Rich organised a surprise trip away and gave me little surprise clues in the weeks running up to it so I could try and guess where we were going. The last surprise, I didn't open as it would give away the destination. We headed for Gatwick and once we were in the departure lounge I opened it. It was a lonely planet guide for Budapest! However I did secretly know this as one of Rich friends had let it slip when we went out for some drinks a few nights befor...

When we landed we made our way to the metro to go to our hotel. We got to Expo hotel which was on the outskirts of the old town. It was a pretty modern hotel and had a good breakfast range. We went wandering into the old town. There was a river until the 50's which went around the town but when the banks burst and it flooded the city they decided to route the water away from the city. They turned the old river bed into the Turia Gardens. After a while of wan...

So I now have come to the end of my fanastic trip. I cannot lie I feel really sad that it has to end. But like we all know.. all good dreams end eventually. I have enjoyed time with new people some of who will be friends of mine for a long time, with family especially those who live so far away from me, friends and of course just good old time on my own. I think its something that I have come to appreciate..time on my own and listening to what I want to do. It ha...

We arrived back in Rio around 2ish on the Sunday it seemd to take forever and we were the last stop. We got dropped at our hostel in Ipanema, it was called Rio Hostel and they couldn't find our booking and it took forever to sort out as they had no internet. We should of taken this as a warning sign...We set off to visit the Christ Redeemer which is on the Corcovado mountain (its about 2,000ft+ high) and it was a beautiful day. It was completed in 1931 after 5 ye...

Very tired and very early we headed off for our bus and boat ride. It took 2 hours on the bus and then we waited an hour and the boat took about 1.5 hours. We got to the island about half 9. We found our little hostel which was called Studio Beach and was run by a Brazilian guy who was so sweet and welcoming and spoke not a word of English. The day was gorgeous when we arrived so after some breakfast I headed to sit on the beach for a few hours and read... It was...