Day 2

So, after being so prepared (so I thought) ........

Rule #2 Ensure that your cardiac capability is Olympian
This long haul jaunt to the tropics is certainly not stress free. We were struggling to keep up with our optimistic travel plans from the off. All the planes in UK behind schedule due to ice - and our luggage didn't even make the transfer onto the plane from Heathrow! Deep joy (not)!. We only just made the plane, having to run the length of Heathrow, carrying (heavy) hand luggage to try to catch a plane we had been told we had missed. We made it, but at a cost, I have rarely felt so ill and struggling to breathe - and the inhaler was packed in our now lost luggage.

Rule #3 Just go with flow, and try to enjoy the journey!
12 hours later arrived in Rio - our luggage was not with us - we waited at the carousel for 1 ½ hours just to check, but alas no sign. Even without waiting for luggage we had landed so late that we missed our connection to Salvador, and that was before the interminable queuing to fulfil the bureaucratic demands of the airport (and so we would also miss the little plane to Island). Pooh!. But never fear, when the going gets tough.... the tough get crotchety. We didn?t, instead we phoned Charles (who owns the place we were going to stay at) and he arranged an overland trip when we arrived at Salvador - 4 hours in a taxi going extremely fast hacking through the back of beyond, then onto a speedboat for the voyage in the pitch black over to the island - it was amazing. That is the brief version of events..... we just don't talk about how the Brazilian cash machine has eaten my cards! But we have arrived!

Photo is of almost empty plane to Salvador