Shop Till You Drop - In Goa

Truth be told, I didn't have time THIS trip to do much (or any) shopping in Goa.

If I haven't told you before, however, this wasn't my first trip to the GREAT city, and I do remember some of my shopping haunts from last time.

Visit any public beach, and on the sand, you will find TONS of shops selling various trinkets, cool tops, shoes, funky pajamas and other such items. All of these items will already be super reasonable priced, but you can STILL further bargain with the shopkeepers to further lower the price. After all, there is no better feeling that bargain shopping.

While you can pretty much hang out at any beach and buy stuff, there are a few markets where there will be a LOT OF STUFF available:

1. Calangute Market Square

2. Baga Market

3. Arjuna Flea Market

4. Ingo's Saturday Night Baazar

As always, DON'T FORGET TO BARGAIN! And of course, have fun buying the CRAZIEST things.

This will be my last post on Goa (I could go on and on) but we will Unicorns will be switching to a new topic from tomorrow. 

Stay Tuned!

The Emerald Palms Resort, Goa

I stayed in two of the most awesome resorts during my tip to Goa, visited one more purely for dinner, but the one I loved the most was the Emerald Palms Resort. 

A converted Portuguese Villa, plus a few extensions to house more people, it's half part ancient architecture, half more modern but designed to look vintage, this resort is such a GREAT interpretation of modern and ancient Goa combined. 

A few great things about this resort include:

1. The Goan Shacks (with CHEAP food) right outside the gate

2. It's not THAT expensive to live in

3. The rooms and the entire resort is very old-timey and BEAUTIFUL

4. It's only 1 KM away from Varca Beach, one of the busiest and most commercial beaches in Goa. 

5. It's REALLY family friendly, with a pool, a family play zone, games every night and AMAZING food in house as well.

I hope you do stay here, if you ever visit Goa! It is SUCH a lovely resort.

Goa With Two Little Monkeys - My Favourite Memories

It is EXTREMELY hard to co-ordinate a family vacation. I mean, one that is out of our home town.

Every summer, all my aunts and uncles from out of town come home, to the great Chennai City, have fun, eat all the food there can possibly be and ALWAYS plan to plan a holiday together, but *BADUM TSS* it NEVER works out.

Well, that was when the adults were doing it.

Sometimes, adults underestimate just HOW MUCH kids are dying for a vacation and to just NOT GO to school (or college) and so this time, my brother and I took it upon ourselves to actually co-ordinate the whole thing. We planned the dates, got it confirmed by both sets of parents, spoke about the living arrangements and how the money would work etc and then gave the parents the part of actually spending the money on their credit cards.

So, in November, my family and I packed out bags and hopped onto a flight (that we almost missed because #traffic) and went on OUR FIRST EXTENDED FAMILY VACATION IN YEARS.

With my mom's (aforementioned) sister, her husband and their two kids, aged two and seven, I HAD A BLAST.

My favourite memory in Goa is with my youngest sister. Being two years old, she will proudly tell you that this is ALMOST THREE, can talk for hours and hours without taking a breath, already loves Snapchat filters, knows her way around a phone, and thinks she's the Queen Of Everything. 

We once took this long walk from out hotel rooms to the beach (about ten minutes if you, an adult, were walking) but about twenty with a toddler holding your hand, and THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT with such fervor would made you laugh: (including, but not limited to)

1. The Merits and Demerits of the Two Pools in the Resort
2. The Theme For Her THIRD Birthday Party
3. This Funny Thing Her Older Brother Had Done
4. Her Birthday Cake, and how ONLY she can cut it and everyone else could only eat a DOT
5. Her Many School Friends

While I yelled "STEP" "STEP" "STEP" for her to look down and not fall.

I truly love my little sister and I can't wait until she comes to Chennai in December.

Smack your Goan Lips - Food in Goa

What's the best part about holidays (after the 1) shopping and 2) the company)?

WELL, OBVIOUSLY, THE FOOD!
If there's one vacation rule I have, it's to NEVER compromise on the food (or think about the calories) because if anything, it will be the ONE thing you regret.

Goa, like all cities, has the expensive 5-7 star restaurants, but if you're Young and Hungry like almost all of us are, there's no better place to EAT YOUR HEART OUT than shacks in Goa!

Though they may be visually unappealing, the various meals I had in shacks were ON PAR with the meal I had at Taj Exotica. I AM NOT JOKING. You will get all the food (and the drinks) that you've ever wanted at 1/10th the price.

I can't give you my favourite restaurant, because in the three days I as there, I managed to try three shacks, and they were all awesome, which only leaves me wondering what the COUNTLESS other's food might taste like.

So, my only advice for food in Goa is:

1) Be Adventurous and

2) EAT LIKE THE GOANS IN CHEAP SHACKS

For more on Goa, come back tomorrow!

Gorgeous Goa - A Land of Water and More Water

Every time you go on vacation, I BET you discover a new favourite spot that you can't help but keep going back to.

For me, it was (and usually always is) the pool!

When I was five years old, I was in a little pool back home in Chennai and I saw two other kids my age having a swimming lesson. I was so intrigued (as the story my mother tells me) that I imitated what they were doing, and the next day, she enrolled me in the same classes as well, and the water and I have been inseparable since. 

The Pool at the resort I recently stayed at in Goa (though SUPER COLD) was EXTREMELY FUN! With small goal like nets on two sides, and a slide (it's been removed in the picture below) it was a LOT of fun with my toddler cousins and the rest of my family.

While there are more commercial (touristy) things to do in Goa, I would SERIOUSLY recommend just chilling out and having fun with the people you travelled with,

Other Items that on my Favourite Spot List:

1. The Bed (with its SUPER COMFY COMFORTER)

2. The BEAUTIFUL Beach

3. The Shacks with the DELICIOUS cheap food and drinks.

Gorgeous Goa!

What do you usually look for in a vacation?
Or, rather, HOW do you vacation?

My family and I usually try to go on vacation with other people (the more the merrier, right?) and it's ALWAYS strange to see people vacationing in different ways that we do.

We usually have a loose itinerary of what we're doing on that day (There might or might not be calendar entries involved) unless it's a pre-booked tour or special attraction, in which case the day is pre-planned. We mostly do this on trips outside the country, and the ones in India are more laid back.

The last vacation I went on (just this last month) was to GOA! Filled with beaches, beautiful people and even better food, Goa is one of the hippest places in India, AND YET, all we ended up doing was:

1. EAT
2. SLEEP
3. BEACH.
4, SWIM.
5. EAT SOME MORE.

IT WAS SUCH AN IDEAL VACATION.

While most people (aka teenagers and new adults) tend to visit North Goa, the land of parties and 'controlled substances' since I was on vacation with my family (immediate and my mother's sister, her husband and their toddlers, aged 2 and 7) we were staying in the more family friendly part - the South.

The Portugese Villa

I was there for a grand total of three days, during which time we switched resorts from a Portuguese Style Villa to a more commercial resort with it's own private beach, both of which were VERY different. I adored the villa with it's spacious rooms and old style architecture. The resort, with its dual pools and restaurants had a lot more to DO with antsy children and ended up being more fun!

The Resort

If you are going with your family, I'd seriously recommend the South, but if you are vacationing with your friends, the North is probably where you'll find whatever you're looking for.

Goa is the ideal place for ANY kind of vacationer - the hyper planned one, the chilled-out one or just the sleep-in-all-day one, and over the next week, I'll take you on the trip with me! Stay Tuned!