Govaaaa!!!

'A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles.'- Tim Cahill

It is not a sudden trip nor a planned trip. The Goa plan was first mooted by Arun Kumar. One fine day, I got a call from Kolkata and suddenly we all agreed and booked the tickets. But unlike Delhi tour last time, this time only Flight tickets and Room for one day was booked. And all were visiting Goa for the very first time. So everyone had different opinions from looking at the website.

This time, the plan includes myself, Yogaraj, Vairamuthu, Arun Kumar and my cousin Vignesh who would join in Bangalore. Rohan & Rajmon could not make it out. 

In the initial stage when the plan was shaping out, there were considerable delay observed due to the financial year end closure and I am away from them, it made the consensus to be delayed. That effected in increase of the flight tickets abnormally. So the three day Goa tour was shortened to two days with Bangalore agenda on the third day. The Goa tour was also made via Bangalore as this fare was comparatively cheaper. 

The Goa plan was mooted on 14th and 15th April, 2017 and on 16th April, 2017 it was Bangalore. My flight was at 13th night, 10.30 pm and they were also in the same timings from Kolkata. Our flight would reach the Bangalore at 01.00 am next day and the subsequent early morning we would leave for Goa from there. My cousin who is working at Bangalore would join at the Airport. Another important event was of meeting my friend Rohan who is travelling to his home. He also had early morning flight. He is getting married and so we were asking for party at the Bangalore airport. 

My flight from Ahmedabad was initially took off by late of 30 minutes, however i reached Bangalore airport before them. I waited at the airport and after ten minutes they have arrived. It was a nice meeting them after a gap of seven months but I didn't feel like meeting them after a long gap. We went outside the airport to come back again inside as my cousin is waiting outside.

My cousin is working at HP company at Bangalore. He is there at Bangalore for last six years. Unlike me he is very strict in certain things. However we two would glued together always. He was waiting outside the airport and he was actually travelling for the first time in flight. Our Goa flight is of Air Asia which have departure time at 6.00 in the morning. But I made my cousin to come to airport at 1.00 am so that we could spend time together. He was asking how the feel would be when travelling in Flight. He said many things which he heard from his friends about the experience of flight travel.

We all entered the airport and we took the flight ticket from Vending machine. We could not select the seats from the machine. To our luck we all got the seat together from 24A to 24F. There was competition started to arise for who would take the window seat. The seat 24A was alloted to Arun Kumar and he is also noted to say he is taking the flight travel for the second time. Later, we roamed the airport and clicked pictures. We went to KFC and it was noticed that it would be open at only 4.00 am. I was feeling sleepy initially but the friends there made me not to sleep and the time also went great in being together and chatting. At sharp 4.00 am, we went to KFC and found that there is already huge line standing for the bill. It is Rohan who is sponsoring and he was also in a hurry to take the flights as his flight time is at 4.45 am. 

Misplaced!!

Later, we dropped Rohan in his gate and moved to our boarding Gate. The window seat topic came again once again. Arun was saying that he hold the window seat ticket and he is eligible to sit at the window. He took out his ticket and shockingly the ticket was of Kolkata-->Bangalore which was completed. He have misplaced the ticket somewhere it seems. The boarding started and we told the Flight attendant about the missing of boarding pass. The flight attendant informed only him to stay at the place and requested others to board the flight. We were teasing him and asking him to take the next flight to Kolkata or start to tour Bangalore. 

After a long time, Arun was allowed to board the flight. I am travelling in Air Asia for the first time and the air hostess were much helpful and beautiful than the other airlines. In the flight, it was said Hot water was poured on Arun and I am the only person who drank coffee and others were sleeping like anything. We reached Goa in the morning 7.15 am, we found that the place of our stay "Calangute Beach" is some 45 kms from the airport. We checked out the OLA/ UBER and found that both the service was not allowed in Goa UT. 

The airport looks like just another tier-II city, it doesn't please us. When we came outside the airport we felt the Fish smell and it was not a pleasant one. We took the taxi - Innova to our place of stay "Calangute Grande". On the way, the places looked just like village and the terrain was hilly with near to sea shore. It looked bizarre to everyone of us as in some place we could find that big ships were very near to the shore. 

