My recent trip to Goa!

Hello folks. Hi, hope you are doing great. A very happy new year to everyone of you. Live and stay, happy and joyful forever, that would be my wish for all of you, this year. I hope your 31st night was peaceful or full of fun. Though, nothing changes, these new years are good to give a bit structure to our thoughts, plans, and memories.

New Years do work as milestones, and good time to start new pursuits, other than that it is definitely an excuse to party, such as other festivals limited to their respective cultures. New Years has always been a global festival, such as Football or Cricket World Cups or IPLs of the world, where people like us find a random reason to celebrate and laugh with family and friends.

Recently I went on a really nice trip, started with an official reason and situated around Christmas, the plan got extended. On the top of it, one of my friends had some sunburn passes for 28th, 29th, and 30th of december. So, a 2 day official trip changed into a 10 day long mini work-cation.

Being a frequent digital nomad, we had to ensure that we have access to internet. We saw multiple folks like us, who were enjoying the beautiful view and calm breeze of the sea, with their laptops open, or sometimes on meetings. Surely, they were adding as much value to the conversation as their other counterparts. Maybe sitting in such a relaxed environment their inputs would be more intuitive and vibrant.

When people travel to Goa, they have multiple motives, some people wants to relax, some to party, some to feel the thrill or whatever, and some to do romantic bang. I don’t know about the later one, but I found a very good place for the first one. That is Arambol Beach, you might have read about this many times, and I want second all those voices.

Arambol Beach is definitely, one of the most peaceful place in Goa. It is in North Goa, it is shallow upto a good extent, and the sand is very fine for our feet. The beach is not at all crowded, and you can find many people both Indians and foreigners, doing stuff, chilling, and minding their own business. Your trip might be occasionally disturbed by random beach side sellers, offering things like, anklets, pendents, shirts, strawberries, pineapples, temporary tattoos, etc.

I do like to mention not to fall for these temporary tattoo makers, we had some and all of them were terrible. If you really want to have a temporary tattoo, go for tattoo shops nearby. In Arambol, you would prefer to stay near the beach, and there are multiple options, all across the beach. The pattern is, beach-shack-huts, so every morning, it will be just a few yards walk, and you will be already till knee, in the sea water.

The best part of Arambol is its awesome bathes. We used to wake up, go for a dip in the sea, have breakfast on our hotel shack, and then take a second one before coming back to the huts. I would suggest a good sun screen, but honestly, after a point, it won’t really help. 🙂 I am saying this after looking at my face, I did my best to utilise the sun screen available to me, but after some point, when I was loving the beautiful experience of those waves, I knew my skin is getting tanned. You feel the tan, you will know, but not until too late.

Life – Death Experience at Arambol

Yes, this too happened, so if you are a surfing lover, Arambol is the right place for you. It is worth loving, you have to wait for the right wave, and grab it on its pace, and there you goo. Cruising towards the shore!

We also went to rent some of them to https://surfwala.com. Since, we need certain level of training before using those big surfboards, they were happy to rent the small ones, for INR 300/ hour, in CASH. we were delighted, and took them to the waves at once. It was fun to float on those surfboards, and play with the waves. You can mount on them, and it will keep you afloat.

I was imagining the ending of Titanic Movie, about how the Leonardo Dicaprio character would’ve been feeling. It was really fun, loved the experience. Until.

I was trying to run with the waves, and in order to swim fast, I couldn’t keep the balance of the board, and fell down, only this time to find no sand beneath my feet. I took a long gulp of sea water, and tried to get on the board again, but it was a smaller board, and I soon realised it is not helping me stay afloat, and I have to run towards the land. But, as I said there was no land beneath to run on.

I used to think that I can swim, and I can, I realised this after that incident. But I am a terrible swimmer, I was panicking, even when I knew I can swim. The surfboard takes you away from the shore slowly. While you are waiting for that perfect wave to hop on, it is taking you away, slowly and slowly. This happened with me twice. There was a moment, when my thoughts went to other dimension, I was trying to come back, but the sea was pulling me back. Every time I was trying to search the land, which was grazing my feet, but I couldn’t make a solid contact. That was terrifying, in pure misery, I was remembering my family, and suddenly, I felt and said, ‘Not Today!’

I did come back, the fact I am writing this, is already a sign that I made it out, twice. But all my friends who would want to try, stay cautious. I will definitely learn surf boarding, next time I visit Arambol. And, also I will learn swimming, how can I be in peace with the water. A lot of work for me.

Worst Experience

Well, we had to move to Vagator, to a hotel, near to the SUNBURN location. We went down to Vagator Beach, though beach was nice, it was small, resulting in people congestion, also there are rocks on it, so there is not much you can do. So we went to Anjuna, could be a good spot for water sports and whatever, but a big no for a swim. And, post this we did the biggest mistake, and we went to BAGA. Terrible!

Crowded – Over Commercialised – Distractions. We actually counted, and found that on average of 5 seconds, people were coming to sell something. And, the best part, they come with multiple products, and you have to say ‘No’ to each one of them. 5 Products, 5 Saleswoman/man, 5 seconds.

5*5*5! So you can end up saying ‘No’ 125 times even in half of a minute. I know I have shared the most severe observation, but trust me, forget about peace, or bath, if you are on BAGA. We left soon, and got ready for the Sunburn event. The event was great, and we had a Gala time, for 3 days.

The mobile network is terrible almost all around the Goa. I urge my friends and competitors to do something about it. The network is great on the beaches though. While coming back I thought of sharing my experience with others, I think I had a really nice time. There were things that I really enjoyed, and wish to wholeheartedly share with my readers. I aspire for such places where people can share their traveling experiences, and their stories.

The stories can entertain others, but none the less inform and help others. I know, mine got too long, but I am sure people have numerous awesome ways to do the same. One such place that is being built right now is ‘Nomadic Crypto Traveler Club’ http://nomadiccrypto.com/

NCTC

Super excited for this. There is a serious lack of authentic places on internet, where travel enthusiasts can come together, and sincerely help each other with their experiences. On the top of it, there is an acute shortage of places, where these frequent nomads can make money by sharing their experiences and helping others. NCTC platform is a Web3 use case, and will soon hit the market. Watch out for the Traveller passes, that will act as your entry in the Crypto Nomad Community.

We came back to Gurgaon on 31st December, as we already did so much party, there was nothing left to party on 31st evening. Hence, we decided to have a peaceful new year eve, in contrast to our last 10 days. People in our hotel were shocked to hear that we are leaving on 31st, and were like people come to Goa on 31st, and you are leaving. Well, thanks to SUNBURN and no travel options on 1st and 2nd Jan, we had enough motives to leave Goa on 31st evening, and reach back home before 12 midnight.

While, I did catch cold reaching back, as I was coming from hot weather to the chilling cold on North India. Even right now, I am in intense Sinus pain, but I am sure that the rest of the year will be fantastic for me, as all other years had been. And, I wish the same for you too, hope you will have the best times, and more strength within, then those hard times will demand.

Happy New Year, Happy Life! Cheers!

~R

Feature Image Credit: Asiana Times