Hi Olly1 Where are you flying from......we fly from manchester on the 17 march and arrive on the 18(are you going feb or march )
Where are you staying
Hope you enjoy your holiday and have a great time... :glynis....Neil.

Hi Noggin
We are flying from Gatwick (couldn't get on Manchester flight) and staying at Lagoa Azul in Arpora. We wanted to be more central but that was all that was available when I booked yesterday!

I am going to get Visa in Edinburgh am. Can you remember who you put down as your second contact in India? I have fogotten who I put down last time.

Sorry 17th Feb - next week yipeee!!

Did you get my reply about visa
Have you stayed at the Lagoa Azul before..........first time we went, we had friends staying there......it is alittle out of the way(taxis no problem),but a very nice hotel...and very peaceful...you will love it.
Have a great time

yes thanks, appreciate that.

No it is our first time in Lagoa Azul. We like Condolim as it is great to walk down the road and talk to everyone. Going back to Supertailor for more suits (his is the little place down the side road on the way to the beach. His brother has the shop on the main road with the dummies outside. We will probably spend most of our time on the beach at Condolim and vist Antony's bar (just left of the path to the village) he has all the football shirts hanging up. Excellent food and great value.
Our neighbours boyfriend stayed in Lagoa last year and he was very impressed with the standards. Looking at the map it should be close to the night market which I love. Has anyone seen Mia this year. She is one of the beach sellers. She will be 11 now. Always says "I give you best price, ASDA price" and "noprofit" when you offer her a ridiculously low figure. She is a really nice kid and me and my wife have adopted her the last twice we have been. She has promised to take us to her home in Mapsa for a meal this year.

my partner had been going to goa for years before i met him and he always spoke so passionatly about it,but it was somewere i never thought of going ,but i went and omg its amazing ,the people ,the food,the smells,oh i want to be there now. only 9 weeks till we go till we go back
xxx

do most people use the same taxi driver for their whole stay at first i thought this was a good idea to get some tips and advice but i felt like i was being ripped off towards the end when he knew we were going home do people normally haggle with the taxi drivers?

If we have used one and we are happy we will give him our business (thats if he is around ) you do get to know what you should be paying as you go along, and i agree some will 'try it on'

I Totally agree with SteveM,
Been twice, & now there is nowhere in the world I would rather be.
Found it to be a real leveller.
No materialistic people, just genuine people with not a lot, but the one thing that sticks in my mind is the people there despite stuggling through life always have a smile on their face & a brilliant sense of humour (not like in the town & cities in England, where no-one seem to give you the time of day).
My advice to anyone going for the first time is, look beyond the dusty roads & the obvious poverty & forget any materialistic values.
Just take in the beauty of an unspoilt place with the most welcoming people in the world. Sure, sometimes some people will try take advantage of tourists (rarely in Goa), but I can assure you there are people like that where-ever you go in the world.

To the glory hunters (stick to your five star hotels in the maldives) & leave Goa to people who do not judge people by the size of their wallet.

Goa is always on my mind, & am always in contact with the valuble goan people I have meet there.

Stewbacca....

judging by some of posts I see on this forum people would get the image that there are no rich people with beautiful homes in Goa.
The taxi driver we used last year took us to his siters house and although he told us she was not rich it was like a mansion with marvellous gardens etc. Not all Goans are poor, she lived in an area that consisted of several of this type of house although there were still many poorer properties nearby.
I agree that the poor are very poor but certainly there are wealthy people and people who are just comfortably well off there as well.
Perhaps you don't see many of the comfortable people in the tourist areas.
del

As for the high heel brigade, let them stick to Benidorm and Salou, they are welcome to them, personally I have never been to Spain and I don't intend to as long as Goa stays as it is.

