Thread by @drkitp

As i sit here shivering in the cold #delhiwinter ,and seeing the indian milesverse get pumped with stories of epic redemptions, lets take a break and get back to the simple joys of basic travel for a bit.

Let me suggest to you how to do #Goa right!

🚨 Long thread Alert! 👇 🧵 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

A while back in another cold Delhi winter, the wife and I made a snap decision to get the hell out of the fog, smog and the brain fog in Delhi and fly down south to Goa for 3 weeks as we were on a study break! Of course i didnt have the points to sponsor that long a trip!!

So I Started looking at air-bnbs and came across a lovely housing colony in Benaulim. A fully furnished comfortable 1 BHK 🏠 , 2 mins walk from the beach, with a pool inside the colony and spotless clean!

After some “creative”messaging within the app to get the phone number, booked directly with the owner for Rs 20K for 21 nights! Air-bnb rate was 32k. Don’t worry! I used my credit card to do the deposit, so no points earning opportunity missed.😄

We didn't rent any motor vehicles and simply rented two bicycles 🚴 which we used to go everywhere. Mornings began early at 6 am with cycling about 10 kms on the beach. The beach surface here is quite conducive for bicycle rides. Instead of roads, we commuted mostly via beach! twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Get fresh fish at Colva market which is about 30-45 mins ride through the beach, or grab breakfast at Hari’s German Bakery!We spent the rest of the morning studying or doing consults before cooking lunch at “home” or lunch at Roger’s or Johncy’s.

Afternoons were for the beach! 🏖🏖Benaulim had to be one of the cleanest beaches ive seen in Goa and not very crowded except on Sundays. You can go swimming in the sea or lounge around the beach beds reading a novel , glugging down beer or sipping on the happy hour cocktails!

A great spot that doubles as a beachside bar as well as a hip lounge in the evening is the Southern Deck at Benaulim. Look out on insta or with locals for flyers of happy hours as they dont advertise it on the restaurant.

Excellent margaritas! 🍸They were a bit stingy on the Sangrias 😡 (look at the pic!) until i figured out the problem was the guy at the door and started asking the bartender directly. 😎 Fries were on point.

After the beach, we usually head to the colony’s pool, swim a bit then head home for a quiet evening mostly. Some nights we went out for dinner. Joecon’s beach restaurant was right beside our neighbors the Taj Exotica, and had a lovely live music and seaside restaurant.

Of course, for all the talk of this being a non luxurious trip, fate handed us a free hotel stay at the Radisson Cavelossim. How that came to be is a funny story for another time 😅. Its a beautiful property on the outside but the rooms are dated. Took a cab this time 😄.

Adjacent to it, is sister property, Novotel Dona Sylvia, a beachfront resort. Radisson guests were allowed to use their amazing pool and access the beach through their property.

Seagull restaurant is excellent n reasonably priced! We also crashed some weddings! 😅😅

A day before we left Goa, we visited Alila Diwa by Hyatt as a daytrip. A 16 km bicycle ride roundtrip from our apartment, it was worth it. We got completely sunburnt, flattened our bicycle tires but it was totally worth it. Highly recommend to stay here!
Cons- beach is a bit far.

3 weeks later, much to our shock, we left 3 kgs lighter, accomplished all we needed to and felt so much more refreshed and closer than ever! I can’t recommend this enough for each and everyone out their esp in their late 20s and 30s. You need this, you don’t even know it.

What to pack:
A wife/SO
Lots of sunscreen
Sunglasses
Swimwear
Laptop/books.
A FOMO free attitude.

If you’ve done something like this, please share ur stories in comments below!

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