Having soaked up the sun for a couple of weeks, I have a couple more weeks to show off my tan before it fades. This means getting out as much flesh as possible which is what I did the first weekend I got home.

Here is me being bronzed and quite frankly; a bit slutty.

Boots: public desire. Dress: Tesco

Shorts: Asos. Top: Missguided. Shoes: Boohoo. Belt: River Island

Outfit: Same as above + Zara blazer

I want to be tanned forever. There's only one thing for it. I'm moving to Australia. Bye now.

I have managed to survive two whole weeks back in the real world. It's been tough. I get the post travelling blues really bad and it doesn't help that for the past two years, Sarah has carried on travelling for three more weeks after I get home. Daydreaming of her adventures whilst trying to throw myself back into being a working professional is never good for my emotions.

Sarah headed to Cuba on the day I headed back to London and there is no internet there, so I've not just had to cope with three weeks worth of travel envy; I also haven't been able to speak to my best friend for three weeks! Texts cost a fortune and Whatsapp is out of action until she gets to a wifi spot. I'm sure she's loving not being contactable, but I need to send her random messages about the weird pigeon I just saw or how I've got a pain in my little finger and I think I'm dying. Now I've got to keep this information to myself and it is less than ideal.

For the brief moments I have stopped crying and having a strop, I put together our annual travel video. This was my first adventure with the GoPro and I think it might just be my favourite thing I have ever owned. I want to have it constantly strapped to my head to capture all random moments in life, because it is awesome. I did however film some clips when we had a big night out in Buenos Aires and I had to turn it off because drunk me is probably the most annoying person I've ever come across. I even considered stopping drinking after I watched it. But then I realised I didn't give a shit and poured myself a gin.

Have a watch if you desire by clicking HERE

My new found friend C.C who we met in Buenos Aires introduced me to a word the other day that quite possibly might be my new favourite word. It sums up my feelings perfectly and it's probably my main emotion 99.99% of the time:

Saudade - (n.) a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost; "the love that remains"


Now that is just beautiful. I think it might be time to book the next adventure you know.

There are certain places that I've been in the world that now hold the best memories, simply for the people I met in that specific town or city. Buenos Aires is one of those places for me and I would go back in a heartbeat if I could collect all of the people we met and take them back with me.

We arrived quite late at night and grabbed a taxi to our hostel. We landed to horrific storms and Sarah's plane came in an hour after mine, she turned up looking pretty shell shocked and utterly relieved the plane landed in one piece. There was an electric storm going on outside which I'd never seen before but the whole sky lit up as if it was midday momentarily.

After forty minutes and lots of lightening later, we arrived and proceeded to take the ancient lift up to the sixth floor. I'm pretty sure the lift was from the Titanic and you had to slide two doors open and closed whenever you wanted to use it. Safe.

We checked in and decided to sleep to prepare for a big one the next day. This is when we met two of our roommates, CC and Lewis, who were getting heavily on the booze. They left us to be boring and we slept like a dream until we woke up to even more rain and I knew my tanning days were behind me. That day we decided to chill out, drink all of the Argentinian red wine, eat good steak and go to an Argentinian tango class. The hostel sorted us out and we were booked on for a night of embarrassing dancing that evening.

We braved the weather in the day and headed to Cafe Tortoni for a coffee and some churros. I drank the most incredible iced coffee which was flavoured with cinnamon and orange. I was in heaven. I highly recommend. By the time we got back to the hostel, we decided to get ready for our tango class and wanted to drink alllll of the wine. Argentinian red wine is the best and what better place to drink it in large quantities, than Argentina itself. We roped in Lewis and CC and headed to the wine shop to stock up. Me and Sarah decided to treat ourselves to the good stuff which came to a hefty sum of £3.00. Best place ever.

Our hostel had a pretty awesome rooftop with incredible views of the city, so we headed up with some tunes and some mugs to have a few glasses of vino before we went dancing. A few more guys from New Zealand joined us and we all chatted and laughed as the sun set.

