Travel from Horizontina (Viagems de Horizontina)

I am getting ready to board the 10 pm overnight bus to Porto Alegre. It's about a 7 to 7 1/2 hour bus ride. Let me explain....

I am a really good traveler. I know that sounds conceited to say, but if I had to give myself a Performance Management rating for my travel competency, I'd give myself an "Outstanding Performance". I'll have to ask my boss if he can include that in my year end this year...I digress. 

I travel a fair amount for work and a lot more for personal. Living in Horizontina, which is 3 hours away from a small airport (Passo Fundo) and 7 hours away from the main airport (Porto Alegre), I have to find creative ways to get to the airport. Depending on the day of the week, you have certain options:

1) Any day of the week - 6 am bus ride for 7 1/2 hours to Porto Alegre (main airport) - R$100

2) Any day of the week - 10 pm over night bus ride for 7 1/2 hours to Porto Alegre - R$100

3) Company van - Mondays and Fridays @ 2:30 pm to Porto Alegre for 7 hours - Free (well, my company pays)

4) Carpool with someone to Porto Alegre - crapshoot depending on the day - 6 hours - R$60

5) Van ride to Passo Fundo (3 hours), but only Sunday to Fridays & only 1 flight per day - R$400

6) There is a flight from a SMALL airport 45 min or 90 min away, but that flight holds 12 people, you can only take 10kg of luggage and gets cancelled a lot. The only flight crew  are the 2 pilots. - R$300.

I rarely do option 5 because the flights get cancelled and they don't have convenient flight times, not to mention the luggage restriction and the high fare in case I want to do a weekend trip. My default options are usually 2, 3 or 4.

I am sure you are imagining a bus ride of 7 1/2 hours with chickens or something out of a Chevy Chase film, but I assure you the bus is really nice, very comfortable and very inexpensive. It's nicer than an airplane and if you get the "Leito"  bus, you can have a solo seat and don't have to sit next to anyone. I can usually sleep most of the bus ride and get a decent night's rest on the overnight bus.

For those of you who have been to Horizontina, you know it's not easy to get to/from the city. It is in fact much closer to Argentina than the rest of Brazil. But, when faced with lemons, you have to make lemonade. So, I make the best of what I've got and am happy that I have a way to get in/out of Horizontina. When you think about it, there are actually a lot of options for travel to Horizontina! None are easy, but then what fun would there be in easy???

Um abraco!
Mollie