As Rio Carnival approaches, Marketing Manager Jenny Powles reveals how easily the fantasy of taking part in the world's largest and most exuberant celebration can turn into a travel nightmare when attempting to wing it rather than booking in advance. Having learned the hard way that Carnival is one thing that really does require proper planning, she looks back on a rather stressful couple of days...
A long time ago (well at least in a time before I worked for the experts at Journey Latin America), I made a rather disastrous decision to fulfil my lifelong ambition to visit Rio Carnival – disastrous because I was going to be away for five weeks and had decided not to book any accommodation for my trip before leaving the UK.
My reasoning was that having spent many years travelling the world by the seat of my pants and arriving in various destinations without any idea of where I was going to stay, this solid travelling model would surely work perfectly well for my impending trip to Brazil. Oh, how wrong I was...
So, having arrived a week before Carnival was due to start and found myself a nice little hotel in Copacabana, I happily spent a few days relaxing on the beach, eating, seeing the sights and not thinking about where I would stay for the weekend. By the Wednesday I decided I should probably start looking for something as my hotel was booked up from Friday, when Carnival would begin. So I obliviously set off for the nearest internet cafe and started looking up hotel numbers and phoning around (dear reader, please note: I don’t speak Portuguese so was getting by with a mix of Italian, French and very bad Spanish mixed together with a spot of English for good measure – surely if i jammed together that many European languages they would understand at least a couple of words, no? No.).
Two days later I was still there. Virtually crying with frustration. A helpful chap behind the counter at the phone booth took pity on me and advised that I try and buy a tent and sleep on the beach (not recommended!). By this time I had few options, having called what felt like every hotel and guesthouse in Brazil and having visited all the travel agents in the vicinity of Copacabana (I was prepared to fly ANYWHERE that had a free room). So I accepted that a tent might be the only way forward, and with a heavy heart started into the city centre to try and find one. But I had no luck there either – all the shops were closing in preparation for the big 4-day holiday weekend... and I must have been the only person in Brazil not excited about it.
At this point I decided I would just have to sleep in the airport for four days: oh joy... not the Carnival experience l I had anticipated. On the way back to my hotel I found myself wandering into an apartment block next door to where I was staying. I don't know what prompted me to go in but stuck on the foyer wall was an advert for a short-term let over Carnival weekend. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I called the lady immediately, negotiated a (very expensive) fee and was moved in promptly the next morning – by the skin of my teeth things had worked out! However, I had lost two days of my holiday, aged about five years and spent half my holiday money on four nights' accommodation. Fiasco!
And you know what the moral of this story is – learn some Portuguese before you go, oh and book through a reputable tour operator who will probably give you great advice about not travelling to Brazil during the biggest event of the year with nowhere to stay!