Advertisement
Published: December 31st 2007
One little idea that me and Shane pondered over at the age of about 15.... to travel the world, and though this idea probably came about when we were bored in maths class or something similar, here we are some 9 years later on the first day of our adventure.
Boarding the plane last night shane started being a drama queen, something both of us can be guilty of at times. He told the cabin crew that he had a pathological fear of flying especially on long haul flights and despite this being a lie and me having to force my laughter down one of the flight attendants moved us to first class, ha... I know... us in hoodys and joggers, you can imagine how many dirty looks we received from the business men surrounding us!
All the same, this worked out for the best because after the excitment simmered down I found myself repeatedly sick throughout the flight and was extremely ill, guess it must have been nerves.
We arrived in Rio at 8.45 this morning and managed to barter for one of the many taxis competing outside and what followed was definitely a bit of an eye opener for the both of us. Falafels and shanty towns for miles, sites that we didnt think we would get to see but were unavoidable. These were piles and piles of houses all most built on top of one another, different materials, different colours with dirty streams running down through the mountains they were situated on. The stench of these could be smelt even through car windows. Certainly makes you realise how lucky we are back in England.
A short ride away and we were dropped at our hostel, which leaves a lot to be desired but it was the only hostel left with New Year here being so manic, so me and Shane dropped our stuff on our beds and had a little giggle at the heat, the sweat and the smell (or perhaps that was Shane, it´d been a long flight)!!
After that we decided to explore. The Brazilians are manic, so many of them and they seem to make everything much more chaotic than it needs to be. Copacabana seems a little dangerous and run down, however, the beach is truely beautiful. The sand is whiter than any I have seen before and there´s a real feel of community there, with hundreds of locals relaxing. The new year involves a huge party on the beach front with fireworks and people walk into the water offering food and flowers to the goddess of the sea, so today many children were there throwing roses into the waves.
Shane and I laid out with factor 20 on for about an hour and still managed to get slightly burnt tut tut.
Our hostel rep wants all of us staying at the hostel to meet in the lounge tonight at 7.30 for drinks and nibbles then we will all go to the beach together for the fireworks and to see the new year in so WE WILL BE SAFE MOTHER!!!!
I will be back soon to report 😊
Love you all and I hope you have a fantastic new year. xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.13s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0841s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mark Benton
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Great idea Lauren, I've signed up and look forward to the tales of your adventures over the next 8 months. Happy New Year to you aswell.