Much care. Always before traveling, get a complete copy of your passport and leave it in a safe place (be careful not to put it in a place where only you can find it. If you lose the passport during the tour, find a police department and report the incident (lost or robbery). Then go to the consulate and explain what happened. In order to get a new document still on the tour the following documents will be required: report or police act of lost or robbery, CPF, identity Card and voting title. The new passport is issued, usually, in up to five days. Without those documents one cannot cross the border. It’s better to make sworn copies of all the documents if possible.

If you lose the ticket, as soon as possible look for the air company and if possible advance some of the bureaucracy on the phone. It’s probable that you must have to find the company that issued the ticket and ask for a second one. At such point the passenger must sign a responsibility term committing to compensate the air company if the lost ticket were used by someone else. In the case of a damaged ticket, contact the company so that it can replace it.

Whenever your trip is to have any connection, be sure the time between landing and embarking is of at least one tour and if possible of two or three hours. Never accept a period of time smaller than these. The issuing company must guarantee its arrival to the final destination even if you embark and disembark in two or three planes to reach it. While you are waiting for the connection in land the air company must provide: food, accommodation and all the services to minimize the inconvenience.

Whenever your baggage has expensive clothes, it is important to include the baggage insurance. Do not use very attractive baggage and split, if possible, your baggage, in two parts. When the disappearance happens, go to the air company, fill in the report of the baggage disappearance (RIB), describe where you will be during the following 72 hours and ask for your help in order to buy clothes.
If the company fins it in up to 72 hours, it must take it to you. The compensation of the baggage will only happen after thirty days. If you did not hired the insurance, the air companies pay for national flights around R$ 180,00 per bag. For the international flights, they are USD 20,00 per kilogram and a maximum of between USD 300,00 and 400,00. If you are not satisfied with the compensation, you can recur to the PROCON, which defends a “real” compensation of the damage. Example: your destination was a winter city and you had no other option rather than purchasing winter clothes, in whose case this value must be compensated.

When renting a car always hire an insurance and, if possible, a total insurance policy. Bearing always in mind that the better the car, more expensive the insurance. An accident without insurance can end with your trip. Some credit cards offer this type of insurance incorporated. If any accident happens, call that car rental company, account the incident and wait for help. Besides not paying anything, you can continue with the trip with other car rented.

For those who like credit cards, a good tip is to increase the limit and if possible to bear one more credit card. Always bear a bit of money or traveler’s checks as well.

You’re worth gold! Tourists attract the attention even more than a billboard. In order to reduce the chances of your being robbed, try to look as a local and not a tourist. Be careful when opening a map at the corner. If you need to do this, do it in such a way nobody notices it. Don’t let the baggage appear in the car and don’t show your wallet full of notes. Have the address of the hotel and your own consulate’s in the wallet. Be discreet; split the money in several parts. If despite all of these care, the unavoidable happens, report it to the police, cancel the credit cards and the traveler’s checks. Always leave your address near where you lost your documents. If you do not have an address around, leave the one of your country’s consulate.

In order to avoid overbooking the secret is in the first place to confirm the seat of your reservation in order to avoid problems, confirming if possible with the air company that you will travel. For shuttle trips, always arrive to the airport one and a half hours before, and for international flights, at least three hours before. Even when arriving before, if there happens overbooking anyway, go to the air company, for you have a number of rights to count on.

In order to withdraw the passport you must go to a department of the Federal Police or to a post office. In these places you will receive information about the necessary documents and how to send it. The main requirements are: Brazilian, either native or naturalized, and to produce the following documents (original only):
Identity card (for people over 18) or Birth Certificate (for minors without an identity card);
Wedding certificate along with the I.D., for married women whose marital status is not in the I.D.;
Voting title with the stamp that indicates vote in the last election act. If you do not have the evidence, go to the closer T.R.E. and withdraw the declaration that shows that you are up-to-date with the election obligations.
Military reserve certificate, for men over 18 years of age;
For Brazilian naturalized to produce Naturalization Certificate and the military fulfillment regardless of the age;
Present CPF/CIC (Tax payer identification card issued by the Receita Federal in Brazil);
2 photos 5 x 7 cm., dated (day, month and year, with the year in four digits), as maximum 6 months old, white background and front;
Passport requiring form correctly filled in with typewriter or black or blue pen in legible form. Form model 219 sold in stationery shop; fee payment document, according to the table of the Federal Police, collected only at the Bank of Brazil, by the GAR/FUNAPOL in 2 (two) copies, with presentation of the CPF.
If the former passport is to be presented (valid or not), its not presentation implies the payment of the double fee. The passport application is personal only.

Provide with as many of the documents requested as possible. Attend along with the parents or legal representatives, with an specific mandate for passport request issued by the parents or legal representatives, with a signature officially registered, containing the numbers of the I.D., issuing institution, date of issue and signatures. If, when requesting the minor’s passport, one of the parents were not present in the address or could not come with the son, there must be an officially registered copy of the respective I.D.
If both parents are not present at the address, they must appoint, by specific mandate with official signatures, a kin of the minor in the first degree, with powers to follow him and represent him before an institution, to sign the requirement and the passport’s receipt. That mandate replaces the parent’s authorization in order to obtain the passport, but not the authorization to travel without their company, which has to be specific and with a maximum expiry of six months.
Note: the travel authorization can not have a validity term over the one fixed in the authorizations issued by the Judge of Minority and Adolescence at the international embarking point, which varies from State to State.
If the individual who requests the passport bears the definitive Judicial term of representation, it is enough to present an authenticated copy to withdraw the passport or to travel. It is not necessary the judicial authorization neither of the biologic parents.
The lack of authorization of one or both parents or of the legal representative, will be replaced by the Judge of Minority and Adolescence. When receiving the passport, it is mandatory to have the presence of the minor with one of the parents or legal representative. (Source: Federal Police).

Get informed in advance about the need of a visa for the countries towards which you are to travel. The requests of visas must be applied to the consulate of the destination country. The Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies keeps agreements with the consulates of some countries to refer requests of visas.
For further information, visit: www.abav.com.br

Baggage:
Each passenger has the right to carry a certain amount of kilos in the baggage besides the handbags. For national flights, each passenger can carry 20 kg in Economic class and 30 kg in First and Executive classes. For the excess of kg in the baggage, an extra fee will be charged for kilogram, respecting the franchises for national flights and international flights. In regional lines, the limit of baggage is of 10 (ten) kilos for flights with up to 20 seats. In shuttle flights with international connection, the franchise established for the international travel prevails. At the check in, the airline must hand to the passenger the receipt of the baggage embarked. Keep it safely, as it is the only document to prove your baggage is under the airline’s responsibility. This type is useful for all the types of travel in which a company assumes the responsibility to carry your baggage.
If you notice some damage in the baggage, it must be reported right away and all the measures for its solution must be taken.
At the check in, if you’d rather inform the correct value of the baggage, you will have to fill in a list of the items contained in the bag. When you declare the value of your baggage, you will need to pay an additional fee.
Children under 2 do not have a right to a baggage franchise. Franchises of baggage do not include the weight of animals and its crates and food.
When embarking, the passenger can opt for the payment of the baggage excess at the origin airport or at the destination when he/she resides in it. If you opt for paying at the destination airport, only she/he can withdraw the bags, even those included in the franchise, after the payment relative to the excess.