Paula - you must have seen some changes since 1995!

Goa's a lot like Marmite - you either love it or hate it
I neither love it (well not to the same degree as I did) or hate it - I just sometimes find it very frustrating.
I shall still go back because whatever Goa isn't, it is still the only place I have returned from feeling absolutely and totally relaxed
Fizz

Sorry to read about Spaldy.

I agree with you either loving it or hating it. I have seen people in tears after a few days desperately trying to get home!

I have a friend visiting Goa for the first time in April, and she has heard me rave about it, so I made sure to fill her in on the not so polished aspects as I didn't want her to be disappointed.

If you asked me to explain what was so good about it, I probably couldn't!! Once you start thinking about it, it's a bit grubby, things don't work the way they should, but I love it and I don't care!

I agree Mobor One,I still can't explain after all these years why I like Goa so much.Yes,as you say it is grubby,service can be a bit slow(but usually well worth the wait),the constant call of Taxi,Taxi can wear a bit thin after a while and sometimes,but not always,the beach sellers can be a pain.BUT we return again and again,still enjoy the food,atmosphere,beach,people,sunshine and if i am perfectly honest...you can't really beat the prices can you?
Just as a monetry comparrison in January 1995(our first trip)we paid £708.00 for 2 weeks B&B,roughly £180.00 pp.per week,When we go in January 2011 for 3 weeks, we are paying approx.£265.00pp.per week at the same hotel.Over 15 years I don't think that is much of a price jump,really glad we have booked,I would not like to bank on getting a late deal and then prices rise sky high. Paula

I think if you know where and when you want to go it is well worth booking in advance rather than waiting for a late deal and being disappointed. We booked for Chrismas 2010 in November 2009. I'm quite happy to (potentially) pay more to get what I want.

As soon as you get off the plane at Dabolim, you know you have arrived. The heat on your skin, the smell of sandalwood in the air. Oh yes, and then the queue to get in!!

Still don't care, I'm still going back.

Sadly we feel that Goa is really going to loose out next season if the 90 day rule comes in.
Two weekers keep telling us they spend more money than those in long term rentals or property owners, this is totally untrue. In our shack alone there are a hard core of 15 couples here for months on end and they spend the same in a day as the tweekers. Last night I spotted 25% of the people in Rising Waves were all long termers. Resturants, shack owners and jewellers etc. are starting to get worried about next season.

Have been holidaying in Goa since the early 90's, we can honestly say things have not changed for the better, but the place gets into your blood like a drug. The dirt, roads, traffic, dogs etc.
Being here for a long time you see many more warts than the tweekers, and I think it is totally unfair when people cannot have their own honest opinion of Goa. After all the name of the site is Holiday Truths.

Of course you can post your opinion. I don't know why you would think you can't

Thanks for that Glynis - it just seems that HT only wants positive posts.
Example tonight, - we went to local shop for rolls sold out. Bread man gone, wife went to beach road to another bread boy on bike, three rolls and 2 samoas - should have been 23 rups - guy says 50 rups. - stick it! Tweekers would have paid.

It is the underhandedness of some (mostly from out of state) who spoil it for the rest.

The other main complaint on the beaches is that the "indian men" leer at the ladies in bikinis, they then strip and go into the sea in their underpants (not a pretty sight as they become transparent in the water) and then proceed to walk around the sunbeds
having scratch! If you know what I mean - we never saw that before. There was even a post in the Herald referring to this, this week.

oh for goodness sake.....PLEASE can we just stick to being happy and looking forward to our holidays... i am sure we have to put up with the same sort of gripes wherever we live, dont take it too seriously, your holiday is what you make it and i am sure that a lot of first timers get good advice from this forum, and sometimes also are put off with some of the negativity as well. lets just please look forward to the positive bits... the honey bee glass is half full...not half empty

J

Twm wrote:

it just seems that HT only wants positive posts

Not at all Twm We just like to keep the differing of opinions friendly

Enjoyed your posts tmw, thats what I look for in a post, both the good and the bad, so readers, especially new visitors, to Goa are better informed, that the posts that simply eulogize all things Goan with no mention of any of the negatives, well done. I'm sure all of us Goan regulars know of some of our friends that would most certainly not enjoy the Goan experience, others of our friends we know would love the place, and we try to advise them accordingly, likewise without pointing out both sides of the coin here, how can we avoid some of the people who finds Goa not to their liking, from making the wrong holiday choice.
Alan

i,m not sure that the traders should be to worried about next season ,a lot of the accomadation i looked at was full in january. we have paid less for 5wks including christmas/new year holiday for next season than we did for 3 wks last november.

