank Over here in France, holidays are very much determined by the school holidays. So for instance, at the moment, last week and this week, are the winter holidays. So a lot of people like to go skiing, and especially in this area here, a lot of people like going to Austria. And then the next set of holidays are the summer holidays, which tend to be about two and a half months long. And they are, a lot of people are actually complaining that the French school holidays in summer are way too long. And the French, what they like to do then is head to the coast, either to the Atlantic coast or to the south coast and go to the beach and spend some time there and just relax. The French are not really the ones that will travel it to other countries because they know how beautiful their own country can be. It can also be very ugly in some places, but they know where to go and they can be in their own environment. And the other thing that makes France so very interesting is that we have France Métropolitain, which is mainland France, and then we have France Outremer. So, we have overseas departments like Réunion, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. So you can actually travel thousands of kilometres and be in the southern hemisphere, but technically you are still on French soil. And so that makes it also quite interesting that you remain within your own country, but you are on a different part of the planet.
Sebastian And that you don’t have to speak a foreign language.
Frank And for the French as well, they don’t have to speak any other language apart from French. So what basically happens is that families will stick to school holidays, and then you have the single couples or the pensioners who will then go outside of the school holidays because it’s much cheaper then. And usually what also happens in a rural structure like here, maybe the parents will leave their children with the grandparents and go off for a holiday somewhere. And the kids will stay with the grandparents. And then the grandparents of course will go somewhere after the summer holidays and spend a couple of weeks somewhere. And the, for us in the area where I live, like I said earlier, Austria is a very favourite destination, partly because it’s similar in the landscape is similar to here. They’re more friendly than the Germans and it’s cheaper than Germany, sort of a little dig over to Sebastian on the other side of the border.
Ismar And do you, Sebastian, what do you think it’s the holiday most appreciated by German people or European in general?
Sebastian For me it’s the off season because I don’t have kids that are going to school, but in summer we have six weeks of school holidays. So not, what is it in France?
Frank Ten weeks.
Frank Ten weeks.
Sebastian Okay. So it’s nearly the same time when we all have holidays in Europe, I think. Right Frank?
Frank Yeah.
Sebastian But I prefer to go in the off season. So we try to travel because we have no kids. For example, we will travel in three weeks to the Canaries, is that correct?
Frank Canary islands, to the Canary islands.
Sebastian Yeah. So that we don’t have, so that everything is not so crowded and when we go in summer, we go after summer in September, for example, most of the time to Italy. So, it is not too crowded, it is not so expensive and yeah. So, we prefer to go in the off season.
Ismar Igor, I know that you have lived it some months in Europe, I suppose more in France, maybe around three or more months, but which place that you haven’t been yet and would like to go?
Igor Well, definitely I would like to visit Spain. From what I see, and I read about, it seems like a very beautiful place in terms of nature. There are a lot of climbing routes, which is something I like to do and explore. And also people seem to be very similar with Brazilians in terms of culture. People like to be on streets, people like to talk with strangers and I just hear good things about Spain. So that’s somewhere I would like to visit.
Ismar Okay. And Frank, you know, all you know or almost you know from Brazil is from me, some other students and what you read. But to enlarge a little more your possibility to answer this question, which place would you like to visit more in South America?
Frank In South America?
Ismar Yeah.
Frank Oh, ah. Dance the tango? No. Learn dance the tango is Argentina. I suppose go to, is it Ixhuaya in the south? No, Iguazu is the north. So Ixhuaya, the southernmost city in the southern hemisphere. That is actually a very difficult question to answer because Brazil has been on my radar for obvious reasons. And for us, South America is very, very far away or at least for me it is, yeah. Yes, I’ve heard of the countries and I know of the culture, the Inca culture and the Aztec culture in Mexico. And yes, I’ve been to Mexico, I visited Mexico many, many, many years ago. But I have to say that you go to, you hear the names Ecuador and Peru and Bolivia and so on. But it’s actually very difficult to associate anything with these countries. So, I can’t really answer that question. Brazil? Yes. I mean, that’s fairly easy because I’ve been looking at it and talking to you about it and I’ve spoken to people who’ve been to Argentina. But it’s very mysterious, it’s almost like Christopher Columbus sort of sailing west and you don’t really know what is there, except probably a handful of clichés and they’re not going to be interesting. So I would probably, I mean, Brazil is big enough. I mean, let’s start with Brazil.
And I think for me, and it goes back to what Igor said at the very beginning, I’ve reached the point where I don’t want to go to a place just to have a look at a building. I was in Rome a few years ago and it was so overrun with tourists that I actually hated it. And there are better ways of looking at these buildings today. So for me, it’s more important that if I know somebody, like Igor’s cousin in Rio, if I know somebody then that person will hopefully show me his or her particular angle on that city or that country or that place and make it a much more enriching experience because it’s much more personal, it’s much more intimate. If I want to look at the Vatican in Rome, I can go to YouTube and look at lots of videos and buy books about it. I don’t need to queue for two hours to see and be pushed through at a breakneck speed. It’s interacting with the people and sharing the experience. So, I may never get to Argentina because I may never meet anybody from Argentina, but I certainly want to get to Brazil because I know these four people there.
