GETTING TO GOA

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We got into Mumbai airport around 3:30am from Qatar with the plan to board the 5:25am flight to Goa, having not really slept since leaving Marrakesh 2 days earlier (we got up early to see Casablanca before flying out, then had a 17 hour layover in Doha, Qatar). We got ourselves from the international terminal to the domestic one, which really looks more like a greyhound station than an airport:

Each of the screens is a gate

We sat by a departures screen that listed the flights and the gate of departure--all of the flights were showing Security Check, then Now Boarding, then Final Boarding, then Departed.  There was also a screen in the middle of the space that would flash for each flight's final boarding. Our ticket said gate 11 but the screen showed gate 18. So we waited and waited for the screen to show now boarding, assuming it was just late, as I'd read that much of Indian travel includes long delays. When nothing had changed 10 minutes after the scheduled departure time, we were getting a little worried, and just as I went to ask at gate 18, the flight to Goa changed on the screen from Security Check to Departed--no Now Boarding, no Final Boarding and no flashing screens...we were already totally wrecked from lack of sleep, so this was not a welcome surprise...not only did they not announce it (apparently they did in Hindi!), but it left from gate 11, the originally printed gate... We explained the situation to the person at the gate, a round-bellied short man with a thick mustache and what looked like a ship captain's hat. He was less than sympathetic. He insisted we would have to pay for a new flight (double the original plus a transfer charge). He sent us to the main terminal to buy a new ticket. I found the administrator there--a woman in her mid-fifties who was immensely more receptive to the "I'm just a sad tourist with only 2 hours of experience in your country which I traveled so far to see." She helped us get on the next flight free of charge, but unfortunately the next flight with seats wasn't until 1:30pm. We went and got a delirious but delicious meal of dosas in the main terminal food court. We then tried to sleep in the terminal for the next 5 hours which proved incredibly difficult with thousands of Indians staring at us, slumped and drooling in stiff chairs...

Thankfully, we boarded our 1:30 flight without issue and made it to Goa an hour later. We arrived in Dabolim, which is in the middle of Goa (Goa is a state in South India with many beach towns lining the coast, all slightly different), and we needed to head about an hour and a half north to Vagator. We went to get a taxi and the taxi drivers there all informed us that there was a taxi strike and they could only take us to the Vasco da Gama bus station about 10 minutes away, where we could potentially get a tuk tuk (3 wheeler with a motorcycle engine and a small body to sit inside - see pics below), or take a bus up to the north. When we got to Vasco da Gama, there were a few older taxi drivers standing around talking in the street. They confirmed that the taxi strike was on and that if they tried to drive us north, people would throw rocks at their cars. One of the older taxi drivers was an incredibly nice Hindu man who was helping me figure out my options...they were: take 3 packed buses with all of our luggage and zero sleep to get to Vagator in probably 3 to 4 hours time; pay 1200 rupees to the only guy willing to take us in his tuk tuk whom the other taxi drivers all agreed was crazy; sleep in a seedy looking hotel in Vasco for the night and potentially take a taxi in the morning if the strike is over "which it probably will be" (it wasn't); or rent a car and drive ourselves for 1200 rupees a day. We took the car. 

Cecily waiting with our bags while I discuss our options across the street...tuk tuks to the left.

Discussing options across the street...

The car...

Not only is driving crazy in Goa, but it's on the left side! As is the stick shift! And the steering wheel on the right! Damn redcoats and their stupid empire. So, no sleep, left side of the road, and first time driving stick on the left side with wheel on the right...but we made it! It was a hell of a journey, but thanks to an amazing offline maps app, CityMaps2Go, we were able to navigate the whole way (thanks for the tip, Dad). As soon as we got there, even though we rented the car for 3 days to make it worth the guy's while, I left it parked at our hostel the entire time. This was not a normal rental car by the way -- it was just some dude's new car -- there was a stuffed tiger in the trunk, a Ganesh on the dash, green and white flowers around the bottom of the windshield, and best of all, a CD with sweet Indian jams on it. I called my brother to tell him about the situation and that I wasn't excited about having to return it to Vasco and pay for a taxi back--he said in all his years in India (he spent about 10 years on and off in India), he's never driven himself nor would he ever recommend it. What he did recommend, however, was to pay someone to drive the car down and take the bus or taxi back, assuring me it wouldn't cost very much. I was skeptical, but called the same taxi driver who had taken us to an outdoor party the night before and he said it wouldn't be a problem. His price to do it was 1200 rupees--the same price I'd been quoted just for the taxi from Vasco back to where we were staying. He came the next morning, drove it down, no problems at all. AND...the taxi strike was back on that day, so I would have been totally screwed again! Anything is possible in India. And this is something they say a lot with a head bobble left to right, "anything is possible."

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