I think you will find that there will be a lost less charter flights next season. We have noticed for the first time this year how many rooms to let there have been all season in the guest houses. Some of which friends have not been able to get into for years.

I just hope that the shack problem is sorted in Monsoon, so that all the newbies who come on the first charters will be able to enjoy the sun, sea and shacks, as this year it was the 10th December before ours was up.

It is really quiet here at the moment, but at least the sun is shinning not cold like the UK.

Qiite apart for the recession, I think a major fact in the drop of numbers to Goa of late can be attributed to the formation of the major travel companies into just two groups. They immediatley seemed to start the policy of rather than sell last minute holidays at a discount, to simply cancelling flights, arranging twin pick ups i.e. Manchester & Gatwick, and cancelling various airports. Once they had done this,and created a shortage, they were free to put up the prices considerably. The spare aircraft capacity then was shifted to more profitable winter routes such as Sharm. We visit Thailand each summer, and our flights and hotels prices are much the same since the start of the recession, whilst the package market to Goa has increased so much pricewise, it's as cheap, quite often,( and more comfortable ) to DIY with flights and accomodation
As far as the shacks go I'd like to think they will have sorted their problems and be up and running by the end of Nov. when we arrive but I'm not holding my breath. Every year there is problems, every year the "boys in brown" show up with theit wrecking crews, every year more hassle re sunbed numbers, an on and on. I'm left with the conclusion that vested interests are behind all this, and I expect, this year, will be the same. When first we visited Goa in the late eighties, as far as I can remember there were no shacks then, and everyone stayed at the pool and ate in the hotel, and behind the scenes,there's a lot of people who would like to go back to these far off days.
Alan

we have been many times to different places in thailand,and why did we stop,becauce prices have not stayed the same.when we first went we were getting 75baht to the £,it steadily went down to 59 to the £,so how prices have stayed the same i can,t comprehend..today i believe the rate is 49.7,one heck of a drop,we only discovered goa last season,and it,s goa for the forseable future.oh,and we were there 2nd wk of november and there were quite a few shacks up.

I must have missed those shacks up and running last November, I walk the whole length of Calangute and Baga beaches daily, and saw little evidence of them. Re rates, I used to get 85 rps to the £, nothing like that today. The price I quoted for Thailand was the £. price I payed for flights and accomodation, I'm quite aware of the fact that the £ has taken a battering in most holiday areas, including Thailand and India The last poster seems to feel that anyone who makes ANY comparison between Goa and Anywhere, must immediatley be brought to book, I'm not sure why. I was merely attempting to point out the increases in Charter holidays costs to Goa these last couple of years, and the problems as I see it, with the opposition to shacks, for many years now, in my experience, from a variety of areas, and the possible causes for both. It was not an attack on Goa as she seems to think, I'm sure many posters here over the last few years would attest to that. I've not missed a visit every year since the 80s, and will be returning in November as usual, hardly the track record of a serial Goa knocker.
Alan

To quote valleylady - 75baht to the £,it steadily went down to 59 - today i believe the rate is 49.7,one heck of a drop.

If you want to compare exchange rates. In September 09 the rupee was just over 82rps to £1 - today it is just over 68rps £1 and that is in a matter of about 6 months.

i am not saying that anyone is attacking goa,everyone is entitled to an opinion,i,m just saying that for us goa is only just starting,,our 1st visit last november/december was great,and as we know no other goa to the one we expierienced,it definatly is,nt over for us,when it starts to cost us 1 1/2 times more to holiday there as was our last trip to thailand then i,m sure we will be looking for somewhere else. as for the beach shacks,it makes no differance to us wether they are up and running or not,yes we enjoyed the ones that were up and running,but we are not really beach people,and there are plenty of places to eat other than the shacks,the ones we went to in november were spotty,s candolim,the one just to the right of calangute steps, big banana shack baga, cliffs that is in the litte cove to the right of baga,sp2 in ashvem and the chill out i think it was on mendrem beach,more than enough for us

I have to say we always go package and for the last 2 years the price of our holiday as actually gone down. We are paying less again for next Xmas/New Year than we did last year. We do book as soon as they brochure comes out though as I know the prices go up as the year goes on although our hotel has been fully booked for Xmas for a few weeks now.