I say mostly because of the time we spend online monitoring travel advisories, flight status, border closings, events back home… the uncertainty is stressful.

We are however enjoying our resort’s yoga, meditation and massage programs not to mention the beautiful beach.

Tourism is the main activity in the beach areas and Goa is also well known as mecca for yoga. One of our fellow guests saw a large class of yoga teachers on the beach graduating from their program. The climate and the yoga attracts many non-Indians to live here for several months. Louise our resort’s owner is from New Zealand and Wilf, our amazing yoga/meditation instructor is from England. 

Like most of India, there are a lot of animals around including dogs, a few cats, cows, a herd of pigs, monkeys, eagles, crows and more.

Speaking of crows, every time I shower in our outdoor shower, a whole flock of crows gather in the tree above and I swear they are watching me.

Wilf tells us that during quieter times of the year (when there are not many tourists) leopards come out of the forests to the beach for their supper. Dogs are one of their main food sources.

We even find some kind of dead water snake on the beach and there are lots of boats that will take you out to see the dolphins.

I love the sand crabs, their industrious hole digging creates gorgeous artwork in the sand.

Because there are usually many tourists here (in times of no Coronavirus)  there is a huge selection of food choices. I’ve been sticking to my pescatarian diet (fish, eggs and vegetarian) and have lost many unwanted pounds. I am not missing the meat.

 

 

I decide to henna tattoo my right hand and I am very pleased with the result. I am promised that it should last a good two months. Unfortunately it seems to be wearing off more and more, I was taken by the henna artist’s story that her natural henna lasts two months. If someone tells you that, don’t buy it. Usually the maximum is two weeks or less depending on the body part and how much you wash that area. Mine lasted less than a week…probably due to increased hand washing and frequent hand sanitizers.

 

 

After yoga one afternoon we walked with Wilf (yoga instructor) to the Sundowner a wonderful outdoor restaurant/bar at the north end of the beach. To get there you walk along the beach and ford a river knee to waist deep if the tide is on the low side or take a small boat if the tide is high. The sunset from there is gorgeous and beer is only 100Rs ($1.90).

After sunset we walked across the low tide river, stopping at our bungalow and then onto the main street for supper. They have some really good restaurants. My two favourites were Zest and Nireas Healthy Haven. Wilf left the Sundowner a few hours after us and said the plankton were glowing in the water when he walked back. Unfortunately we missed it.

 

 

 

 

We go to Wilf’s yoga classes every day, sometimes even twice. He is an excellent teacher always willing to give individual attention. Wilf and his wife, Becky decided to leave England and work in Goa ten months of the year in order to give their six year old son a better environment to play and grow. They also teach in other international locations, here is their web site: Putusretreats

The Palm Forest Palolem owner is Louise who is from New Zealand. I am certain all the lovely touches such as the orchids in the rooms, beautiful soaps, delicious and healthy breakfasts are Louise’s doings. Palm Forest can be reached at: https://www.palmforestpalolem.com/.

I especially enjoy our hour long ayurvedic massages. A husband and wife massage John and I at the same time in a room built of white flowing sheets that ruffle in the wind…there is a sheet between us. In India a man always massages a man and a woman a woman. I love that there is a bowl filled with fresh roses and marigolds below my face when I lie down and look through the opening in the massage table. The oils smell divine and she always ends off by massaging my head with oil that still has my scalp tingling a half hour later…unfortunately it does make my hair very greasy until I shower.

 

 

I want to do a cooking class and drag John along – he is such a supportive husband! I see signs for said class on the beach and follow them to the Yoga Tree where Ruban leads yoga classes as well as cooking. 

We make an appointment for lessons in two days at 4pm. Ruban’s cooking class is rustic – you see how real Indian families cook. No fancy cooking area, just the thatched hut used everyday for cooking with spices, flour and lentils on a table, and bags of vegetables on the floor.  We spend 3 hours watching Ruban make some  basic but classic South Indian dishes. Ruban clearly loves cooking- he complains that people don’t cook slowly anymore and in their haste to make meals quickly, the food and taste suffers.  It was certainly an interesting evening and the food is delicious. I learned a lot.

 

 

As the week goes on, we get more and more concerned about the Coronavirus news. More countries are closing their borders. Our flight home is still a few days off and the Canadian government is saying to come home ASAP. We hear rumblings Canada may close it’s border. All tourist sites in India, including the Taj Mahal, are now closed.  Tours within the country are cancelled. Also, suddenly the two provinces bordering Goa are getting more and more confirmed virus cases. We decide to try and change our flights.

On Sunday we contact FlightHub, who we bought our tickets from and they have a button to click for change flights. We are afraid to click in case we lose our confirmed flight without knowing what we are getting as a replacement. The website says their customer calls have increased 2,000 % and that they are trying to respond to change and cancellation requests but they cannot provide a timeline for answers.  We discuss whether to wait 3 more days and leave as scheduled or look for something sooner.  

Early Monday morning we email FlightHub to try and change to an earlier flight. We receive no acknowledgment email.  We do not have time to wait. By then, we figure, the borders could be closed or more flights cancelled. We read that American Airlines is suspending almost all of their international flights and although we are flying back on United it seems like a coin toss if our flight will be going 3 days from now. 