Sarah, myself and Josh from Canada all danced off feeling rather rosy from the wine and went to our tango lesson which was hilarious. We were all rather drunk at this point because after asking Sarah to grab us a GLASS of wine to share before our pick up arrived and she ended up getting a bottle. We'd had about a bottle each by this point before the night had even begun. Dancing was brilliant and terrible at the same time. I was useless but it was fabulous. We all got a certificate at the end so we are now fully graduated tango dancers. Get me to that stage immediately.

After the lesson we were treated to a show and more wine and dinner. The wine was free flowing and the steak was to die for, so by the time we left we had rosy cheeks, red teeth and the drunk giggles. We headed back to our hostel where everyone else were happily drinking away ready for a night out. We of course taught them some tango and got back into more drinking, which escalated quickly. I love nothing more than being in a hostel, drinking with people you've only met that day and feeling like you're a group of life long friends. It's my favourite thing in the world.

After even more wine, we all headed out to a club which I can't really remember much of apart from there was a lot of gin, a lot of dancing and a lot of fun.

It was CC's last night, so shots and toasts were had to end his travels in style. There's nothing worse than the feeling of going home after time away travelling, no matter how long you've been away from home it's never long enough. We made it our mission to make him forget by supplying him with alcohol. I think it momentarily worked. 

After far too much to drink, we all headed back to the hostel to sleep off the gin and wine. Me and Lewis headed up to the rooftop to check out the views of the city at night. This certainly did not dissapoint. Beautiful scenes.

We eventually admitted defeat and headed to sleep for a few hours before being awoken by the horrific hangover that was looming over us. I woke up still drunk and couldn't find my phone which is the worst thing to happen when away, when your phone is also your camera. I had a mope for a bit, ate some food and we settled down for the first nap of the day before heading out to attempt to see some city sights. We were all lying there quietly when there was a faint sound of an iphone ringing. My phone was alive! It was luckily in Lewis' pocket from last night, safe and sound and I was back in my happy but hungover place.

A small nap later, we dragged ourselves out and in convoy headed to the Recoleta Cemetary, which isn't the most uplifting place on a hangover. It took us about 45 minutes to walk there and I thought I may pass out on the regular. It was awesome though, very very grand.

After meandering around trying to act impressed, we gave up on culture and wanted a second nap, so jumped on the bus whilst trying not to be sick. Sarah had caught my cold, so she was struggling with both a hangover and my illness which I felt terribly guilty for. 

When we finally got back to the hostel in one piece, we made ourselves horizontal rapidly and slept off the remaining hangover. Lewis couldn't sleep, so I took one for the team after a small nap and kept him entertained. Because I'm decent like that you see. We planned steak for that evening and everything started to feel better at last.

Once everyone had awoken and felt fresh again, the Kiwi's had to run off to get their 18 hour long bus to Iguassu Falls. Not at all jealous. Myself, Sarah, Josh and Lewis headed out to exchange some dollars to pesos and ate our weight in steak. It really did melt away all hangover and all worries, apart from the fact I was heading home tomorrow but I tried not to think about this minor inconvenience (Nooooooooooooooo!)

Feeling utterly full and tired due to overeating, we headed back home via the shop because the crazy bastards Lewis and Josh decided they were heading out again that night. They stocked up on beers and we all chilled in our room whilst the boys drank and introduced us to some new tunes and told tales of their previous adventures. Sarah was struggling with the cold so nodded off and I wasn't far behind her. Lewis and Josh headed to the kitchen to get drinking with the others but it didn't last long as I heard Lewis get into bed at 10.30ish. Couldn't handle it. Weakling.

I awoke to more storms on my last morning which mirrored my feelings perfectly. So depressing. Me and Sarah headed out for a stroll and a coffee, where we reminisced and laughed about our South American adventure which I didn't want to end. We fitted so much into such a short amount of time, but I want to travel forever.

