I have a special birthday next year and I cannot think of a place I would much rather go and celebrate it in than Goa.

We couldn't afford to go this season and it really hurt not being able to stay at our favourite hotel and eat at our favourite restaurants.

If it is quiet, all the more the better.

We are realistic in that we know that the business owners will put their prices up to compensate for the lack of customers, but we don't have to eat or shop in a place if the prices are ridiculously high.

Where we stay we have to rely on taxis, but there are so many taxi drivers around that we should be able to negotiate on prices.

Yes Sydney, Goa is a great place to celebrate a special occasion and we have done this a few times ourselves. If we had stayed home there is no way we could have afforded to celebrate our 25th,30th wedding anniversaries, 50th and 60th birthdays in the style that we did in Goa (even taking into account the recent price hikes over there) And boy, they do know how to put on an event.

If you have (or get yourself) a regular taxi driver and negotiate with him I don't think you will have too many problems with prices, we didn't.

I quite like the busy "buzz" over there (sometimes) but even though November and March were quieter there was still a nice relaxing holiday atmosphere. Fizz