Thanks, 22 hours till i`m on the plane report to follow but your report will take some beating Gemma

Awww thanks FTV as long as I am not boring people Your report will be brill,looking forward to it.
(Got a spare 10 mins might finish mine just now)

Saturday 17 Feb - Our 2nd last day its horrible to think wont be here in a couple of days time or this time next week ... I am already counting the sleeps til we return.
Spent the day at our favourite shack (as usual). No time for lying in the shade under the umbrella time for as many sunrays as possible cos very soon we will be back in soggy Scotland
Called in at Vell Wash to collect the last of our laundry. Another plastic bag with tops and trousers, all for 82 rupees. Usually when you drop off the laundry its about a 48 hour turn around til you get the clean clothes back, but when we dropped them off on Friday we asked to have them back on the saturday cos we were going home early Monday morning (laundry mans shop is not opened on a Sunday)
Popped into the chemist to buy some odds and ends - malaria tablets to bring home (weekly tabs), hankies, mozzie cream, little blue tablets for the mozzie machines and everything came to less than 180 rupees, its fantastic. Plus ive got the supply of malaria tablets to keep taking,
I guess we have kept one of the best restaurants for last so tonight we are going to After 7. I cant believe we havent been here yet, normally we go along a few times each holiday. But we know we love it, and its always there so this time we decided to try some different restaurants. When we are arrived at After 7 we were greeted with extended arms, a big smile and a gretting of 'WELCOME BACK, WELCOME HOME' As usual could not fault the food or service. I normally have the steak but I decided to try something different for the main meal and had a gorgeous pasta dish with cream and bacon and a smokey bacon sauce. Fantastic. We both had 3 courses. I always have the same sweet, cos I love it so much the butterscotch brulee mmmmm i can taste if just now. apart from the 3 courses we had soft drinks and water and I had one glass of wine. total cost 1600 rupees. worth every penny, excellent restaurant and lovely setting.
Our driver Rupesh was waiting for us and we ventured (literally) round the corner to Sendras to say goodbye to our friend Rovin. He greeted us warmly as usual and we ordered a drink. the next thing he appears with all sorts of starters, satay, pakora, onion rings etc etc we explained we had just eaten but he wanted to give us something as well. Managed to squash in a very small bit of starter, but I could hardly move. Promised to keep in touch by email and text and told Rovin we would see him in April. Hate goodbyes they are so sad.
Headed off to the Oceanic for a couple of drinks as well and then back to the hotel, the last day is looming ......

you done brill job, were is vell wash as i will use as hotel seems rip off for what you pay
thanks

Hope this isn't off topic but we used snow white laundry in Candolim for same prices thanks to HT'rs

Hi oap. Whereabouts is the Snow White launderette?

Vell Wash is on the main Baga/Calangute Road. Its on the same side of the road as Ticlo Resort. so if youre coming from the roundabout at Calangute its the Ticlo resort first then Vell Wash or coming from Baga its Vell Laundry first then Ticlo Resort. Ran by a lovely gentelman. Dont be put off if you walk inside and see loads of plastic bags piled up with laundry he seems to know what belongs to what person and everything comes back intact (he does write your surname on the bag as well). give him a try he is excellent and very cheap.
I do know of Snowhite landry as well and would have used that if we were staying in Candolim again, but it was too much out the way from Baga/Arpora area. Paul if you come out the Phoenix Park and turn right and also cross the road you will find snowhite laundry about a mile along the road (going towards Calangute). Its set back from the main road but there is a sign indictating where it is. Its easy to spot, you will find it no problem.

Thanks Gemma33. Thats a lot nearer for us so will definately use them rather than the hotel.

