This is our 3rd trip so I thought i'd best do a report, sorry if it turns out to be long, we had a fab holiday and want to write it all down.

The Outbound Journey...Flew with First Choice, which is now our Last Choice, the flight itself was on time, let down by the stop over in Gatwick, the shockingly vile slop disguised as an inflight meals, the single drink which was offered and the extremely surly crew. But, we landed early and safely, which is a big plus.
Diabolic was quiet, we sailed through the usual 20 people checking our passports every 5 yards, and waiting by the carousels. After having to endure a stop at Gatwick, we stupidly thought our luggage would maybe come off first,,how wrong we were!
After most of the passengers had left the building, we looked around and only the 70 of us from Manchester were still waiting for our cases, still, at least they got there safe and sound. We whizzed out, paid for a taxi and within ten mins we were ensconced in a taxi, violently winging its way to candolim. The views, smells and heat still overawed us but that may have been jetlag. We checked into Silver Sands, the first there incidentally, and off we went for a few hours shuteye.

The room...we were put in 204, which on the face of it was fine, but when we awoke a few hours later, we found too be a bit 'retro', in fact the walls look like someone had been shot up against it, as hubby said, and it had an interconnecting door, which we thought was fine, until next door came, and we could hear every word he said, we felt like we were sharing a room with him, thats how close we were, and the man whisteled..alot, everday, So on the second day we asked reception if we could swap, no problem they sais, 2 days later we moved into 203 and what a change, the room was much better, and closer to the pool. Speaking of the pool, we watched it closely, and steadily day by day it got greener and greener, even the first choice rep had to spring into action. We went in it everyday but was careful to not put our heads under the water.

The shacks...
We tried Bono's, but frankly the only good thing about this place is the thicker mattresses on the bed, other than that, it was nothing special, we got ignored on the beach, and it took a lifetime to get anything inside the shack itself. Plus the added charge on the sunbed quickly meant we weren't going to frequent them again.
So, we went to Boat shack in the daytime, which was lovely, and run by a very nice family, with 3 of the maddest little girls youve ever met, a young lad called Smiler by the brits, real name Atish, who had the hots for every western girl on the beach, and a young lad nicknamed slumdog by the shack lads, as he looks like someone from the film.
At night we also used Ceau Mar, which belongs to the hotel, which was a lovely place to watch sunset and play dominos. It also catched the breeze everyday which was a relief as it was sweltering, alot of the 'locals' said it was hotter than they had ever know, the sort of weather you get just before the monsoon. Ive never 'glowed' so much in my life. It stayed this hot till about 3 days before we left where the humidity died down a little.

The Days out and about...
We went to Anjuna, eerily quiet, lots of bargains to be had, if you are prepared to just walk away, they'll follow you, they always do.
Saturday Night Market..seems like every man and his dog was there, it was heaving, not many bargains to be had here, so we just went the once.
Mapusa on Friday evening...its the locals market and a shock to all senses, the variety of fruit and veg which you dont see in the tourist areas, was outstanding, and the prices...we bought 12 boxes of sandalwood incense for 50 roops...which was a nice bargain. More bargains for the suitcase, and lots of pics.
Agonda/Palolem...Hubby had the idea of going down to Agonda for a few days, so off we went, its a long old journey, rocked up at Agonda, and could not believe how quiet it was. So we went looking for a hut, by walking along the beach, BIG mistake, the sand was scorchio...
we found our chosen place, Madhu huts, had a drink, and asked about a hut...'we have only one left, over there,700 roops a nite', we asked to look at it after having a drink, by that time, it had been declared 'reserved for an internet booking', 'but we have one room over there', whilst gesturing to his right....'over there' turned out to be a ten min tuk tuk ride to the very end of the beach in a derelict hut graveyard, opposite a dump, and next to a guy drying out his local catch of fish, 'no way', we said, we didnt want to be so far away and on our own...so off we went looking for more. We tried a few more, getting more and more frustrated, and ended up jumping in a tuk tuk to Palolem, where there must have been spare rooms...the beach at Agonda was bloomin gorgeous though, just too quiet for us.
So off we went, and at this point we were so tired we stayed in the first hut we stumbled upon,
Sameer huts. 400 roops a night, en suite and big bed.
This was fine for us, but we got bored with nothing to do so we came home the day after. Again, Palolem is lovely but just not for us, we need a bit of 'action' lol.
Panjim...Didnt do much here, as the hindu temple we wanted to see turned out to be really quite dull, so we bought OH an indian cricket top from Nike, watched the cockle pickers in the Mandovi, bought some cashews and went back...

Restaurants.....
Some good, some not so...
The Good...
Soumyens Kitchens...yummy, the surf and turf was gorgeous, but the butterscotch brulee was the stuff dreams were made of, we liked it so much we went again, after promising we wouldnt eat twice at the same place.

Taste of China, beach road...yum, but overcooked the squid, the satay is to die for, quite slow service on the final night.

Angaara, beach road,...very reasonable pricing for very tasty food.

Pisa Roma, beach road...this surprised me, the pizza was delish, at this point I just wanted to eat something plain, wasnt expecting much from a Goan pizzeria, but it was bettter than some pizza served here in the UK.

Ceau Mar...friendly shack with a great breeze and a nice beef sizzler.

Risisng waves...lovely place, partially hidden from the road, with very nice steak.

The Bad....
Sea shell inn...we were ignored all night, due to the waiters fawning over an Indian family who were being very demanding, so we only had a main meal and left, no tip. We bought desert from Newtons, an ice cream cornetto for 30 roops instead.

Inferno...why anyone likes this place is beyond me, boring, bland and overcooked everything. But it was heaving every night so must have had something good about it, we just failed to find it.

Cuba, Beachfront in Palolem...this place is just weird, we ordered nachos for a starter which came about 2 mins before our main, and took about 30 mins to come anyway, so I ended up eating my starter for desert. A few people had issues with their food.

The Indifferent....
Over the Flames...didnt like, nor dislikke but had the most awful 'comedy' act on, thankfully we left before he got going.

The things we noticed....
Candolim was so quiet, one night we were the only 2 walking down beach road, it was dead.
My new name must be Taxi, even though they saw us get out of a tuk tuk, they still insisted on asking if we wanted one...
newtons is a weird place...loads of things way overpriced, often more expensive than at home, and get a bit touchy about taking a bag or a pot of tandoori mix in, also giving us our change in sweets was just wrong, but its not just the westerners they do it too, they do it to their own too. Strange.

We didnt see many russians about, but nearly had a barny with one just outside taste of china..but the shopkeeper near us said dont worry she is crazy.

Then all too quickly it had finished, and we were off on our way home, knowing that this is probably the last time we would go, we had shopped for whatever we wanted or needed.

The Inbound Journey...was actually just a bad as the outbound, an even worse crew, with one rolling her eyes at me, when I tried to pay with a tenner for a couple of bottles of water, and saying out loud 'is everyone paying with ten pound notes or something', surly madam, she was very sour for the whole flight. Once again the food was rank, and we didnt see the crew for about 5 hours. We didnt get served a drink till just over 3 hours into the flight, after telling us we should keep hydrated. And spent the whole flight tending to the needs of themselves and the captains wife, who was sat behind us. And just in case you may think im being picky, im not, im cabin crew myself and was very put out by the 'service' they offered. I used to like First Choice, but standards have slipped whilst their prices have risen.
We then endured another stop at gatwick, thankfully this one shorter than the last, and finally 12 hours later, landing at Manchester, cases off within 15 mins, and home with the hour.

So, there you go, hope your all still awake. Thanks for reading.