I can't believe what I've just done. I haven't followed my own advice, and typed the end of my report directly here and then pressed the wrong thing and lost it all.

Our last day was spent on the beach, apart from a couple of hours as we searched high and low for internet that was actually working so we could do an online check in. We had left eating at Nirvana till the last night for two reasons- we knew we wouldn't be disappointed and we didn't want to stray too far from our hotel incase we were tempted to make a night of it, something we would regret at 5.15am when the alarm went off( well, Tony's mobile as the alarm and my mobile phone charger were off on their own holiday). A lot of people had the same idea as it was filled with folks flying home with Monarch. Turns out they had another day there but they didn't know that at the time. The food was fab of course. We went back about 11pm for a final drink on the balcony. We sat there and decided that going to Goa for 5 days had been worth it and we were now nice and relaxed. Little did we know then that the stress was about to return big time!

Our Jet Airways flight was great, as we knew it would be. We were through customs at Mumbai with 2 and a half hours to go. Mumbai airport is one of the most boring I have ever been to( even worse than Rio which is dire). There is just nothing there. We decided to blow our last rupees at the bar there, where drink prices are on par with UK ones. Well, I had an orange juice and a tea Too early for a drink for me.
Our flight was at 1.15. As we queued to go through security we both saw the notice at the same time- no chilli powder allowed in hand luggage. So all Tony's hard negotiations at Anjuna would go to waste. Luckily we were successful smugglers. Many were not so fortunate- anyone we spoke to who had had spices had them taken away. One had a fight on her hands as the female security obviously fancied a new hairdrier. At 12.45 the queues began to form for boarding. That is when they announced that there was a technical fault and that all first class passsengers should make themselves known as they would be taken back to the BA lounge. At this point they already knew that they had to fly someone in from Delhi but it was another 5 hours before we eventually set foot outside the airport.
The crew were great and stayed out in the departure lounge organising water and food eventually and trying to soothe passengers. It wasn't their fault. Eventually a few of the Indian passengers had had enough and tried to incite everyone to march together on immigration. We knew by then that BA had sorted out a hotel for us as our flight was now at 4.15am but that immigration were not too happy about letting us escape the airport. The crew successfully put the riot down as many like me were probably thinking that this latest action would mean that immigration definitely would not let us leave and we would be in the departure lounge overnight.

We were marched downstairs to a desk where we had to surrender our passports, which were put into individual envelopes and we were given a number. We then were sent round the corner to wait until everyone had handed their passports in. The passports were then taken round the corner, taken out of the envelopes and the first number was called out. There was stunned silence at the front of the masses as everyone asked themselves if they had just seen correctly. The vast majority could not see what was happening. If you have ever seen the doctor's surgery scene in the Catherine Tate where the doctor comes out and whispers the name he wants over and over until the gran takes over and bellows it out loud- it was the same here. This time it was not gran to the rescue but a group of Scots. An Indian woman beside me asked me why I was so calm but I told her that this was nothing compared to everything else that happened to us. After all- they were only trying to give us a game of bingo. At one point there was more hilarity as one number was bawled out over and over again until the person doing the bawling realised it was his
Our numbers were one of the early ones and as we had no luggage to collect we were on the first coach to the hotel. The Hyatt Regency is actually a lovely hotel and we were really impressed with the room we were given- pity we had to get up at 1.15am though. We were showered and down for the buffet as passengers were still checking in. Nice buffet but BA were really mean as they provided absolutely no drinks apart from water. Even tea or a soft drink would have been nice.
We arrived back at the airport at 2am to find the baggage screeners were on a break till 2.30( ) The armed airport security guards got rather irate as the queue snaked out of the terminal building but not amount of persuasion on their part could get the screeners to cut short their break.
We carried on as before with BA and there was a further 2 hour delay which meant we had missed the next connection given to us by BA, which I had already had words with as we appeared to only have 45 mins to make the connection anyway. But they just would not budge. At this point i was fretting as I wondered just which flight we would be given next. When the plane touched down at Heathrow there was a cheer by everybody, then we sat and waited for a bridge to appear so we could get out.
We just managed to get a flight that was due to leave in 30 minutes. We then only boarded 45 mins after its departure time and sat on the plane for 2 hours as they then offloaded all the luggage as they had wrong cases on it. We arrived home to snow.
So- that is my airport report with a bit of Goa in the middle. Would I go again?
Yes definitely. However, next Easter, if OH can get a week, we would like to go to Cape Town. There are so many places we want to visit. I think I would like to leave Goa until we have a clear fortnight as we really want to visit more of India so Goa will be the R&R bit at the end.

With holidays like that , I think you should stay at home Fiona

hmm... had a reply from BA which I am not happy with- infact its taken the best part of an hour to stop swearing. Have emailed back exactly what I think and I'll see what reply I get before I post here what the outcome is.

That was some trip Fiona
Pleased to hear that you had an enjoyable stay, I go along with your tip to stay in the shade, and still come home with a tan, that lasts longer and no croccodile skin. You've proved that it's possible to manage with a handful of clothes, and no matter what happened, keep smiling, and see the funny side of it all.
Hope you do well with your compensation from BA
x lassi

thanks Lassi

finally got things sorted with BA. We got £235 and 20 000 airmiles. I'm happy enough with that. Funnily enough we just have our redemption voucher through and will have to book somewhere quickly as there are only so many free flights per plane. I was going to just book Club or First and use up the miles and not use them again unless there was no other option. So- it is econony again- Tony wont be happy

well done
glad you got compensation

Good news then Fiona Where are you thinking about going?

well- it was going to be Cape town but there are no redemptions for it

Oh no so what now Fiona

Well at the moment am looking at Delhi, Belize, Rio, Dubai, Penang, Calcutta ...........

Not all on the same trip I hope

Delhi,Belize,Rio,Dubai,Penang,Calcutta.
Thats the luggage itinerary

and Milan

Suggest you go anywhere that doesn't depart from Terminal 5!