Paul it's just before the football field same side of the road

Debs

yes the hotels are too overpriced now for laundry and dry cleaning. Shame cos they used to be very reasonable, oh well its their lose

Sunday 18 February - Dont you just hate last days - I know I do Its so horrible. But best to get up and treat the day as normal. Had a day at the Oceanic as normal making the most of the sunshine cos we wont see it again for 8 weeks
Left the beach about 5ish and went to the chemist for some more odds and ends then stopped at the wine store just along from the Marinha Dourada (opposite Mackies Market) and bought 2 bottles of Honeybee brandy something to look forward to when I get home.
Back to the hotel and threw all the clothes in the case. Its strange but going back I dont care what the packing looks like, or how its packed, but flying out I am always so careful.
We werent very sure if we would have time to go to Mai Thai tonight and hadnt made up our minds where we were going to eat. Anyhow, we decided to go into Candolim for our evening meal and then pop into Mai Thai for one drink. After some good reports on the forum we decided to check out Bom Successo and its only 2 minutes walk from Mai Thai. Karaoke night in Bom Successo but it was a nice place and the food very enjoyable. I had a lovely lobster cocktail and some tasty tandoori chicken. So we both had starters and a main meal and drinks, for just over 700 rupees.
We wandered round to Mai Thai. At this point I think Louise T was there but just leaving so we missed each other unfortunately which is a shame, but there is always next year Met up with Linb, Shermina, Samtheboater, Gooner Fan and Lezlie. We didnt stay long at Mai Thai (one drink I think) and then we headed to the Oceanic Beach Shack to bid farewell and have a drink with the boys. We were getting picked up at the hotel at 4am for Diabolical Airport ..... now what a thought that is ..... Will do a wee bit about the journey to the airport later on ...

Monday 19 February - We arranged with our taxi driver Rupesh to be picked up at the hotel at 4am and head off to the mad house of an airport. Dabolim airport is a shambles, there is no other way to describe it!!! It took about 2 hours to check in. Queued outside for about an hour, the quickest part was probably the checking in of the luggage, then another queue to check the visas, and then go to the back of another queue again for endless, irrelevant, waste of time security checks. Its exhausting and very exasperating
Once we were in the departure lounge I realised my mobile phone was missing. Searched all my hand luggage bags, to no avail. Phoned Rupesh on his mobile but no reply. What can I do at this late stage anyway? Not a lot.
Flight back to Gatwick was fine and on time!!! We were scheduled to arrive at 12.45 and landed at 12.50. Our flight with Easy Jet to Glasgow wasn't until 18.55. We deliberately booked the flight for later because lots of Goa flights get back into the UK late and on our previous visit in November we missed the connection to Glasgow and had to pay another £160
We saw an Easy Jet flight was boarding for Glasgow and departing at 14.30 so we went to the their desk to enquire and hey presto there were available seats so we got on the earlier flight home, absolutely fantastic
On arrival in the UK I kept ringing my mobile number and got all sorts of weird messages ie, the number didnt exist, the phone was turned off, or just ringing out all the time. Eventually someone answered the phone and says his name is Raj and he found the phone at the airport!!! So maybe I dropped it, I dont know, but I am usually careful, and it would make a bit of a noise if dropped and I would probably hear it falling, so maybe it was taken from my pocket, I honestly dont know ..... Anyway I immediately contacted Vodafone who put a stop on the phone and as I was covered by their insurance I now have a brand new, upgraded phone
So thats us home again, but we fly out again 5 weeks this Monday and we have already booked for Feb 2008, still desperately trying to get a good deal for Nov 2007, but we might have to change hotel, but we will see what happens.
Thanks everyone for reading my report and everyones favourable comments, it gave me the courage to continue, so thanks to one and all.
Will upload some photos soon and do a hotel review

brill report gemma

gold star Gemma

Great report Gemma. It was a pleasure to meet you both. See you next year?

Hopefully Alan. We have booked for 24 Feb flying from Gatwick. A bit later than this year, when do you fly out?

Could be passing each other Fliss, trying to book for the 4th-24th Feb..

Great trip report, we've got fond memories of Bom Sucesso, it was the first resteraunt we ever went to in India in 2000.

Happy Days

Paul

Gemma is that it ....the end ...soooo sad it is a class report ...the best thing about reports is you can go back and read them again and again.....and you will always learn so so much from them THANKYOU.....for telling us all about the fab time you had in goa ..and lucky you ...you go back in a few weeks .colleen