Olly1.
I have never been to Goa, simply because I can`t do the flight, but I have enjoyed reading all the posts....and because I haven`t been there, I would not comment on it.
However, please don`t slag Spain off, especially when you haven`t been there.!
Not everyone of the so called "high heeled brigade" go to the "costas".
Away from the tourists traps, (which you find in every country), and especially in Andalusia...there are the most beautiful places, where English is NOT spoken and you will get the same welcome as you describe in Goa.
Don`t taint everyone with the same brush, otherwise Goa is welcome to you.

sanji xxx

and spain is welcome to you.

Sanji feel i must reply i have travelled quite extensively, and i beg to differ i dont think there is any other country where you get as warm a welcome as you get from the people of goa especially in spain which i have been to on several occasions. Goa relies on tourists but is still very far from being commercialised and does'nt have the usual tourist traps YET I hope it never does, but as their greatest import it's probably only a matter of time, but the day i see watneys red barrel and burger king i think it would be time to move on Vietnam looks good

lin b
I cannot dispute that you get a warm welcome from the people of Goa, and believe me, I would love to go...but, having never been, I cannot compare it with any where else.
The places I am referring to in Spain, inland away from the Costas, also don`t have Burger Kings and Watneys Red Barrel.....and all the other commercialised junk, the point I was trying to make was, that it is a world away from the kiss me quick hats of Benidorm, and you will be most welcomed and taken into the "family".
I don`t want to even try to compare it to Goa, but I don`t think someone who hasn`t been to Spain...and I mean the real Spain...should comment on it and call us the high heeled brigade....and it does help if you speak a little of the lingo.
I felt that I was being labelled as one of the "high heeled brigade" whoever they are.?

and spain is welcome to you.

If you don`t have anything constructive to say, I suggest you

sanji

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Many thanks
David HT Mod

hey ppl..

nice that most of you love goa and us, the goans.. but i'm sad to see that a lot of u have a lot of misconceptions about goa.. the hawkers on the beach.. the lil girls.. the sisters tryin to pay for their brother's education.. are all sob stories and worst of all.. they're not even goan... they are the ppl who come from other states.. bihar, karnataka, maharashtra.. dirty our beaches and other places... encroach land .. stay & sleep wherever they want to ... and since goans are mostly lazy.. don't do much about it.. but u must keep in mind that these NON-GOANS whom u'll "love" so much are the biggest thiefs around.. so please be careful the next time u'll are down here in Goa... if you have a hard time believing me, please go to a local library in Goa and get out the newspaper archives... see the murders, robberies, etc..
on the comments about GOA being a place of poor, simple and down to earth people... i must warn u that those are only the people u may meet on the coastal belt... go to mapusa or panjim and u are bound to meet some very tech-savvy and sophisticated people... want to see huge mansions (u won't get to meet these ppl coz they're the busy kind)... make a trip to dona paula... its right after miramar beach in panjim... and the only reason the coastal people suck up to foreigners like urself is because u'll pay them money... i can bet that the higher class people won't give u a second look.. besides.. if ur the kind who throw garbage around or dirty and spoil the place.. we would try to get u out of here asap.. that does not apply to the british ppl.. who are mostly well-mannered and have respect for other people's land.. but this applies to the russians and other wasted people..

hope you enjoy ur next holiday in goan.. this is just to help u have a better one and be on the watch for unwanted nuicances

... goan..

*Edit do not post in phone text style as future posts will be deleted. Paragraph removed also. -Glynis*

may i just say your english is very well written

dear me does that mean i have to wear trainers all the time ?if i wore a pair of heels would i be laughed at ,, whats the problem here yes i go to spain and greece and turkey and wear heels ,, i fancied visiting goa so will i be ridiculed if i chose to wear anything different than teeshirts and sorts on a night ..please help with this dress code as i cant see why its causing bad vibes

lady jan, when on holiday, wear what YOU feel happy in. It is your holiday and as long as you don't want to walk around naked I can see no problems.
Whats wrong anyway with getting smartened up on an evening?
And will people stop talking about "being a guest". I'm nota guest, I'm a paying customer..... and the customer is always right (if you want to stay in business that is)
del