We went back to the hostel for the final time and waited for our taxi to the airport. We said our goodbyes to everyone and got in the Titanic lift with a heavy heart and my suitcase packed up for home. I had another unforgettable trip away, met some gorgeous people and had some truly unforgettable times. Getting to spend two solid weeks with my best friend is such a rare but amazing treat and I spent the whole journey home feeling completely gutted but also very lucky that I get the chance to travel so much. 

Until next time, world. You've been utterly mind blowing once again and I've fallen even more in love. 

Today I woke up absolutely dying a death of cold which was very unfair. Colds hit me hard and I look like I've been crying for 2 days straight which is a strong look. Sarah was a champ and went to buy me some pills and an industrial sized packet of tissues and I soldiered through the day. Obviously still moaning about how shit I felt, sorry Clifford!!

We were leaving in the afternoon to head to São Paulo for one night and a day stopover before my final port of call, Buenos Aires. In the morning we missioned to see the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls which did not dissapoint. It's much quicker to do than the Argentinan side as it's only a 1.5k trail whereas yesterday, we walked 10k. If I had to chose one side to visit if time was short, it would be Argentina purely because you see the falls from every angle possible and it's mind blowing. However, if you have time it is SO worth doing the Brazil side as you get to walk down a platform which takes you into the spray of the falls and you get absolutely drenched. It's so much fun and it certainly cleared my cold for a few minutes. 

So impressive! Walls of water with countless rainbows all around. Somewhat magical. With drenched feet and feeling pretty damn cold, we headed back to lie by the pool in our hostel for half an hour to warm up before we headed for our brief trip to São Paulo. I was feeling pretty ropey so was looking forward to an early one to recuperate. Two flights and a taxi later, we arrived at our VERY strange hostel. We were in a 6 bed dorm and luckily we were the only ones staying in there as I've never seen a room so small. We had to somehow drag our bags up a ridiculously small windy staircase, which didn't feel secure. How 6 people and our backpacks would fit in this room, I do not know. But anyway, we luckily had the room to ourselves which was a treat and settled down for an epic sleep. 

I woke up feeling fresh as a daisy and we decided to sunbathe by the pool for the day to soak up the last of the sun on my holiday. This however, was not possible. The pool was a small square of water, full of rubble and trees and the walls were so high that no sun would ever creep in there. It was like the place Mufasa tells Simba to avoid. Terrible. 

We admitted defeat and decided to find a park to lay in instead. Couldn't find one anywhere could we. São Paulo has parks that are more like small forests. No places to sit in the sun. We finally found a small park type place but it wasn't grass, it was concrete but we had been wandering around for too long so plonked ourselves down and pretended it was ideal.

Half an hour passed and we were soaking up some sun at last, but then we got bloody kicked out for having a bikini top on! We couldn't understand a word he was saying and I'm still not completely sure what the problem was, but we decided to hide our obviously hideous top halves and go get a coffee instead. Starbucks saved the day and we sat eating chocolate, drinking coffee and chatting for the rest of the day before catching another flight to ARGENTIIIIIINA!! Three days left and the last stop on my travels so let's do this, bitches. Bring. It. On.

Woke up at 5am after the Spanish witches had ANOTHER mothers meeting at 2.30am for a good hour. So I made lots of noise to make up for it because I'm bitter and a bitch. After three flights and three ham and cheese sandwiches courteousy of Tam Airways, we landed in Iguassu Falls. The weather was beautiful which made me terribly happy as I thought we had finished with the sun this trip. 

Iguassu is the weirdest place ever. We hopped on the bus to our hostel and gazed out the window for 40 minutes at the sights and scenery which was like going back in time to an era I can't even put my finger on. Shop names are painted on the front and everything seemed a bit deserted - all very, very strange. I think it's only tourists enter this town as it seems like the most depressing place to live. Rather eerie.

After managing to suss out which stop to get off and having walked around looking like proper lost tourists (a regular look we adopt) we saw the front of our hostel which didn't dissapoint! We were expecting shipping containers and shipping containers we got. The hostel is called Tetris and on the front door it said 'to enter: press start and begin' which was pretty cool. Inside was amazing, it was really modern and even had a swimming pool built with a shipping container in the outside area. We were handed a free Caiprihana voucher which was just the ticket, popped our bikinis on and spent the afternoon lapping up the mid afternoon sun. Tetris played some awesome music, so we were in our absolute element after a long days travelling.

