We have been back since the start of December, but due to family illness I have not had the time to send my report.
We travelled from Leeds train station to Kings Cross & then on the underground to Heathrow terminal 4.We thought we would have problems, but it was very straight forward & everything was on time.It is the first time we have a booked our holiday DIY, so we did expect to hit problems.The Kingfisher flight from Heathrow was also on time.The plain was excellent, lots of leg room & width.The flight attendants were very helpful & polite, although we have to say that we didn't eat any of the meals on the flight, I am not saying that there was anything wrong with them, they were just not to our taste.We arraive in Mumbia on time, our cases were off the plaine in litterely 10 minutes & we took the luggage to be sent to domestic flight down to Goa.We took the transfer coach from international to domestic without any problems, we were put through security & the swine flue detector & again it was only minutes, no queing we were straight through.We were boarding our flight within half an hour of arriving at the domestic terminal, we were on kingfisher again & again they tried to feed us, which we politely refused.On arriving at Dabolim airpaort, we didn't have to go through customs & we just collected our luggage & were allowed straight through.Our taxi driver was waiting for us ( used the same taxi driver for 9 years ).

On arrival at the highland beach resort hotel, I was sure something was going to go wrong, as up to this point everthing has gone to plan.But I was wrong, the apartment we had requested with Kiran the general manager on our last visit, had been reserved for us.So after a qyuick shower, we went for our evening meal at the rising waves, although we were nearly falling asleep in our soup, we batted it out & went to bed around 10 pm.We were up with the barking dogs at 8 am, ready to start our holiday.
First job was to book my husband into the dentist as he had broken one of his back teeth.We have only every used a dentist down in calangut ( Dr Sanjeev Vaz ).It is one of the more expensive dentist, but we have used Dr Vaz for nine years & his dental work for us ( & my dentist at home confirm this ) is excellent.My husband needed a cap on his tooth, it worked out for the cap, scale & polish etc around £70.00, & as were are in a hospital plan at work ( sovereign health care ) that we are able to claim the £70.00 back, so it cost us nothing.The health plan we have allows us to have treatment in india & it will convert the rupee into pound & pay the excahnge rate at the time.
None of the shacks were up for the two weeks we were there, it is really time that the goan authorities got their act together.We didn't venture far this time ( we did taj mahal & dehli in march this year ) & we had a very relaxing two weeks.We tried Patricks bar ( the old tiger trail), & this with our friends became our local again.We used to go into the tiger trail all the time, but for the last couple of seasons it really went down the hill, so we stopped going in ( best fish chips & mushy peas in candolim & at R150, it can't be beaten.We go to the quiz, but you had to be a rocket scientist to get the answer to all the questions, we much prefer Peter's quiz at the english rose.Its nice to see Pete doing quizes again.He makes them fun & you really had a good night, its not alll too serious.
We arranged our taxi back to the airport & again no problems.Our fight to Mumbia & to heathrow were on time.We had pre-booked the hilton hotel at terminal four ( £139.00 ) bed & breakfast & it was excellent.We caught the tube back to kings cross & then back up Leeds without a hitch.Our Son was even waiting for us at the train station.I never for one second thought that I would be sending my report without reporting some sort of a disater or another, but it all went to plan & better.

Our trip was only a tester as we are doing the same trip on the 30 Jan 2010, but this time its for four weeks, we have already made plans to have atrip down southwith friends & my husbands 50th birthday party has already been booked for the 6 th feb at the Gulzar resteraunt in the highand beach hotel ( if anyone could help, I do need to book the DJ, if you have any contacts please let me know, we are northern soul, well any music is OK at a party, but it can't be a party without some Motown being palyed ).We are also considering taking a trip to thailand, my husband say a trip advertised in the herald, so we may check it our when we get there.We have booked our flight back to Mumbia two days before the flight to heathrow so that we can explore the city, we want to see the gateway to india & Gandi's house.
Will fill in more details after our trip in Feb.

Dawn