With the initial teaser out of the way, here comes the full picture - or at least a portion of it.
Konkan Kanya Express - What a name!! That's what we boarded at midnight on the 14th of August from Thane. With no taxis willing to go from Mulund to Thane and the ones willing charging a ransom, we took the good old local to Thane. With bags in tow, we reached the platform after an endless walk - only to see all the displays showing "CR" instead of the actual compartment numbers. With some help from fellow passengers, we stood right where our bogie would have been and voila, perfect location!!
M, A and Nans joined us at 1:00 AM from Panvel and off to bed we went close to 1:30 AM. Morning started at 7:30 AM with some light sneezing (not from me) instead of an alarm clock. My initial thought was that BB was having her sneeze-fit but it was not to be. Our co-passenger had a bad case of cold that woke us up. No harm done.
It is very important to note that Banker proved to be a snoring champion and as a result, got a new nickname - The Kharrate Kid.
Train journey was very comfortable. Some breakfast in the train and some snacks that we carried helped us through to the hotel. We met a family who had some friends from school in Vashi that we had in our class in VESIT (just a few mins before we chatted with the couple, Banker was just bad-mouthing the kid of her/our friend - could have been disastrous). After a while, with obvious boredom creeping on BB's face as a result of the chatty eye doctor, she resigned to the upper deck to help Nans with her coloring (ah, the joy of motherhood!!).
Instead of Madgaon (the scheduled stop), we got down an hour before at Thivim and boarded our prepaid taxi to Doubletree Hilton.
After checking-in, getting refreshed, it was time for lunch. Miraculously, Sam and AB made their way to the hotel just in time and with Producer (who made it to Goa himself with bad health putting his trip in grave danger) and co. already there courtesy the early morninger, we had a full house for lunch. Most eyes were on KiMo and Avishku for reasons already well known.
The hotel had something for everyone - Carrom, TT, Pool (the table and water kind). After a few rounds, it was time for some rest as we were to leave for Baga Beach later that evening.
Baga was superb, weather held up nicely. If only the restaurants would lower their volumes to acceptable levels, that would have completed a pleasant evening. Instead, we got blaring music (screwed up speakers didn't add to our cause) targeted at drunks and dope-heads having a jolly good time.
We probably changed 3 restaurants - or shacks before finally settling in one with the least annoying music (I don't even remember the name of the shack - unlike me, very). I was probably very hungry to even give it a thought. We ate a lot!! and it was just the beginning.
Curtains for Day 1 of the trip.
Days 2, 3 and 4 were a lot more interesting....don't go anywhere!!!
Konkan Kanya Express - What a name!! That's what we boarded at midnight on the 14th of August from Thane. With no taxis willing to go from Mulund to Thane and the ones willing charging a ransom, we took the good old local to Thane. With bags in tow, we reached the platform after an endless walk - only to see all the displays showing "CR" instead of the actual compartment numbers. With some help from fellow passengers, we stood right where our bogie would have been and voila, perfect location!!
M, A and Nans joined us at 1:00 AM from Panvel and off to bed we went close to 1:30 AM. Morning started at 7:30 AM with some light sneezing (not from me) instead of an alarm clock. My initial thought was that BB was having her sneeze-fit but it was not to be. Our co-passenger had a bad case of cold that woke us up. No harm done.
It is very important to note that Banker proved to be a snoring champion and as a result, got a new nickname - The Kharrate Kid.
Train journey was very comfortable. Some breakfast in the train and some snacks that we carried helped us through to the hotel. We met a family who had some friends from school in Vashi that we had in our class in VESIT (just a few mins before we chatted with the couple, Banker was just bad-mouthing the kid of her/our friend - could have been disastrous). After a while, with obvious boredom creeping on BB's face as a result of the chatty eye doctor, she resigned to the upper deck to help Nans with her coloring (ah, the joy of motherhood!!).
Instead of Madgaon (the scheduled stop), we got down an hour before at Thivim and boarded our prepaid taxi to Doubletree Hilton.
After checking-in, getting refreshed, it was time for lunch. Miraculously, Sam and AB made their way to the hotel just in time and with Producer (who made it to Goa himself with bad health putting his trip in grave danger) and co. already there courtesy the early morninger, we had a full house for lunch. Most eyes were on KiMo and Avishku for reasons already well known.
The hotel had something for everyone - Carrom, TT, Pool (the table and water kind). After a few rounds, it was time for some rest as we were to leave for Baga Beach later that evening.
Baga was superb, weather held up nicely. If only the restaurants would lower their volumes to acceptable levels, that would have completed a pleasant evening. Instead, we got blaring music (screwed up speakers didn't add to our cause) targeted at drunks and dope-heads having a jolly good time.
We probably changed 3 restaurants - or shacks before finally settling in one with the least annoying music (I don't even remember the name of the shack - unlike me, very). I was probably very hungry to even give it a thought. We ate a lot!! and it was just the beginning.
Curtains for Day 1 of the trip.
Days 2, 3 and 4 were a lot more interesting....don't go anywhere!!!
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