We spoke to a few people around the pool who had signed up to the Argentina Iguassu tour the following day so decided to do the same. They pick you up from the hostel, drive you there and take you around the best views of the falls so it was a no brainer.

We headed to bed which was easier said than done. The rooms were so small and apparently shipping containers have zero ventilation, so I thought we might die of heat. Sarah, who always gets cold, was overheating at the serious rate so decided to soak her towel and use it as a duvet. Innovative problem solver that one. I woke up the next morning to her with an actual cover on as she somehow got cold in the middle of the night... Crazy bitch.

We got up and ready to attack the free breakfast with force and all piled into our ride. Our tour guide took our passports and we were off to the Argentine border to quickly cross and go jump in waterfalls for the day. However, the systems were down at the border and our tour guide got us in trouble as she didn't have the right paperwork for the van (you had ONE job Vivienne) so we had to sit in no mans land for an hour whilst a new, certified van swooped us up and took us on our way.

Eventually we made it and started on our 10k trail around the park. There were signs everywhere warning us of coaties (which look like cute fluffy animals but can actually rip your face off), jaguars (good) and snakes. Reallllly feeling safe. We were also shown spiders along the way which really made me jump for joy, I tell you now.

I got over the fact that I could be killed by a wild animal at any minute when I first set my eyes on the falls. Truly stunning. We came on a day with exceptional weather and where the spray of the falls was in the air, there were countless rainbows around. Full rainbows, mini rainbows, double rainbows... All the rainbows you can imagine. It looked beautiful and as we got further into the day, Vivienne took us to more mind blowing spots with even better views.

I didn't think I would ever be that impressed by a waterfall, but it's sheer size was overwhelming and it went on for as far as the eye can see.

We stopped off for five minutes in the courtyard where there was a lady completely surrounded by coaties. She seemed completely unphased and carried on eating her sandwich with no care what so ever. She literally had about 12 on her and suddenly one lept at her face, causing them all to freak out and start fighting with each other. Me and one of the guys, Phil, were terribly freaked out and pretty much handed over our belongings to these vicious animals and ran for the hills. Terrifying.

After that horrific escapade, Vivienne said that the coaties hang around until about 5pm when the tourists start to leave and then go and hide because that's when the jaguars come out and see them as food. I'm not being funny, but surely jaguars could wake up early and eat us? I wasn't taking the risk and headed for the water. They can't swim I'm sure. Definitely can actually but I had no choice.

Our final stop of the day was called 'the devils throat' which was a 15 minute trek over the river to the ultimate view spot of the falls. You could see right over the edge and it looked over a solid, super fast flowing wall of water for what seemed like miles and miles. You couldn't see the bottom of the waterfall because the power of the water was causing such a splash, the mist and spray was being thrown right up to the top. It was beautiful and didn't look at all real. Really, really stunning.

After soaking up the views and taking a few minutes to talk about how awesome it was, we hopped on an open sided train back to our van. On the train we drove through a few clouds of what looked like leaves all around us, but as we got closer and right into it; it turned out to be hundreds of butterflies in one massive group swarming around the place in a colourful haze. Beautiful.

Luckily we all made it back to the van without losing any limbs or lives to a jaguar/coatie/snake/spider/all of the above. We then headed to our final spot which was a place where you could see three countries from one point. You could see Argentina (where we were stood), Brazil and Paraguay. We should have popped across to Paraguay to have visited three countries in one day, but the bar was waiting and I needed to feed Sarah before she turned into a gremlin.

We ended the day at our hostel bar, with achy feet and a camera full of beautiful pictures. Chatting to two brilliant guys from Birmingham, we saw off a few Caiprihana's and laughed until the Brazilian heat turned to evening chill. What a stunning day all round. 

