What is 'Savers'? Is it a national store? I don't think we have one locally.

I don't know if it is a national store but there are a few in Yorkshire, I went to the store in Wakefield.

Our local savers [derbyshire area] have been taken over by superdrug
sorry

DebnPete wrote:

I bought Jungle Formula tropical strength in Savers 2 weeks ago for £3.99, it was £6.99 in Boots for the same spray.

I got the same stuff in 'home bargains' if you have one of those.

Didnt last long mind...and i still got bit

Not sure if I'm just lucky but when I was there in Feb never got bit once and I only used Odomos . I never even saw a mozzie.

Met someone in February who we had met November 2006.
He caught Malaria and ended up in hospital for 10 days, it took 5 weeks in UK before it was diagnosed.
It came on about 6 days after leaving Goa.
His advise was "if you get violent shivers & feel cold then hot get down to the hospital & tell them you think it may be Malaria"

He was back this year but taking the expensive malarial tablets this time.

hi everyone.
im new to this site and me and my girlfriend are going to goa for the first time in november.
i was wondering if you could tell me the usual vaccinations we will need? i went to my doctors and they gave me a contact card for some other place but they wanted a tenner just to tell us what ones we should have, i thought that my own doctor would at least give me that information for free.
also, what kind of holiday can we expect? i was looking forward to going but after whats happened to that young girl in the last couple weeks its made me a little apprehensive, i know that kind of stuff can happen anywhere but has kind of taken the shine off what everyone else has told us. we're staying at the Marinha Dourada Hotel.
thanks for reading and hopefully, thanks for your help, im praying for a lovely holiday as its our first time abroad together except for a few days in paris in january.

Hi

And welcome to HT.

http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/destinations/maps/worldmap.htm thats a link the nhs recommend you use to see what jabs you need - from what I understand nothing is essential, but is recommended.

The young girl being killed I think has given us all something to think about - but I live in Birmingham and quite honestly I think as long as your aware of your surroundings you will minimise all problems, whether you be in Goa or inner city England. I am travelling tomorrow on my own - and as I would in Brum, I will be careful of what I say and do, to make sure I keep myself safe and enjoy my holiday ... I wouldnt be going on my own if I felt unsafe.

Re what holiday you can expect ? this all depends on what you are going for ... sun and relax, watersports, cheap shopping, sightseeing. You can do it all and more ... My advise, would be get yourself a guide book - I use rough guide, but am sure they are all ok... have a read, look through the posts here and if you have any questions post them as you think of them, everyone on here has been v helpful to me and no question is too silly or strange, we were all new to Goa once.

Hope this has helped somewhat and if you have any questions ask away. Your welcome to PM me when I return or look out for my holiday report ... Take care

solobrummy,
very good reply, looking forward to your report, have a good one.

lee penhaligon,
very essential is the mosquito repellent and of course the recomended jabs.

For the repellents you can get jungle formula at £3-49 in home bargains (this price at the moment, usual price £5-49) or when out in Goa they do one called odomos which comes in a variety of cream, spray, and gel 80p to £1.

On the jabs front you can make an appointment at your doctors with the practice nurse and he/she will give you further information, but quite honestly you can get all the info you need off this site (but we cant give you the jabs).

I and my wife got our jabs for free, I think this has something to do with the regional budgets the practice works off?

Anyway do not be put off by the recent events in Goa, I can tell you it is a wonderful place and I will be very surprised if your report don't mention that you are going to return to Goa in the future?......jxk8

solobrummy and jxk8 thank you very much for your help.
we have both been looking forward to spending 2 weeks lounging around in the sun, to be honest we didnt know what else was available in the area as we seen it online with thomsons at a good price so we just jumped at it.
others we have spoken to who have been have seemed to return quite often as you have both said.
all that was worrying us really was the vaccinations as my doctor surgery put me in contact with some other place that wanted money before they would tell us anything.
this website is a great help and i will be adding my review as soon as i get back.
thanks for giving me the chance to come back with more questions sometime too. im sure there will be plenty more before i actually go.lol.

Well this is my 3rd trip (leaving in a few hrs) and I still read all the post, always something new to pick up, a hint or a tip from someone who has just returned.

Happy info gathering and I'll write my report when I return

Have a great holiday look forward to your report on return ann

Interested by your comments, i have lived in goa for 6 years now taken all the measures before coming to live here, and was told by a leading tropical drs that if you live here all the time malaria tabs are not good to take long term, so we cover ourselves every morning in good night or sleep sound local spray, before walking the dog, and every evening before going out, long trousers or skirts worn.
But when a lady mossy bites, she sure bites, 5 days of feeling like he had the flu, no hot sweats, 5 hours to live,3 days in intensive care but they got the results within 3 hours, treatment was expensive 600pds and 7 days in hospital, luckly !!!!he had falispurm which is the worst form of malaria but does not reoccur you have to get bitten again.....but if coming on holiday they do advise the once a week tab from local chemists around rps30 does the same as all the expensive ones and little or no side effects.. if you do get bitten try a slice of lime with a bit of salt and just rub on bite happy bite free holidays ..

Hi Poppetjay, can you still get Good Knight spray? We really like it but haven't seen it in the shops for months. It's very effective and quite pleasant to use.

hi you can get "sleep sound" spray which good knight make but they have put rps30 on a bottle,not silly are they it contains deet, good knight lotion and gel are good all are safe for kids aswell.

But when a lady mossy bites, she sure bites, 5 days of feeling like he had the flu, no hot sweats, 5 hours to live,3 days in intensive care but they got the results within 3 hours, treatment was expensive 600pds and 7 days in hospital, luckly !!!!he had falispurm which is the worst form of malaria but does not reoccur you have to get bitten again...

Poppetjay how did he realise it was something more than just flu if he had no sweats or anything!!?? thats quite scary isnt it, as we of course, living here too like yourself dont take malaria tabs and on occassion get these things...flu etc... but with only 5 hours to live what or how would you know you had something more than flu? its not as if you can run to the Dr everytime you feel rough!! out of interest was it during monsoon time?
chilly

Looks like malaria is on the increase again, due to immigrant workers. The bad kind of malaria seem to be more common now. I have pasted the link, I hope that it works.

http://uk.f861.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=2438_37037308_1053743_3549_7016_0_65639_22977_1406903058&Idx=1&YY=51443&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox

Sandyboy, your link doesn't work.

Immigrants will not be spreading malaria, they may be coming into Goa infected from bites and therefore raising the number of reported cases. I think it would be interesting to see the numbers for people actually bitten and infected in Goa itself.

Sorry about the link, I am not an expert in these matters. Some of the migrant workers have the parasite in their blood when they come to Goa, which is passed on to the local mossies when they bite them. The problem arises when the mossie then bites someone else. It seems to be widely accepted that the migrant owrkers are responsible for the increase in cases.