Ismar Some people aren’t brave enough to come to South America because they say, oh, all of them speak Spanish, but it’s not true. We have English, we have Portuguese, we have Spanish, Dutch and French in Latin America. Of course, it’s not easy to speak French and maybe more easily speak English in Brazil, but you have all these options to speak in South America. And we have two places that speak English, the Falkland Islands between Argentina territory and some place in the Atlantic.
We have Guyana in the north of Brazil. We have Surinam who which speak Dutch and we have French Guyana that we speak French and a lot of others speak Spanish. But Sebastián, as I said
Sebastian Before you asked me this question, sorry that I interrupt you. Now I have a question to both of you, Igor and Ismar. Have you ever thought about driving along the Pan Americana from north to south in your life?
Ismar Excuse me to drive from?
Sebastian Have you ever thought about driving from north to south the Pan Americana, so the route? Have you ever thought about it?
Ismar No, no, I have heard, but I think it’s not common.
Sebastian Why?
Ismar But I would say once in a while some adventurous Brazilians go from Brazil to United States driving. But it’s not so common, but sometimes we see someone that does it.
Sebastian Okay. And you, Igor?
Igor I have thought about that a few times, but from what I have researched about that, there is some point I think in Panama or something like that, that it’s not possible to keep going by road, so you have to take a boat. Like the logistics are not easy, but I have thought about that a few times. I just told Frank about that, so I’m moving to Los Angeles in August of this year and I have a friend, like my girlfriend has a dog, she has a dog, and we are thinking about leaving the dog here and one friend take the dog by car, like a couple friends take the dog and go by car to the United States. We are considering that, and it would be fun. It’s a long way, but these couple of friends, they are kind of retired. They like the idea.
Sebastian They have enough time.
Igor Yes, they do, because they own it.
Ismar And Sebastian, my opinion that South America or Latin America in a whole, it’s not your option, but I will close my question. You have only one option. Your vacation is free. You have gained a free vacation with everything that is paid for a company that you have won something, you have won a prize. And which place and which country would you like to come to spend ten days?
Sebastian Ten days.
Frank His wife has expensive taste, Ismar.
Sebastian Oh, there are a lot of, I just have to choose one. I think I would like to go to Africa once in my life. That is something, South Africa, maybe.
Ismar No, no, no, my question is, you have to choose one place in South America.
Sebastian In South America, okay.
Ismar You have won a prize to visit South America. Which place would you choose?
Sebastian I just look on the map. I think it’s really similar, the problem is really similar to me as for Frank. I have a friend, she was in Peru for I think one year. So there was a little bit of connection to this country, but it’s not, I think it’s also not really hot there. It depends on which altitude,
Ismar It depends on the altitude, yeah, right.
Sebastian It’s really difficult. I have not enough information about South America.
Ismar Do you like diving?
Sebastian Yes, yes. That was the reason why I thought about.
Ismar You can visit Galapagos Island.
Sebastian Say it again?
Ismar Galapagos Island, is the pronunciation, Frank?
Sebastian Oh yeah, this is the spot. I thought about this spot, but yeah, this is really interesting. A friend visited two times and he was absolutely interested or absolutely fascinated about the spot. But on the other side, I think, I don’t have enough information, how good is it to visit this spot? I have no clue. I have no clue. And I have no, is it, I saw something on TV that they tried to don’t get so many people in this area and that it’s really restricted, but yeah, you can ask this question or you can think about it in other destinations, but yeah, this is really interesting because I think to see the different animals and so on, the, I don’t know, iguana, is this correct word?
Frank The iguanas.
Sebastian Yeah, and so it could be really interesting, yeah. Thank you. The giant turtles, mm-hmm. The turtles. So I was diving a lot in different countries and so it could be really interesting to dive, not in this area because it’s not possible, I think, but I love to see different animals in the normal environment or in the natural environment. That could be great. Yeah.
Ismar. Okay, thank you. Igor, suppose you have to manage 10 people group to visit Europe and you have to consider because they are from different ages, suppose since 12 years old to 70, 75 years old, 10 people. They are all your friends, your acquaintance, and which place and how would you manage this kind of trip in the way that you please most of them and you have to consider the resilience level, their tolerance, and how much you can complete, you can show them they are interested in this kind of trip.
Sebastian Igor, just in one sentence, your answer should be just in one sentence.
Ismar No, you have more than one.
Igor Upside down. Well, the place I would go surely would be Paris because from what I know in Europe, of course, I don’t know most of Europe, but Paris there are places for every kind of person. So you have museums who like history and maybe older people. You have very cool bars and a nightlife for young teenagers. You have a place for kids. There’s a Disneyland. I don’t know if it’s in Paris or near Paris, but there’s a Disneyland. You have nature for those who like to hike. For more adventurous people, you have the hidden city, Tunnel City on Paris, which is below the metro stations, which we call the catacombs of Paris. If you like sports, you have a lot of climbing routes, you have parkour, you have martial arts. Today, it’s very popular martial arts in Paris. So, I would choose Paris. And the way I would manage them is just go to Paris. I will put a tracker on each one of the people and I will tell them, this is my number. If it’s urgent, call me. If you don’t get back until 6 p.m., I’m going after you. That would be my plan. And I would charge a lot of money for that.
