Our third trip to Goa, and like our second visit only a week could be fitted in due to an impending wedding invitation - Easter Week too, so we had to pay through the nose!
Once again we chose First Choice but this time elected for the Marinha Dourada, half way between Baga and Arpora, and not far from Lagoa Azul which we used on our first visit to Goa.
Set out for Gatwick in plenty of time for our early Saturday evening flight and having sailed through check in and customs, etc, we grabbed a very nice meal at the Whetherspoon in the North Terminal, my enjoyment boosted by the news that God's Football Team had beaten Dartford 1-0. This turned out to be a very good idea as the service and food on board the flight were both very poor compared to our previous experiences (a result of the amalgamation with Thompson?). By the time the food trolley reached us the only selection left was ‘Sausage and Mash' - an odd offer for an airline in our opinion. Also the basic entertainment package was poor, the games section particularly so. Previously you had access to the first two levels of most games but now you have to upgrade to access them at all"¦ Picky? Maybe. By the way, for fans of ‘ZUMA', you can buy the full version on the Internet - excellent!
Arrived at Diabolical Airport a little late and were almost last off the aircraft so I feared the worst but thirty minutes later we had our luggage and it was time to brave the porters! We had once again decided to make our own way to the hotel and quickly informed the Rep of this, then crossed to the Taxi Booth and ordered a cab for the MD. Unfortunately there were no cabs available and we had to squash ourselves and our luggage into a Tuk-tuk instead (OK, that was a blatant lie and I feel really bad about it, however we did have our first hic-up of the holiday as whilst trying to protect the suitcases I managed to leave RS280 change on the counter leaving me without any spare money for tips on our arrival at the MD).
A surprisingly sedate journey later and we are there and starting to relax. Checking in is easy and the room appears typically basic but clean and comfortable - that'll do for us then! We elect for a snooze before unpacking and emerge at about two o'clock ready for some ‘splorin'.
This area is well known to us from two years ago and we head up towards the main Arpora road to confirm the location of ‘Nicks Place', and then head towards Arpora itself to get some dosh - rate is 72 which we take, but expect to get better in Tito's Road, and so it proves. Across to Honey's and arguably one of the highlights of our holiday - the finest Cheese and Garlic Nan we have ever tasted ever in the whole world! We accompany this with Sag Chicken for me and Prawn Noodles for Jill and both agree that this was an excellent repast, especially with the addition of the first Kings of the year. We amble back through the woods, narrowly avoiding being run down by a herd of cows (yippee, we're in Goa!), and past a restaurant called ‘Angelheart ‘ within which in three years we have never seen a single customer - it looks vacant now!
We spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool and discover the first of some very small gripes with the MD - No sun umbrellas. Oh well, no matter.
We had put this forum to good use back in the UK (thanks all!) and decided our destination for the evening would be the Mayonna Creek down towards the Baga Bridge, getting there early as per suggestions but due to our late lunch electing to eat there as NOT per suggestions. Actually our Grilled Kingfish with Salad and Chips is more than acceptable and with Jill on Vodka and Orange and me consuming Kingfishers like they are going out of fashion, we settle down for the evening's entertainment billed as ‘Dr Allen and his friends from England' - quite an amusing title as it turns out that one performer was a native Goan, one was French, and another from Northern Ireland! A great evening of music and I was later able to identify Susie Ingram from ‘For The Craic' & ‘ Chicks with Picks', and also Prana Ji from ‘Bindoo Babas' - If anyone else was there and knows who the others were I would love to know!
Special mention to the Hippy dancing up the front - I've never seen a more beauticious smile on a guy before"¦ Looking like Jesus, I was waiting for him to say "leave my eggs alone, I'll be back next Monday!"
Previous reportee's have critised the Loos here by the way, but your memorialist and his consort can state that in their opinion they were fine (they may well have been newly added?)

Tuesday morning, and after coffee and omlete (surprising good concidering breakfast reviews for this hotel) it's time to adopt a Shack. We walk down to Baga Bridge and up to Tito's Road for some money (74 here, and the best we got all holiday). I make a pre-organised phone call to Peter from ‘Cola Beach' and arrange for him to pick us up Tuesday morning from the MD and take us down south where we are staying in a tent for one night, and another call to Rob from ‘childrenwalkingtall.com' - he has kindly offered to meet us at the MD to pick up some stuff we had brought out - thanks Rob!
Off to the beach, and we head north looking for ‘Vibrant', our favourite shack of two years ago, however as we approach it is easy to see that another shack (Shack on the Bay?) has been put up seaward of it, completely spoiling the view so we settle for ‘Santa Monica' - a good choice as it turns out. Jill goes for a Soda with fresh lime and a little sugar, and with the sun being over the yardarm somewhere in the world I elect to continue with Kingfishers (in a dark bottle of course). As usual we are plagued with beach sellers, the only welcome one being the fruit girl. As she prepares Jill's pineapple we are engaged by a very nice French woman keen to improve her English although we are a little puzzled when she tells us she always orders bananas as they are good for her anger. Amid much hilarity we discover that she means ‘hunger'!
I joke that I thought perhaps she squashed them down and rubbed them into her arms and the guy on the next bed pops a banana between his teeth to form a large smile - the lady takes it in good part and counter-jokes that she's unlikely ever to get that one wrong again!
I go for Goan Prawns with plain rice for lunch and Jill chooses Prawn Noodles again, both sharing a Sag Paneer - very nice!
We spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach and walk back to the MD to get ready for the evening. An early evening drink at ‘Nicks Place' (not in existence on our last visit, and a very nice breeze on the open roof), we head towards Arpora. Despite last years poor reviews ‘All Spice' is our destination as reports seemed to indicate that it had picked up this year. Sadly we were disappointed with poor service and average food, our shared starter being crab stuffed mushrooms which were way over-spiced for the content. Main courses were both just ‘OK' yet forgettable (and I have!) and after yesterdays excellent Cheese & Garlic Nan we went for the same - couldn't hold a candle to Honey's, (and nor would you want to as the wax would effect the taste)

More to follow when I get a moment"¦