This is about my last year's Goa trip. It was me and my friend having a normal conversation on the phone and suddenly the Goa plan came in. I didn't take it seriously thinking my friend may change her opinion later. But it wasn't the case. She was serious and so I. I started bugging my other friends to help me with the plan. And they helped with all the required information.
Now it's time for Hotel, Flights & Activity bookings.
Back then there was a good discount on Hotel bookings through OYO. It was flat 70% off if I correctly remember. Combined with the payment gateway offers, it was a DEAL! And for flights, I purchased Cleartrip gift cards at discount, that helped me save a little. And the same for the activities.
This is how the tour was: It was an 8-day tour. 6 days were dedicated to the South part of Goa and 2 days for the North Goa.
Hotel: The hotel was in Margao. One of the decent hotels I've ever been to. It had almost everything. The hotel staffs were very friendly. And they used to make delicious breakfast dishes.
Bike Rental: I could have booked it through Cleartrip but my hotel was in South Goa, whereas the Cleartrip agent was from North Goa. Someone from the hotel staff helped me with a bike rental locally.
Roads: The roads were empty mostly. It was fun to ride a bike there. But again, I am a slow rider. (~ 50KMPH) My friend was like: Someone on bicycle rides faster than you. We even went to the North-Goa on the bike.
Drinks: Only Beers. And that, only the mini bottles. My friend used to shout after a drink, which made me reduce it to once every alternate day.
South Goa experience: Someone from TripAdvisor helped/guided me with the names of places to visit nearby. I visited one after one. Here is the list of beaches I visited in the South:
1. Palolem
2. Agonda
3. Cola
4. Patnem
5. Cobode Rama Fort
6. Kakolem Beach
7. Benaulium
8. Colva
9. Varca
10. Majorda
Most of the south beaches are out of the crowd. But the beach I liked the most is Kakolem beach. You must take the stairs for going up and down but trust me it all worth it. And if you prefer privacy it's your place. We've been to a dolphin trip with butterfly/honeymoon beach (it was from Agonda if I correctly remember)
North Goa experience: It was far from the South; I was already tired of the bike journey. So could cover only two beaches in two days.
1. Calangute
2. Candolim
It was a good experience with the resort called The Park Calangute. We made new friends there while going for a parasailing ride. But sadly, that was our last day, otherwise could have joined them.
Overall Goa experience: It was up to the mark! Everything was as per the tour-plan. No regrets. As I said earlier, it was a sudden trip. So, I had very little time for tour planning. Yes, when it comes to tour planning, I behave like El professor from Money Heist. I plan every possible thing and keep a backup plan.
But recently someone told me "Try to stay away from too much planning as otherwise the surprise element and charm of the place gets lost". So, I am working on changing this habit.
Here are some of the Odd + Adventure incidents:
1. We fell from the bike once, nothing serious, a small swelling on my hand. There was a tea stall nearby. That aunty applied some Haldi on the cuts and it did its magic. 🙂
2. On the last day of our tour, when we were coming to the hotel after returning the bike, a random drunk guy on road was singing a song and following us. We changed route and he was still behind us. We then entered a shop, asked rates of items, bought nothing, came out of the shop and he wasn't there anymore. 😛
3. The day before my flight, I forgot my charger cable in the cab. That phone had all the tickets and all. My charger pin was unique so the hotel front desk couldn't help. Luckily, the cab driver came at midnight and returned it to me. That was a lifesaver. 😃
4. Remember the evening I fell from the bike? my phone battery was also dead. And my friend didn't let me drive because my finger was bleeding a little. So, she was driving without GPS because her phone(airtel) had no signals there. We had no pin to swap the sim. Go anywhere in Goa, you will get Jio signals there. There were slopes on the road with almost no light apart from our bike light on the route. Thanks to her good memory, she remembered the routes from where we came, but still, after 2-3 wrong routes, we finally reached our hotel. Locals were helpful like I said earlier. But trust me it was adventurous. 😄
5. On the last day, we left for the airport early but was busy having our lunch at a food court inside the airport. And then we noticed our name being announced by the air hostess. We rushed as fast as we can. The guys at Indigo were helpful. They requested the people in the queue to co-operate. But the hand baggage machine was working damn slowly. I somehow managed to take our handbags, laptop, my phone and then rushed to the second floor. But meanwhile, she remembered that I haven't collected her phone from the baggage counter. She quickly went there, took it, and came back to me. The Indigo people stamped the boarding passes in a lightning speed and directed us to the gate. The gate was again on a down floor. We had to run again. I never ran like that in the past 1 year or something. We were the last passenger out there. We laughed badly after boarding. Even the co-passengers couldn't help but join us in laughing. One more adventurous moment on the list. 😄
Apart from the bike rental, we used the Goa miles app for cab booking since Ola/Uber is not available there. I compared the rate with the local taxi, it's cheaper on Goa-Miles.
When it comes to Savings, Thanks to Swiggy, saved a lot of money on foods. Thanks to OYO, booked hotels at such a discounted price. Thanks to Woohoo, for the discount on Cleartrip Gift Card & Cleartrip local activities voucher.
Here are some of the pics: