We’ve talked about it for many years, started planning a couple of years ago, planned properly last year, threw the plan out of the window in December when some silly cow bust her shoulder, but we set off on on our world travels on time. On 8th January we boarded the 08:55 flight from London Gatwick to the new North Goa (GOX) airport, on Qatar Airways via a short stop in Doha.

Both flights were very full, the seats very uncomfortable and the legroom non-existent so by the time we landed at 0235, local time, we were glad to stretch our legs. Even if it was by standing in long queues at immigration. All worth it to find our twelve month multi-entry visa form was accepted and exchanged for that first visa stamp in our passports.

Baggage reclaim was somewhat tense – Steve had equipped our bags with Apple AirTags so we could track them.  His was showing near the plane, Debbie’s nowhere in range!  Still in Doha or Gatwick? Sensibly there were flip flops and beachwear in the hand luggage but what if it were lost forever?  Do they even sell massive bras in India?  Would M&S deliver??  Not to worry – both bags arrived. It seems that rucksacks are kept back until the end and then sent through to the luggage carousel on trays.

In the taxi by 4am for the 2-3 hour journey south.  In India they drive on the left side of the road, and the right, and in the middle. Sometimes all at once! The roads were surprisingly busy because people start work as early as 5am.

The ATMs at the airport weren’t working, with someone complaining their card had been swallowed but our driver said not to worry, he could stop at a cashpoint on the way. In fact we tried three, with different banks, but none of them would give us any cash. That was a bit of a problem because you can’t take currency into India, you have to get it when you arrive… so how to pay our helpful taxi driver? Fortunately he was happy to take UK cash.

He dropped us at our hotel in Patnem (Crystal Goa Emerald Edition) shortly after 6am, half past midnight UK time, and after two days on the road we just wanted to sleep. As the hotel was a bargain £37.50 a night, we had decided not to mess about trying to get an early check in and just booked the room for the night before so it was ready for us to crash out. We slept until 2pm.

This hotel was a stop-gap, booked at the last minute when we changed our plans and decided to skip staying in North Goa for a few days. We were able to bring our arrival in Palolem forward by a couple of days so just needed something for the first night. The bonus was that it had a pool so Debbie was able to do her physio exercises in the water. They were also willing to exchange some dollars we had left over from Vegas, solving our immediate cash-flow issues.

Palolem

A short taxi ride brought us to Palolem beach, where we will be for 8 nights, staying at the Palm Forest resort. The directions were a bit vague; “get the taxi to drop you at the end of the road and WhatsApp us and we will send someone“. It worked OK though and two guys appeared, took our bags and led us along sandy paths between other buildings to our resort, which is a collection of comfortable wooden huts set between the palm trees, half way between the road and the beach. Now we have been here a few days we have learnt which paths lead to which beach-front restaurants, and that the sunbeds provided by the restaurants are free, on the assumption that you will eat and drink at them.

So for now we have settled into a very relaxed, even lazy, routine. Get up around 10am and choose one of a variety of vegetarian breakfasts. This has given Steve the opportunity to try out the range of non-dairy milks with his morning latte. Out of Oat, Soy, Almond and Coconut milk, Oat was definitely the favourite and creamier than cow’s milk. Almond was OK but has a nutty taste and Soy somewhat “off”. He didn’t even attempt mixing coconut milk with coffee!

Then on to the beach, until they kick us off the sunbeds around 5pm when they set up the tables and chairs for evening dinner service. That’s when it is time for a sundowner (or two) before returning to our room for a shower, before heading back to the beach for dinner. By the time we finish dinner the tide is in and we have to beat a hasty retreat to avoid getting wet feet!

Debbie has had a couple of massages and joined her first yoga session while Steve has mainly been reading. We’ve discovered there are different varieties of Kingfisher beer; “Premium” is similar to what you get in the UK while “Strong” is darker and hoppier. We’ve found the easiest way to compare restaurant prices is to see what they are charging for a large bottle of Kingfisher, typically £1 in the wine shop and £1.70 in a restaurant. We find a couple of cocktails, main course curry each, rice and garlic naan, washed down by a couple of beers each gives us change from £20!

We did push the boat out and had the best sea bass ever at Dropadi restaurant. It is expensive according to the Big Kingfisher price index (£2.50) but still, with big beers and tip, just over £14 each to share a 4lb fish, cooked in the tandoor and served with rice, chips, and salad. We loved it so much we went back another evening and had a slightly smaller one, supplemented with spinach dhal and a garlic naan.

We always said that the first few weeks of our travels would be relaxing on a beach and giving Debbie’s shoulder chance to heal and that’s just what we have been doing. We did go to cookery school on one day, which was excellent but we will give that its own post. For now, here are a few snapshots of Palolem: