hi Gail its good to here you had a fab time ......its also good to know that things have not changed too much..
have to try this ganeshs shack everyone on here said its good.....we have never been at this time of the year but i could be talked into it
have you ever made your own way ( flight only ) and booked in somewhere I am gona try that next april..
we also have to come over from N/I and this adds on to your holiday price .....so i am just curious if it would make much difference

Hi Gail,welcome back - nice to meet you and Ray,nice couple to get on with. Hope you kept off the wine them last few days !! (my head hurt that last Friday).

Welcome back Gail, glad you had a great time. but now you are back to the cold wind rain etc etc you can be miserable like the rest of us only joking
Roll on November 213 sleeps to go

Irishcolleen, we have never booked flight only and hotels separately. I know lots of people do this but I usually just keep an eye on package prices and wait till I see a cheap deal. We normally fly via Gatwick and have found Easyjet the cheapest connection from Belfast (if you book well in advance)
Spike, (Phil) we did have some wine on our last night but not as much as we had with you and Dee the night before you left. I had a sore head that Friday morning too. Can't think why?? It was a good evening though.
Think I'll have to go check out the net for my next holiday, before my post Goa depression gets too bad.
Gail

Hi Gail, good to hear you and Ray got home safely and it was nice meeting you. We stayed the night when we arrived back in London and awoke to.shock horror.......SNOW ! One extreme to the other. Got home Monday at noon and was in the travel agents by 4 askin about prices for next year ! Poor Jackie must have caught a bug somewhere along the line as she has been very ill the last few days but is on the road to recovery. Lack of Romanov vodka me thinks ! Maybe see you next year again as if we cant get booked for Feb for my birthday i think we will be back at same time as this year.

Hey Billybluenose(Alan) at least we missed the snow by a day, though it was pretty chilly coming home. I still haven't got used to the cold weather. Maybe we'll have a few wee Honeybees tonight to warm us up! Sorry Jackie's not too well hope, she's on the mend. Really enjoyed meeting you two and "the scaffolder" and his missus. Who knows we may end up back at the same time next year too. I've been checking out prices but haven't booked anything yet.
Gail & Ray

Been back over a week now and still missing Goa. It was my first holiday to Goa, i had been reading all your posts for a few months before i went so i kind of knew what to expect, i had a problem with my son being on my passport, but in the end he travelled on my passport with no problems whatsoever, so if you are told that children cannot travel on their parents passport, because that was what i was told by the Indian Embassy in London, phone Birmingham and they will tell you different, i also did not need a visa for him they just put 1 child on your visa. Well we got a last minute flight with First Choice, they were fantastic, no delays etc, when we arrived the struggle to get our cases were not too bad, we gave him our pound and we were out the airport in no time, i think we were the only plane to land though, so it was not very busy. My mum had arranged a taxi to pick us up, i know what you mean now about the driving but he got us to our appartment, so it wern't that bad. The culture shock for me was seeing cows walking in the road and sooooo many cars, people and dogs in Calangute high st, i was walking along with my 2 sons and thought i never want to come down here again, it was quite frightening, but we needed to change our money, so we done that and left as quick as we could. When we got to our appartment it was really lovely, brand new, really modern and spotless clean, just near holiday st.
We went to jonnys shack everyday and early evening went for a swim in the Goan Heritage pool, i found the people so friendly and the beach sellers were great to talk to, the little girls played with my sons gameboys every day and asked me to bring them one each next year
I had a massage by a lovely lady Laxmi and she gave me some oil for my hair, which is brill as it makes it so shiney. I planned to go on lots of trips which you's had said were good, but we didn't end up going anywhere as my boys were quite happy sitting in the shack or playing on the beach, i really wanted to visit cwt, but 2 weeks went by so quick.
I felt my children learnt so much about life and poverty and the way other children live their lives, that it was the best holiday i have been on, Goa has something that you just can't put your finger on it is the best place i have been to, and after a few more trips into Calangute high st it didn't seem half as bad as when we first got there. We went to Brito's and had a great night there and a few other places which i can't remember the names of oh i also had my teeth whitened by Ambert and was really pleased with them, our flight back was fine and even Dabolim airport was not too bad, but we were last to check in so not much queuing, all in all we had a fabulous time and have booked our appartment again for next year, the kids can't wait to go back. We go to Benidorm in July and normally i can't wait but now nothing compares to goa Thank you for all your help and advice. crystal

hi crystalscan its sooooo good to here you loved goa .....its a bit too much when you see the place when you get there ... but as you said a day or two and it dosent look as bad .....where did you stay your appartments sound good

Hi Crystalscan. Another Goan convert. Great!
Gail

Back home (actually technically homeless, we sold our house whilst in goa ) Now I am trying to get my head around the prices here, and have to stop myself saying "HOW MUCH" everytime we go out.
Love to Rob, Shermina, Chilly and anyone else still out there.