Another early morning start for our crack support team Sharon and Saira as we headed off to the airport for our trip to Goa.
Airports in India are very secure and require a fair bit of time for processing. Visitors are not permitted to enter the airport - you have to show your ticket and passport to get in to the building. Security is all provided by the army - including all entrances, metal detectors etc. At Mumbai there is even a machine gun nest by the front door. At the regional airports you have to get your hold luggage scanned and tagged before you lodge it with the airline.
Once you have your boarding pass your hand luggage is scanned and everyone gets a pat-down body search and metal detector waved all over.
Anyway, a very helpful man from Air India helped us check in as a group which was very beneficial for the Hally-Konynenburg baggage allowance (domestic is 15kg instead of international 30kg). We are the notorious over-packers!
Our flight was due to leave about 10:00 and it was only a few minutes late. airport operations over the whole trip have been pretty efficient. Our flight transited through Mumbai but we stayed on the plane and some new passengers joined in Mumbai as well.
We arrived in Goa around 14:00, but the luggage took a while to come through and so it was around 15:30 by the time we got cabs to our respective destinations.
The D'Souzas and the Mays are staying with an old friend of James named Geoffrey in the village of Ucasaim (past Mapusa). Geoffrey lives in New York and has been away for 35 years but he has recently rebuilt the old family home in Goa for holiday and heritage reasons.
The Hally-Konynenburg's are off to Candolim Beach to a small resort hotel called "The Clematis".
Looking at Trip Advisor a few days before we got here we were starting to get a bit nervous as there were mixed reviews but it was a great spot and we were very excited to check it out !
Dinner at the in-house restaurant (which has a very Swiss Family Robinson feel) and then off to sleep!
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