Background.
This idea to drive to Goa was in my mind for a long long time. Since I love pets I have a black labrador "Dashy" at home. The idea of keeping her at a kennel and moving around always disturbs us and most of our trips normally gets cancelled because of this sentiment. Further I could not always find a place that accommodates pets to take her along with us. This time it was perfect as we had a maid who was living with us and likes pets. I was definitely not in a mood to let go of this wonderful opportunity and decided to make the idea a reality.
Convinced my wife to take a couple of leaves from her office, and as for kids their puja holidays was chosen. The deal was to look around Goa for a few days and to see a little bit of Karnataka on the way to Goa. Karnataka got added after I saw the thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-pictures.html. It was going to be an inspiring drive and my family was very much enthusiastic seeing my energy levels, though somewhere in their minds they knew it would become hectic. After all the initial discussions are done, we started to note down where all we must visit and find out what the place offers.
So from the beginning of September, just immediately after our Yercaud trip, me and my wife started finding out the best deals on the net for a stay at Goa. Finally Makemytrip offered a good deal at Santana Beach Resort at Candolim. Costed Rs5300 with extra bed and breakfast for a family of four for 5 nights and 6 days. Actual costs are high, since I had some coupon code due to my air travel through them I could use it for some discounts. The accommodation consisted of a living room, bedroom, kitchen cum dining room and a balcony. AC included too. Perfect isn’t it. Most important kitchen had a mini bar. Food at their restaurant is just average – but who wants that from them in Goa? Just behind them is the coastal line of Candolim.
But once when Karnataka coastal line got added in our trip, additionally two more nights have to be planned and we were in no mood to settle down any where else than Goa, so decided on another place – LaBen at Colva. This is more to the south of Goa so as to ease our south trips. Costed Rs1300 for 2 Nights with extra beds and AC. Again booked through makemytrip and used some more coupon codes. Decent place for a family to stay. No frills, just clean rooms. Very near to Colva Beach, and hence shacks and other restaurants were just nearby. The additional travel involved due to this was taken as an opportunity to drive for me and my wife. We are one crazy family
We were reading frantically through all the travelogues here at team-bhp and sometimes referring to the 52 weekend getaways from Bangalore by Outlook. Outlook traveler turned out to be shocking in reality – more of it later.
Most of the road details were discussed at team-bhp and with the help of ravibhat decided on the routes to travel. As a backup for the travel I took my satguide GPS and Lonely Planets India and Bengal road atlas which is a very comprehensive map of all the National and State highways.
All set by 25/09/2008. Three weeks of reading, dreaming, discussions, working out the economics, we started to become comfortable with the data collected and just wanted to get going. The plan - start by 28th September and return by 5th October. Places to visit – Yana, Jog, Maravanthe, Murdeshwar, Gokarna, Karwar, Goa.
Oh my God, I just cant say how much frustrated you get since the day was not approaching to just hit out. Waiting for 28th September was the longest wait I ever had. Every passing hour seemed to be too long.