We made a mistake opting for normal non-air conditioned sleepers train going from Mumbai to Goa. On the surface, it looked like saving 40 percent off the price for simply not having AC, seemed like a steel, but in reality, that meant on a busy train you get the extra people from the chair class sitting on the end of your bed and if they had their way, they’d be on you lap too. We stood our ground and controlled our bunks, even though that meant waking up every half hour to oust someone new trying to sleep on the floor on top of our bags.

But, to move on to paradise! Goa. We got a taxi straight to Arambol beach, absolutely stunning place. We checked into one of the Goa hotels, which was yards from the beach that had great surf every day we were there and the freshest fish on the menu whenever we wanted it. The meals are more expensive than the rest of India, but for a few dollars more, we got shark steak or grilled fish cooked to perfection every time.

Some very lazy days followed that consisted of lying on the beach, listening to music, reading, or just drying off from body-surfing. There’s a great assortment of restaurants, there was even one showing movies every evening. We rarely ventured anywhere else. Such a shame that on our last day, we saw a needle and syringe on the sand, who needs to do drugs here? In Paradise?

Alas, it was time to head on to Anjuan, reported to be a hippies paradise. Sounds perfect. There were lots of hotels available on the beachfront and the life here seemed really good. Great food and the surf was all we needed. It was too bad that Anjuna’s beach isn’t made for running with the sand being so soft. We’ll just have to deal with it somehow.

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