We spent 2 weeks in Goa and left very very reluctantly. We gathered many impressions, formed a lot of opinions, and collected quite a few tips to share if you want to plan a trip there.
But first, this is how we popped..
..with two little bunnies…
Ok I am not going to lie. It was NOT fun to travel with a toddler and a newborn in tow. Already before the trip, I was having an existential crisis. Why were we traveling? What was our objective of going to Goa? By the time we reached Mumbai I had 10 more grey hair. By the time we reached Goa, 31 hours into traveling, with our 80 kg of luggage (two of which were wailing by this time), we were too numb to question our existence or theirs. 😛
Tip#1- number of adults should be > number of kids
But the next morning when we walked to the beach on the little red dirt path surrounded by bougainvillea flowers, cashew trees, and the calls of nightangles and crows and bulbuls and a thousand other birds, life felt good again.
This was Varca beach. Almost white sand and very very few people. Very chill. Baby Ne loved it here. We loved it too. So we came to this beach every morning for the next few days! We would swim in the warm sea (27-28 dg C) and dig holes in the sand, have a fresh lime soda and a pineapple juice, sometimes two!
Around midday everyday we would rush back to our apartment because the sand would become lava. But each evening, we would head out to the sea again, and watch incredible sunsets, each different from the other day.
The beaches and the crowds they attracted were quite different from one another too. Beaches in North Goa were much more crowded and hence dirtier.
Tip #2 if you want a calmer holiday, stay in one of the South Goan villages. However, it is easier to buy alcohol in these villages than milk. Plus it’s far from everything, especially the new airport Mapo (Manohar international) where we were redirected to (what a nightmare 😵💫). Life is more happening in north Goa, if life = party.
One of the evenings, we wound our way down to Cola village in the South. We stopped at the Cabo de Rama fort but were politely turned away. Why? It closes as 1730 and it was 1732. After bickering for a while amongst ourselves (who closes at 1730 if the sunset is at 1845.. the govt. is just sadist, etc etc), we popped to this cliff view point and it just took my breath away. Literally. So much litter – broken glass, plastic bags, paper plates, biscuit wrappers. You name it, it was there. But it was so darn beautiful!!
Tip: there is a hotel called Cabo Serai here. Seems at the end of the world but look at this beach, look at these backwaters!
Tip- there are no reliable taxi companies in Goa. So save the number of your taxi driver who picked you up at the airport/ train station. Here is ours- Ganesh 00 91 97652 62512, very nice car and driver.
Accommodation– we first stayed at a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a washing machine. It was a bit raw but it was just fantastic! Mostly because it felt so real.. unlike our next accommodation.. ok ok it was great because we had help from some elves. Remember the #adults vs #kids rule?
Next we stayed at the Taj Exotica, perhaps the best rated hotel in Goa. It is a super luxury five star resort, sprawling over 56 acres of meticulously landscaped land. In fact it’s so stupidly large, that one has to take a buggy to go from any point A to B, so large that everyone ends up staying their whole holiday within in. A tropical paradise/ island in a world of chaos, but a golden jail, and the gold wouldn’t rub off on me – this is at least what I thought..
Apparently Amitabh Bacchan (THE most famous Indian actor, famous across 4 generations of Indians!) stays at the Taj Exotica twice a year and his son, Abhishek and daughter in law, Aishwarya Rai (former Miss World) even eat at the restaurant! But I wonder does she also wear a funny frock costume?
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Now it’s time for the next leg of our journey, but we leave with a very heavy heart. Goa is soooo green, so calm, and so beautiful but it is hard to ignore the amount of litter lining the streets and the beaches. While staying at the apartment, we realised it’s not just the tourists who have the YOLGO (you live in Goa only once) attitude and litter but also the locals.
One can find plastic straws at the beaches, which is really sad because it is such an avoidable problem. When we would ask for our drinks without straws, people would look at us strangely, like “what an absurd request”.
Despite all of this, we loved Goa. The people we met were all forward looking and we have full faith that Goa will eventually surpass the trash problem, just like Indore and other cities in India did.
bunnygoespoppoppop 