4.  We stooped to new lows.

We took the free transfer to the posh Leblon Shopping Centre and watched the new Harry Potter film. Also, we snuck into another hotel, where we had a friend staying waiting for her family to arrive the following day, and not only abused their room service and spa facilities but also stole leftover room service deliveries people had left in the corridors to have taken away. I wish I was lying.

Sadly the extent to our traveling failure does not end here.

5. Our crazy nights out on the Rio party scene didn’t go... as planned.

When we went to the infamous Lapa Street Party, it rained. And then street children tried to mug us. Also, we didn’t visit Rio at Carnival time, so instead we went to a practice which was cool, expect one friend got so drunk I had to escort her home in a taxi. To make matters worse, she passed out and couldn’t tell us the apartment she was staying in with a friend, so we got to her road, the non-English speaking taxi driver asked where we’d like to stop, and all I could do was give him a helpless look.

This is the point where I very easily could have been unceremoniously dumped half an hour away from my hostel in an empty street with an unconscious girl, but luckily my driver was lovely and asked where my hostel was. At this point I realized I already didn’t have enough money on me to pay him what was on the meter. He waved this aside. I couldn’t remember my exact hostel address. He handed me the satnav and helped me find it. He drove us the extra twenty minutes, then helped me carry her safely out the taxi, and watched us safely inside. This man was a saint. Unfortunately my hostel had a strict “no guests allowed” policy so I had to sneak Unconscious Friend in by pretending she was my other friend, and giving her Other Friend’s bed. Never mind sneaking her out again in the morning...

So there you have it. I need to go back to Rio, and do it right this time!

©Leah Eades