Monday 14th December:

Many days to remember on this trip, today was a day to forget. Neither of us in a great frame of mind, mostly driven by the value for money, or lack of it from The Belmond Hotel; our meal last night costing not far shy of £100. We checked out before breakfast and were asked if we had enjoyed our stay. to which we replied Yes & No. Great hotel, fantastic location, very friendly staff, but overpriced, particularly the restaurant, and on top of that very poorly organised service.

As if to prove our point Lorna's ordered eggs never arrive, and although you can get champagne or Buck's Fizz free with your breakfast, you have to pay for a bottle of water, now that's taking the piss; I just bloody hate being taken for a ride.

Transfers are on time, but the plane is delayed an hour, and we are given the fright of our lives when we think Sue & Dennis have not got on the plane. Is this the Rio flight I ask, yes is the reply, but our friends are supposed to be in row 28 and it's empty. The flight attendant puts a call out for Mr & Mrs Carter, and we find they are sitting up the front, having been called before going through the departure gate and told row 28 has technical problems, the cushions have been removed, probably because someone puked on them on the inbound flight.

We get separate rides into Copacabana, only to find the Sofitel has not managed to resolve the cancelled room for Sue & Dennis. Our timing is good however, because Mohammed is the Duty Manager, and he's raring to solve our conundrum, which in the end he does, getting all of us transferred down to Caesar Park, a sister hotel of The Sofitel. He explains he is sitting on -19 rooms for the next day, so many other problems need to be resolved. We are never to know what the standard of our room would have been, especially as we're told we both have upgrades at Caesar Park.

Caesar Park flatters to deceive and although it's had a coat of paint, in fact our floor reeks of paint, the rest of the room is shabby, the bathroom is shabby and the safe doesn't work. Lorna makes friends with Isabel and we get a move, a little better, but with a stunning view looking down Ipanema Beach. We dine in the hotel restaurant, at half the cost of the Belmond, and with better service.

Anyway we're settled back into Rio after a trying day; at least the weather is fabulous and so is the outlook for tomorrow.