Hi i agree with you, we have diy'ed a lot, but never to goa, this is our first time, went package before,we haved saved a lot of money, going on the 9th december and staying till 3rd january,flying with kingfisher,staying in 2 bed apatrment, total cost of £1,200 for the 2 of us.I am delighted with the price as it has included xmas and new year. lots of money for shopping Gel

I,am also a diy virgin going kingfisher.. mumbia.. goa.. staying at the highland beach.. ask the G.M on are last trip to do us a deal.. for 2 week novmber.. and 4 week in feb.. 2 bedroom.. 2 bathroom.. all singing and dancing.. pick my own apt.. sorted.. my only worry is mumbia

were also staying at HBR stayed for last 7 years we private rent for £100 per wk in november
NEIL

GOA6
What dates were 9th till 25
neil

sat 14th november get in to goa.. 1350.. we have stayed at the higland beach around 10 time.. most say hello.. now i no your a big soul brother..

Gone DIY now for the last 8 years and found to save a few £££'s on package tours. We can only get 2 weeks a year, so having looked into schedual flights is not an option (don't want to loose any time stuck in Mumbai), so decent charter flights and a good price for the accomodation will suffice, and a small saving for me (or the leg iron to spend...)
Spike.

Did DIY last year.Flew schedule, saved plenty of money on the flights compared to charter, only downside it takes a lot longer. Booked our own accommodation. Doing the same this year going for 3 months, flights plus accommodation £1500.

Spike

The Kingfisher flight via Mumbai to Goa wastes very little time also you clear immigration and custom's in Mumbai so no hanging around like you get in Goa.

The best Kingfisher flight leaves Heathrow at 20.50 and arrives in Mumbai at 10.40 the next morning, transfer to the domestic terminal on their bus and catch the 12.50 flight to Goa. You arrive in Goa under an hour later collect your bags and walk strait out of the airport.

The return Kingfisher flight via Mumbai is not as good because you have to leave Goa at 6.30 and hang around for the London flight that gets to Heathrow at 17.50 but If you book the Bangalore return you leave Goa at 8.15 and still get to Heathrow by 18.10 that evening.

It is better than the premium seats on a charter flight and costs under £400 return at the moment.

Jet are excellent as well but more expensive at the moment.

Cheers. Had a look at scheduale flights and the ones that would suit us for work purposes are from London, which then means another day off to get down there (we are in Leds) and possibly a night over, more cost to add on I'm afraid.

A great positive about DIY( apart from more comfortable flights in most cases) is that you can look beyond accomodation that you see in the brochures. I note that you have picked the Highland Beach Resort. The last 3 reviews of it that we have are not good. Might be worth looking around ( assuming you haven't paid up front of course)- thats the beauty of DIY. You have plenty of choice.

Hi Fiona
Been staying at the HBR for the last 8 years and have never been dissapointed,have alot of friends who go there and know a few of the long stayers . I think in our case its better the devil you know
NEIL/KAZ

Just got a email ETHIAD doing MAN TO MUMBAI for £327 rtn-------- heathrow £280 rtn grab a bargain
NEIL

by the way i only checked for november

I know I'm a nebie, but I feel like an oldbe having read this board for a long time, but never joined in! Sorry Fiona, at least I have now.

For me there are pros and cons to both.

With DIY, if you choose a scheduled flight you have that extra baggage allowance which is always handy, comfort - magic and a little more flexibility if you are able to take advantage of that. In Goa, you can stay at some of the lovely little guest houses or two or three, which I think are so much more cosy than the bigger hotels.

"Flight only" not so comfortable, but choose you own guest houses or two or three....

Flight and accomodation - no worries (usually). Everything is taken care of as long as you get to aeroplane! You know you have a base for the holiday which sometimes is a blessing.

For me, a big drawback (now) with the charter flights is the lack of luggage allowance :-(

I've only done DIY as part of a bigger India trip, or following the cricket tours.
You can't beat getting off an early-morning internal flight at GOI and walking straight outside to find it relaxed with no crowds........I love it.
Unfortunately, for a 2 week holiday I don't want to spend a night at each end at Mumbai....had a bad experience there once with a cancelled flight and a night in a slum hotel with the trots.....wouldn't wish it on anybody and won't do it again.
The London departures are not good for me, so it has to be via Europe or the Middle-East....and they all have silly departure times due to wanting to get back for UK breakfast time.
It's much easier just to go that bit further to Malaysia/Singapore/Thailand...better customs, better airports, no pre-bought VISA and spend your Mumbai waiting time in the air actually flying.

You don't always benefit from extra luggage allowance on scheduled either. A bit of an irritation but my direct booking with Qatar only allows 20kgs of allowance, had I gone through an agent I would have got 30kg. I rang and queried Qatar and they said that's just the way it is !
To be honest, changing planes at Doha will be quite nice because after 7 hours I'm ready to get up and take a walk and the stop over is pretty short too.
The biggest advantage of DIY for us this time is the flexibility to change venues, not necessarily to save money.However this year we have 30 days for about the same as the cost of a 21 day package to a single venue last time and half of it at more expensive hotels too.