Ismar They don’t speak French. What would you do?
Igor That’s part of the adventure. That’s part of the adventure. But I would, if someone didn’t want to explore Paris as a foreigner, I would suggest them to leave a predator, a translator on the cell phone and things like that. But they would be fine. Paris is very easy to go along if you don’t speak French.
Ismar Okay.
Sebastian I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
Frank I just have one question. I just have one question. You go, what are you going to do while everybody’s out with their trackers?
Ismar I’m going to the La Dame du Lac, which is a climbing wall.
Frank Okay.
Igor Which there’s a lot of good memories.
Ismar and you, Sebastian, the same question. How would you manage the same size of group to come to South America?
Sebastian Can you say it once again?
Ismar You have to manage 10 people. All of them are your friends, your acquaintance. And if you are responsible for them, you have to choose the place, the activity to please the most as possible, every one of them. And you have to consider the age, how much you want to leave them pleased about their interests because they are different from 12 to 75. And which place and how would you manage the trip?
Sebastian Let me think about it and we talk about it next week. I have no idea. It’s really difficult because the idea of Igor was really, really good to travel to a city where you can do everything. I don’t know if you can see in Paris or around Paris, a lot of nature or something like that. I’ve never been there, but it was a really good answer, but I’ve never been to … I have to think about it.
Ismar And to be frank, how would you manage the same group to come to South America? Which place and how would you manage them?
Frank Well, I would go to the people that I know. And I would say, I know Ismar in Campo Grande, I know Igor in Curitiba, at least until August, and then I’d have to have a problem. I know Rosie in Sao Paulo and I know Lisa in Manaus. And I also know that the four of you live in very different areas. And I also know that the four of you live in very different areas. I mean, Manaus and the Amazon River is totally different to Curitiba, Curitiba is different to Campo Grande. So we’re close to Paraguay, relatively close to Paraguay from where you live, Curitiba and Sao Paulo is Sao Paulo. It’s the biggest city. So I think what I would do is I would enlist the help of the four people that I know there plus their extended families and say, okay, I’ve got 10 weirdos coming from Europe. Can you help me please and show us the best parts of where you live? And that’s just have fun together. I don’t think, I wouldn’t make it too complicated. I would just sort of go with the flow and say, okay, if I’m in Curitiba, probably Igor will make me do some parkour in Curitiba. Lisa will probably make me eat a few delicacies up in the Amazon River. Ismar, I think you and I will probably talk philosophy over endless cups of coffee. And Rosi will just do what Rosi does. Oh my God.So I think it would be fun because for me, like I said, it would be the people, not the monuments. Yes, they come with it, but I would just say, okay, kill two birds with one stone. I meet you, I meet you fantastic people over there. I bring a bunch of weirdos with me. You deal with it.
Ismar I think that traveling is one of the most interesting activities that we can do in life. Of course, it depends on the person, but I’m saying about me because it’s possible to achieve much knowledge personally. You don’t need a video, you don’t need a book, you don’t need that someone tell you. You can learn it personally. I think it’s something amazing. And gentlemen, we had three more questions. Probably we’ll need more, one hour or two hours to ask you all of them, all of my questions. And I appreciate your answers. And I’d like to know from everyone, if you want to say some sentence to finalize our meeting, that our get together, when we will have holidays as our subject. Igor, would you like to say something?
Igor Just thank you for the dynamic because I really enjoy it and congratulations for forming those questions.
Ismar Okay. Sebastian?
Sebastian Yeah, as always, really interesting to have a conversation with both of you. And for me, you are Mr. Question, Ismar.
Ismar But these questions aren’t for me, just some adaptation, yeah?
Sebastian It’s a gift.
Ismar Thank you very much.
Sebastian It’s not negative. I mean it not negative.
Ismar Okay. And you, Frank, what would you like to say to finalize our meeting?
Frank So I would like to first of all say thank you for hosting tonight’s get together or this afternoon’s get together. You did a spectacularly good job. And you took ownership, yes, I submitted something for you, but you took ownership of it and you adapted it to your own way of doing things, to your own way of thinking and that made it much more personal. And certainly you posed, you asked us questions where I had to really think and I think, wow, that’s a really good question. I need to think about that. And I think probably the greatest thank you that I have to say to all of you actually is I haven’t done very much traveling for a long, long time, but sort of this desire to travel and to meet people and to go to Brazil and meet all of you at some stage or go to Los Angeles is increasing.
And I think that is something that is important that we can use all this modern technology and we use it well, but actually meeting face to face and sitting down and having a coffee together is still very, very important, no matter where we live. And we should make the effort to do that more often. So Ismar, that’s the takeaway that I have from your hosting this get together. And thank you for doing that.
Ismar Okay, thank you, you all guys. It’s different when we are asking questions, maybe it’s more comfortable to answer them because you have the choice. You can ask the world to say something or you can stay quiet. But when you have to ask questions, you have to do them. You have no other option.
Frank Welcome to my world, Ismar.