by FOMO Boy
The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets.  Rio Carnival is a must-do event on any travellers list.

Rio Carnival is all about parades, dancing, music and infamous street parties. The most famous dance of Rio Carnival is the samba, which is a Brazilian dance with African influences.  The samba remains a popular dance not only at Rio Carnival but also in the villages outside of the main cities throughout Brazil.

Numerous samba schools build floats, costumes and create songs and themes (in Carnival terminology called "enredo") for their entries.  They also include the best music they can from their drumming band, which is called the bateria.  There are many parts to each school's entry including up to eight floats and 4,000 party goers.  One of the main purposes of the Rio Carnival parade is for a samba school to compete with other rival samba schools.  This competition is the climax of the whole Rio Carnival festival.  

The music of Rio Carnival contains amazing beats and rhythms, which has the crowds dancing all over the streets of Rio.  The samba is the main dance of Rio Carnival, but music in general is another major aspect of all parts of Rio Carnival. Samba Carnival instruments are an important part of Brazil and the Rio Carnival.  The samba that is found in Rio is called batucada and the dance and music are based on percussion instruments.

Street parties take place throughout the city during Rio Carnival. There can be more than 300 street parties taking place at any given point in time. While the biggest street party takes place right outside the Sambadrome, the largest organized street dance is typically found on Cinelndia Square in Rio's Centro. In 2012, more than 2 million revellers took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Cordo do Bola Preta bloco. According to police estimates, more than 5 million people attend one of the street parties during Rio Carnival and there is very little reported incident of crime.

Today, some of the biggest events of Rio Carnival are ticketed events. There are different types of Sambadrome tickets that are available for purchase. Grandstand tickets are general admissions tickets that are available on a first come-first serve basis and are not allocated ahead of time. Frisas are open air box seats located along the samba runway. Camarotes are luxury boxes situated between the frisas and the grandstands. Sector 9 is the tourist sector, which are the same as grandstand tickets, with the difference being that they are allocated so people have assigned seats.

By FOMO Girl
Festivals Travel is increasing each year in many parts of the world. Travelling is considered a right of passage by many people from all walks of life. Nowadays people are travelling from one place to another with an aim of attending a certain event or festival. Festivities take place all around the year and they attract a huge attendance and audience. Some of the major international or globally recognized festivals are the Oktoberfest, Rio Carnival, Running of the Bulls, Mardi Gras and Hogmanay.

A festival is basically an event or an occasion where people from all parts of the world meet up with an aim of socializing and really getting into the festivities of the occasion. People go to great lengths to attend these major festivals and a lot of income and finances is set aside by people to cater for the expenses incurred during such expeditions.

When an event is not nearby, it is necessary if planning to attend to make travel arrangements to get to the event and quite often this needs to be booked well in advance.  For this reason, many companies have been established to help recreational travelers to reach their destinations. One of the most popular tour companies that specialise  in the youth travel, as well as festivals travel markets, is called Contiki. Contiki runs tours to many festivals around the world with utmost ease and generally at a fairly low cost.

Another well-known tour company that operates tours to the above festivals is G Adventures. G Adventures is another tour company that specialises in adventure travel, but they also operate shorter festival trips. Their personnel who are in charge of these tours are very professionals and have years' experience in their work.

TGW Travel Group, also known as Tours Gone Wild, is an alternative tour company that offers excellent and superb services to all its clients. This is a company that has vast experience in Brazil and they are definately the Brazil and Rio Carnival specialists. Busabout is another popular tour company that operates tours to most of these major events and festivals.  All these companies provide accommodation and transportation for the above mentioned festivals.

The Youth Travel market is mostly the group of people who are potential customers to the above listed companies.  However, these events also target other specific audiences such as families, couples or even children.  For special types of customers such as disabled persons, special amenities have to be provided in addition to the ones present in the normal travel packages.

The cost of travelling varies depending on the means of transport used. Use of air transport is considered the most expensive as compared to alternative means such as road and rail transport. Most tour companies give a wide range of options to their clients and customers on various means to move from one place to the other.

Festivals Travel will continue to grow and expand in the coming years with more and more people expected to attend these international festivities. As the customers for this service increase, so will the income from the above business.

FOMO Travel are the Festival and Events Travel specialists and they provide a wide array of information on the major festivals and events from across the globe.

By FOMO Girl
People who want to attend festivals travel to some of the most exotic places in the world. Many countries have annual celebrations that attract visitors from all around the globe. There is typically an abundance of mouth watering food and plenty to drink at these festivities. Most of them have parades that lure thousands of costumed revelers to the streets for dancing and singing to blaring music.

One of the most well known and popular festivals anywhere is Carnival, in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. In late February to early March each year, thousands of revelers from around the globe don costumes and join in the parades. This week long party is about people, dancing, and samba music. Everyone is there to have unlimited fun while experiencing this flamboyant affair.

TGW Travel Group customizes trip packages according to the preferences of its clients. They want to be sure that everyone is entertained day and night. Packages can include the costs for airfare, lodging, transportation, admission into nightclubs, and a consultation about all the best parties in the area. Spain, Brazil, and Argentina are also favorite destinations of their clients.

Another famous carnival that rivals the one in South America is the Carnevale in Venice, Italy. There are huge and grandly produced balls and parties. This gala is known for the extravagant and intricately designed masks everyone wears.

The United States celebrates its biggest carnival, Mardi Gras, on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday every year. It is held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides the infamous parade throughout the city and festivities on Bourbon Street, it is a great venue to overindulge on greasy foods and sweet alcoholic beverages.

Drinking is the favorite activity in Munich, Germany when it hosts its annual Oktoberfest. The steins overflow with local brews during the end of September and first week of October. Almost 7 million fans of Bavarian beer and food visit each year. The celebration that lasts for 16 days is the biggest of its kind in the world.  Busabout is a travel company who offers several affordable trips to the festivities in Munich. They have packages for the budget minded traveler that can include airfare along with accommodations within walking distance of the Beerfest.  They even provide breakfasts and give you a free drink on arrival.

Spain has many fun festivals that are very popular to attend. The most well known occurs every July, when the annual Running of the Bulls takes place in the streets of Pamplona. The excitement begins when the bulls are herded onto the streets to chase the young men who are brave or crazy enough to run with them. There are usually more than a dozen or more runners injured before the bulls finally enter the ring for the afternoon bullfights.

One of the two annual events that have attendees looking skyward is the Lantern Festival in Pingxi, Taiwan. The night sky is lit up from the glow of thousands of lanterns hovering above. The night of merriment takes place in February.  The other one takes place every October when people from all over travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for the biggest hot air balloon fiesta worldwide. It began in 1972 with only 13 balloons. Over the years its popularity forced officials to limit entries to 600. Other attractions include balloon related games and stunts.

People attending these and other festivals travel hundreds to thousands of miles each year. They come from all age groups, with the majority being young people aged 18-35 years old. The main point of going is to experience the different cultures and joining together to have a good time.

FOMO Travel are your festival travel specialists and they have an awesome section of their website dedicated to Festival and Events Travel.  You should check it out if you are considering attending one of these must-do festivals somewhere in the world.

By Grace Charvin
Last year I went to Rio De Janeiro for the Carnival.  A few of my friends had gone to the Rio Carnival the year before and I had heard them say it was one of the best experiences they have ever had.  We stayed in Rio De Janeiro for the Carnival for a whole week.  

My friends and I rented an apartment that was slightly more expensive as compared to what other people were paying in hostels, but it was so worth it.  One important thing that you have to remember about Rio Carnival is that you have to make your arrangements for accommodation early because of the number of visitors who throng to the city for the Rio Carnival celebration. The general prices for accommodation are pretty expensive, but hey, this is a once-in-lifetime must-do experience.

Accommodation facilities in Rio are up to date. The apartment we booked was in a safe area and had a very helpful front desk staff that helped us out whenever we needed suggestions for things to do. Generally, the services in the facility were good and I really liked and enjoyed the week with some of my friends.

I was fascinated with the Carnival in Rio, the street parties that took place each day were huge and I really loved getting involved. It is amazing, especially when you are among the hundreds of thousands of people who drink and party in the street every day and night for almost a week.  The mood was really exciting and every person was out to get the best from the Rio Carnival. My friends and I were really mesmerized with the samba dancing. We went to the Sambadrome one day and I had grandstand tickets and sat in sector 9, which gave us a great view to listen and see all the samba school songs and dances.  I have to say if you go to Rio Carnival then getting tickets to one of the events in the Sambadome is well worth it.  The experience was so much more than I expected.  

What I liked about Rio de Janeiro is that the city seemed pretty safe. There was no single time I felt insecure in this fascinating city, although admittedly we seemed to be in a bit of an upmarket area. There are plenty of high-class hotels in Copacabana and Ipanema.  The apartment we stayed in was next to a beach and we were at the beach a lot where we mingled and chatted with the locals who seemed eager to help us out. We spent many days on Copacabana Beach, were hundreds of girls were practically naked!  On the beaches, there was virtually everything you may wish to buy.

I really loved and enjoyed my stay in Rio De Janeiro for the Carnival.  I think everyone should really consider getting to this amazing festival held in February or March every year.