Today was our day to be tourists, soak up some sun and get really rather drunk in Lapa. Friday nights in Lapa are mental apparently. They call it 'Lapa Loca' which I think just means crazy Lapa. It's terribly exciting and we are ready to drink allll of the gin.

We decided to sign up to the day tour with our hostel which takes you to Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain and also some other bits and bobs we've already done like the colourful stairs, but it was the most convenient way to see Christ and Sugarloaf. We had the morning to go drink coconuts and sunbathe on our favourite spot at Ipanema and we got so lucky with the weather. As I was really, really burnt in the face and didn't want it to fall off, I had to create some sort of turban/face mask to hide myself from the rays. Sexy lady.

After hopefully becoming a good couple of shades darker, we went and got ready for Christ! We were really lucky with the weather to go up and see him as a couple of guys we met went up when it was cloudy and only got photos of the bottom of him. Which made a hilarious photo but I would not have been impressed.

We drove seriously high up and the sights were absolutely incredible. You could see the whole of the city and just how huge it was! Then we got our first glimpse of Christ and it was so awesome. Normally with attractions that are supposed to be absolutely mind blowing, I feel a bit like Karl Pilkington: underwhelmed. But Christo was epic. We became full on tourists and got out my selfie stick to get proper angles. Note that I'm not a selfie stick user on the regular, but there are times it helps. I promise. Don't judge.

Isn't he a sexy bastard! Not sure if you can stay that about Christ, but I just did.

Next up we headed to Sugar Loaf mountain as the sun set. Saw this beaut en route. There he iiiiis!

It was absolutely freezing and the clouds were rolling in like they always did in the evening, so it did not look like it was going to be a success. We were quite miserable at this point as it was cold and we couldn't see a pissing thing, but when the cable car came out of the clouds at the top, we could see everything and it was so beautiful. The whole city lit up with Christ the Redeemer glowing super bright in the distance. So, so pretty! 

The pictures don't quite do it justice, but with the clouds rolling below the mountain and all of the lights shining through, it was stunning. You can just about make out Christ in the top left of the photos.

Going down in the cable car was like the beginning of a horror story though as it was super dark and super misty. Jurassic Park all over again. We survived though and headed back feeling content and in our super giggly mood that makes me cry and my stomach hurt. Perfect start to a night on the booze! 

We got back to the hostel and were told there was a huge bucket of free Caiprihana in the garden for us which was music to our ears and we equipped ourselves with straws and got straight on it. We made a bit of an effort with our appearance which was a nice change. Actually straightened my hair... What a treat. And then went hardcore on the 'skinny bitches' which involve a lot of fresh lime, vodka and fizzy water. Refreshing and lethal.

After a few too many, we all jumped on the bus to Lapa which took forever. The buses in Brazil are mental and they drive like lunatics. I don't think suspension is a thing and mixed with an hour journey and lots of vodkas, I needed a wee desperately. We had to make a pit stop at a petrol station where they actually charge you for the pleasure of urinating. 

Anyway, Lapa really was crazy. There's people everywhere just drinking and partying in the streets, bars that are scattered all around selling cheap booze and just drunk people on a rampage. We all stopped off at a street bar for a couple (whiskey was involved. Vom) and then headed to a club which was a pretty scary experience. We were getting grabbed left right and centre by overly confident men. I don't know what they thought they would achieve, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. Luckily after a few bevvies I can hold my own so I was grabbing Sarah back and the guys we were with were being our bodyguards. Beside that, it was a great night. So much booze, so much dancing and too much fun. We got in at 5.30am and had a couple of hours sleep before dying quietly on the beach the next day. I say quietly, my hangovers are not quiet. I am very vocal about every feeling and emotion. There's a few when I feel vulnerable.

I thought I was going to throw up caipirinha all day but luckily I narrowly avoided it. I napped on Thiago for the afternoon before heading to bed ridiculously early in preparation for getting up at 5am again to head to Iguassu Falls! We're staying in a hostel made of shipping containers called Tetris, which sounds pretty damn cool to me.