Goa....!

Goa has to be my favourite holiday destination (atleast in India!). I love to travel, love the mountains, nature, so this is not just a trivial statement. There is something about the air of the place that just completely relaxes me, and the stress of city life seems just like distant thought.

I have been traveling to Goa regularly over the past 15 years. It helped that my aunt stays there! It had been over 3 years since I had last been there, so when my wife suggested we head there for a long weekend, I started looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, it looked like most of Mumbai and Pune had the same idea, so it was a bit difficult to make the travel and hotel bookings. Even though it was summer, (and the off season), we discovered that hotels had increased their tariffs only for this weekend. We were actually hoping to stay in one of the 5 star resorts, but had to scale down our expectations.

We took a Volvo bus on the evening of Friday, the 28th of April. It was quite comfortable, actually, though a bit long. An added bonus was getting to watch 'Bunty Aur Babli'!

We were booked at Heritage Village, at Arossim beach. Our first impressions were not great, the place looked small, and so was the room. However, the place was neat and colourful, with a reasonably sized pool in the centre. However, the beach was a 5 minute walk away. The beach was deserted, and clean. But numerous sign boards warning of the dangers of the sea dampened our enthusiasm for venturing much into the sea.

Being summer, most of the beach side shacks were shut, and that, finally, was the biggets disappointment of the trip. A trip to Goa is not complete without a few hours at a beach side shack, having delicious local cuisine. Our hotel was all-inclusive, and the food was standard, buffet spread. By the last day of our stay, we had had enough of the food, and actually had a very late, delicious lunch at the airport restaurant!

Looking back, the trip was peaceful, but we really could have been anywhere in the country. We decided that we shall drive down for our next trip, and stay at a smaller place closer to the beach and all the action.