Calangute Grande

I have booked this hotel through search from Internet, it is one of the cheapest 3 star hotel in the surroundings. While studying the reviewing, I noticed that the waiter of the hotel is of more helpful and there are many praises about her. On saying this, all of us got little excited. We had one problem in getting the rooms there. Our check-in timings is from 12.00 am, however we reached in the morning and all the rooms were occupied and we could not get rooms in the morning. However, the hotel had wash room and the lock room to keep our bags. We deposited and refreshed and had a walk to Calangute Beach. 

I followed my Heart and it led me to the Calangute Beach

On first look, the beach looks like the normal ones. But it was morning 9.00 am only but still we could find the Bar shops, activities going on the beach. The tour guide offered us 4 beach activities for Rs. 3000/-, the amount was brought to Rs. 3000/- after a long negotiation. The activities are Motor Boat Ride, Bumper Ride, Banana Ride, Parasailing with water dip. I had hesitation about whether i should go for the ride initially. But later, I convinced my mind and joined in it. The Motor Boat Ride was very nice and in the places of waves, the riding was thrill. The bumper ride consists of sitting on ballon by two persons and it is tied to the beach. The activities was superb and with little fear. I skipped the Banana Ride as it involves capsizing the boat in the middle of the sea. The parasailing was great and I didn't feel any new thing as I have done this type of thing during my MTC at Amity days.

After the beach activities, we were in very much hunger. We too inquired about going for Scuba Diving next day and we informed that we will tell them by evening that day. On the way from Beach, we went to a decent hotel and tasted food & fish including goan type. We checked in to our room at 2.00 pm and everyone felt asleep soon after little refresh. 

In the evening, we have planned for Deltin Jaqk. The Deltin Jaqk is a casino ship located near Panjim. The ship costs is neither costly or cheap. It is reasonable, Initially everyone had confusion whether we should check-in to this place as it is completely new to everyone. While in the mid of the sleep, my cousin received call from the company and asking for the details of the persons attending. My cousin in his half-sleep was talking something unusual. I am sure that the other person on the phone should have felt terribly confused. 

“All the magicians have 52 mutual friends.” ― Amit Kalantri

We took taxi to the place of our CASINO play. The place was marvelous, only those wear decent dress where allowed into the play. The ship consists of Casino games, Drinks and Restaurant. The Restaurant was opened till 1.00 am, the drinks was allowed till 12.00 noon and the Casino games were available till the morning. In the ship, one of our friend tired the sipping of drinks and others had a great laugh with his speaks. We had a great time tasting the food and later we played the games according the coupon provided to us. We also won Rs. 6000/- by playing the coupon offered to us. We left the place at 2.00 am in the next morning.

Final Day @ Goa

We woke up in the morning comfortably, check-out the hotel and had brunch in the hotel restaurant. The food was great and the waiter was very amazing and friendly. We hired a taxi and to tour South Goa. We went to the places of Se Cathedral, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church and a beach. We took photographs and in the evening we boarded the bus from Mapusa to Bangalore. The bus is sleeper facility. However, the bus driving was not good and we all felt tired. In the middle of the night, the policemen checked our bags to ensure whether we were carrying any liquor with us. 

No Metro city has a magical weather like Namma Bangalore

On reaching Bangalore, all of us went to my cousin home. On taking the refresh we moved to HAL airport museum which is located nearby. My cousin could not join as he has some other work. Later, we went to the movie "Kadambam", my school friend "Santooosh" joined over there. Later, we went tasted Dindigul Briyani in the evening. It was Anandraman wish to taste and have Briyani. We felt the hotel was valuable and the food tasted better. Later in the evening my friends from Kolkata took the flight to their place. I left my cousin place at night after dinner to catch the early morning flight to my place.

A conclusion is the place where you get tired of thinking

Overall, the tour was just mind relaxing and thundering. It made all of us to come together and had an amazing time. Not to forget, I learnt many lessons from my cousin which will be of very worthy one. Waiting for again a great tour like this..:)

Goa Expenses