Traveling alone can be a tough decision. Sometimes it’s a little nerve wrecking going to a foreign country by yourself. I’ve had this feeling myself many times when traveling alone, but over the years I’ve found ways to make every trip lots of fun, even when I’m traveling alone.

Hanging Tough

I recently read an article in the New Yorker about companies who plow through recessions and even pickup spending, advertising, and costs through tough times. Sounds counter intuitive, doesn’t it? The article points out that many a time; these companies end up gaining lots of ground while other companies are cutting back and loosing ground.

2008 has been a year most investors would like to forget. The financial sector is in ruins and our economy is in a credit crunch, the likes of which haven't been seen in decades. For most of us, it's been a stress filled year, with one horrible news story following another. All of this just means you need a vacation more then ever - and good news about the bad news is that the financial crisis has made destinations in Latin America, even more affordable then they already were before the crisis.

I've made a lot of female friends online over the past few years. I recently had an interesting conversation with a Brazilian friend I met not too long ago.

My friend is from São Paulo and I asked her a lot of questions, in a sort of friendly interview. She told me about her impressions of foreigners, and gave me some tips I think many of you will find useful. Here goes...

Question #1. Where are you from in Brazil and what do you do?

Over the past few weeks, I've been getting all sorts of questions by guys who are about to travel, or thinking about setting up a trip.

One of the most common questions, involves safety. Everyone has heard stories about Pablo Escobar and the "guerillas" in Colombia, or the "favelas" in Brazil.

Part of the problem, is that the media only tends to cover the negatives, never giving credit to the positives.

I am not sure why the negative stories always seem to reach the international news.