After picking up some replacement underwear emblazoned with the Union Jack, DH decided that she will continue describing our visit to London as she was concerned that I might say something to disparage her 'peeps'. One viewing of Coronation Street probably does more damage than I could do but I’m happy to leave the pen with London’s biggest fan:Given that our primary purpose for being in London was to secure our Brazilian visas, the second wee...

After getting lost in my enthusiasm for the idea of scantily clad Brazilian women dancing inhibition-free at Carnival, and then booking non-refundable hotels and a big cruise out of Rio (also non-refundable), I had to break the the news to a substantially less enthusiastic DH that a Brazilian visa was one of the hardest ones to get... putting our hard-earned cash at risk. The mandatory on-line application form was strangely complicated and required a followup app...