We found last minute accommodation in Rio for Carnival which is almost unheard of. We also found relatively slow transportation back to North America which would help us avoid at least four weeks of a frozen Canadian winter. And in a nice twist, our hotel and transport was the same thing- the Maasdam cruise ship. As our 'hotel' pulled out of the Rio harbour, we were almost accidentally trying out travel-by-cruise-ship which was a big change from our recen...

So we went to London to get a Brazilian visa so we could see Carnival in Rio. We went to Portugal in order to grab an affordable flight to Brazil so we could see Carnival in Rio. We spent a few days in Salvador so we could catch a reliable commuter flight to see Carnival in Rio. We booked a 26 day cruise so we had the 3 days of accommodation needed to see Carnival in Rio. I'm not sure we’ve ever gone to this much trouble to catch one of the more renowne...

With a relatively urgent need to get home (Revenue Canada is not impressed by our world travels) running up against a very understandable desire to avoid as much of a Canadian winter as possible, we looked for a big WOW to wind up the first stage of our world travels as slowly as possible. Flying from Portugal to Toronto via Brazil (not exactly a straight line) seemed to be an appropriate plan especially for that WOW. Carnival in Rio has been on my bucket list fo...

While dropping off our rental car (our hosts in Porto were right- it is the best way to see Portugal), DH handed in the GPS unit while holding her nose and pinching it between her thumb and index finger- apparently she's becoming quite fluent in Portuguese sign language because we immediately got a refund without a word being said. We made our way to our accommodation in the heart of the old town to continue our journey through Portuguese history (from the c...

Since we gave up our homestead in Tottenham, DH, aka She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed, aka The Princess, has been without a castle. And given that royalty without a castle for any significant length of time tend to start wars with everyone around them, it was just about time to find an abode more in keeping with her imagined royal status. Obidos Castle crowns the town of Obidos and now houses guests of a certain pedigree (or at least anyone willing to pay their high rates)...