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Trip to Goa with LTI buddies

Hello readers!

Its been a while me and my LTI colleagues were planning boys only outing. As  you know  in such scenario, "Goa is always on!".


Yes the plan was on and as all Goa plans do, we jumped the date many times. Well, better late than never and we finally locked the holi long weekend of 2018, March 2nd to 4th.

On day 1 I started at 4:30 Am in the morning from Mulund to reach Thane for 5:30Am train. Almost everyone in the group started around same time. Can't remember getting up so early for work in many years. Well, thats the magic of Goa trips! Suddenly all rickshawala's vanished from Mulund and had to enjoy a good bit of 20 minutes adventurous (through scary jungle of stray dogs) walk to Mulund station. Greeted with closed ticket counters in Mulund east and managed to get ticket in Mulund west just 1 minute prior to Thane train. ufff.. In thane was greeted with smiley faces of boys gang and immediately the fun is on! Joking hahas and huhus..


Well the ride to goa is newly launched Tejas train. I must say its an amzing service by IRCTC. Didn't imagine it would be better than premium airline experience. Some bit of arrangements in boogie and managed to get seats for entire group at one place.


Post an amazing journey in Tejas we arrived at Karmali in Goa around 1:30 PM and hired a traveller bus to Calangute after bit of hustle due to weekend rush. It was an amazing ride through scenic coastal roads of Panjim.

Checked in to the accommodation hired and everyone got ready to spend splendid evening post bit of rest.


The next big adventure was finding bikes for hire that too 7 at a time on long weekend.


Well, somehow managed to get the bikes in time and we all moved to Vagator beach for enjoying the sunset. It was an evening well spent. We saw the scenic sunset at Vagator beach and did stroll to Anjuna. Got chance to meet some outsiders and know their views about Goa and India overall.


Post sunset watching at Vagator, we had dinner in Calangute and moved out to Baga beach for night out. The beach was surprisingly very happening even at the start of off season. It was almost like carnival type rush on the beach.


Everyone had really great time and  came back smiling. Now the game of cards was must before going to sleep. Played a popular Indian game of cards "Mendhi coat" till 4 Am in the morning.

On day 2 everyone got up little late due to tiring day 1. We started late with plan to do some sight seeing. Visited Fort Aguada almost at 1 PM in scorching heat. However all first timers were pretty excited because of scenic location. They did good round of photography here.


Post visit to fort we went for Dolphin ride. The entry to this ride is just few Kilometers away from Aguada fort on the way to Sinquerim beach. This was one amazing experience for everyone. We got to see lot of dolphins around. The ride itself was fun as the sea was little rough on that day. Almost everyone got wet due to the rough ride through waves.


Post amazing dolphin ride we had amazing sea food at nearby restaurant and moved to spend evening at scenic Sinquerim beach. I must say this beach is hidden gem in North Goa. Since its bit inside and directions are not pretty well written, lot of people dont know it. By the time we reached the beach, climate had become pretty pleasant and amazing to do all beach activities. Everyone had lot of fun on all water rides and beach waters. Amazing banana ride was again a fun. I enjoy this one in particular because you can enjoy in group.



Stayed there till sunset and did Wet clothes/bare body (Salman style) bike ride back to our accommodation in Calangute. Plan for evening was not set so we decided to go to Mhapusa market for bit of shopping. However by the time we could reach, markets got closed. It was good fun night bike ride from North goa to Mhapusa and back. We came back and got to know it was the day of Night bazar at Baga so we went there to have some fun. This was really a game changer. Its an amazing way to spend time. You have all the components of fun filled night here Booze, DJ's, international quality rock bands and lots of things to shop and eat. Some of us went on shopping spree while some decided to take a stroll around market.


Post tiring activities some people preferred to stay back in room and some of us moved to Calangute beach for a night beach walk. Had amazing round of coffee on the beach from the hotel bang opposite to Calangute beach entrance. Enjoyed the stroll on beach and adeventurous route finding back home. People staying back enjoyed another round of game of cards. After some chit chat everyone went to sleep at 4:30 AM. It was an amazing day!

On the last day of trip everyone was too lazy to get up. The plan was to visit some places in Old Goa. With bit lazy start we started around noon and visited a famous  Basilica of Bom Jesus church in Old Goa. This is one of the best preserved monument in Goa.


Then very next to it is an archeological mueseum which gives brief information on Portuguese rule in Goa. I must say a drive to this place from Goa is amazing. It has 4-5 KM's of scenic coastal ride. Overall it was good short plan well executed on last day.


Around 4 o'clock  we started our journey to Thivim station to catch 5:30 train back to Mumbai. To our surprise we got to know that train is delayed by 5 hours. Everyone decided to stay back on the station itself. It was one amazing round of cards at the station.


As someone has rightly said "Everything happens for the reason". We got one of the best food in our Goa trip right outside Thivim station. That was enough to take away the stress of train delay. Everyone happily boarded special train to Mumbai at 10:30 Pm and went to sleep in no time keeping in mind to go to office next day.


Overall it was an amazing trip to Goa; first one with new set of friends and some more lunchtime stories to discuss!

Signing off with the hope for the next great one!

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