Later in the morning, with still no response from FlightHub, we decide to try and book earlier flights on our own. John gets on our favourite flight website… Skyscanner. Availability is constantly changing. He finds a flight and by the time he gets to pay for it the seats are gone so he starts again. It’s also more difficult because we must avoid any flights that go through Europe with connections in the US. It’s even more difficult because the internet here is slow at the best of times and the electricity cuts in and out (one of the  charming features of this laid back paradise). At one point John is about to book seats and the power goes out and he loses everything…argh! Eventually John finds flights from Mumbai to London, then onto Toronto and books it. The confirmation is painfully long but finally success. 

The flight to London leaves at 3:00am tomorrow so now we have to rebook our flight from Goa to Mumbai and get from the resort to the Goa airport. The internet is still problematic and we are unable to book a flight online. We decide to just get to the airport and buy a ticket there. We have an hour to pack and say our goodbyes before the taxi arrives. I thought we’d have more time to say goodbye to India. Our driver speeds past villages, people and holy cows. 

After the 1.5 hour taxi ride we get to the airport at 3:00pm and are able to switch our original Wednesday flight on IndiGo airlines from Goa to Mumbai to today at 5:00pm (at an increased price). And we are off on the first leg of our journey home.

Our trip interruption insurance seems to cover the costs of booking earlier return flights – government advisory issued after you buy the insurance saying to not travel to where you are currently located. But the pages of tiny print (no doubt explaining why they can’t possibly pay out any money) make your head spin so we won’t know until we submit a claim.

The flight to Mumbai is uneventful. The beautiful and modern Mumbai Airport is very calm and organized but we have to take a taxi through the chaotic Mumbai traffic to get from terminal 1 to terminal 2.  There is a big tree in the taxi parking area that is filled with large fruit bats. Since the sun just set, they are all starting to fly out of the tree. Very cool.

 

Our 10 hour flight to London on Virgin Atlantic is full and leaves on time. 

Once we get to London’s Heathrow airport things are a bit hectic. First we have to get from terminal 3 to terminal 2 which involves a long hike. At terminal 2 there are long line-ups, no one seems to know where to stand. We do self check-in to get our boarding passes and luggage tags but the luggage drop line-up is massive and moving slowly. We just stand and wait… and wait… and wait.

The airport has internet and we finally get responses from our enquiry the day before to FlightHub to change or cancel our original flight. They tell us we have to make any changes through United Airlines. When we log onto the United website it says to contact your third party ticket seller (FlightHub) to make changes. You cannot win for trying. I am glad we did not wait for a reply from FlightHub and just booked the new flights.

John speaks to an airport employee handling the people constantly being added to our stagnant luggage drop line. John then motions me to come out of the line and we follow the employee to a new and very short line which has our luggage dropped off within 20 minutes. Hurrah! 

After security comes another hike to get to our gate. I never thought of airports as a place to go for a workout but they do have lots of long walks.

I’d say that 50-60% of passengers are wearing surgical masks. I have my mask on, John is going with no mask. As we finally get to our gate we sit and watch other passengers boarding a flight to Singapore… several are wearing complete hazmat suits. Yikes. 

Our Air Canada flight back to Toronto is also fully booked. Lots of people returning early from their plans abroad. We talk to a young guy who is travelling with his rugby team from Vancouver. They were to be touring Ireland and England playing games. They had played only two games before being told everything was cancelled and they had to return home. We are very fortunate that we were able to complete our trip minus the last 2 days.

Once we land in Toronto, everything runs quickly and smoothly. Staff greet you as you exit the plane, handing you a Coronavirus and self quarantine information sheet. They also verbally tell you that you need to self quarantine for fourteen days. One woman is arguing with one of the representatives, saying she is not going to do it. She does not seem to care as he calmly explains that she can be passing it on to vulnerable people. I want to slug her with my magazine, shoe and laptop weighted backpack.

We are out of the airport a lot quicker than expected. It is very well organized or maybe there are fewer people transiting through so no line-ups at customs. 

 

 

Now home, John and I are hunkering down for our self isolation. A dear friend has loaded up our fridge and a wonderful neighbour has offered to pick up groceries if we need them. I feel incredibly blessed.

This wasn’t the way that John and I envisioned our trip ending but it was an amazing experience. India is like no where else. I totally loved the friendliness of the people and richness of the culture. We look forward to returning and exploring this country again. Right now we are feeling incredibly thankful and blessed to be home and for the help and caring of our family, friends and neighbours.

Amidst the ever changing chaos of the Coronavirus, John and I are mostly enjoying our visit to Palolem Beach in Goa and our accommodations at  the lovely Palm Forest Palolem.

I say mostly because of the time we spend online monitoring travel advisories, flight status, border closings, events back home… the uncertainty is stressful.

We are however enjoying our resort’s yoga, meditation and massage programs not to mention the beautiful beach.

Tourism is the main activity in the beach areas and Goa is also well known as mecca for yoga. One of our fellow guests saw a large class of yoga teachers on the beach graduating from their program. The climate and the yoga attracts many non-Indians to live here for several months. Louise our resort’s owner is from New Zealand and Wilf, our amazing yoga/meditation instructor is from England. 

Like most of India, there are a lot of animals around including dogs, a few cats, cows, a herd of pigs, monkeys, eagles, crows and more.

Speaking of crows, every time I shower in our outdoor shower, a whole flock of crows gather in the tree above and I swear they are watching me.

Wilf tells us that during quieter times of the year (when there are not many tourists) leopards come out of the forests to the beach for their supper. Dogs are one of their main food sources.

We even find some kind of dead water snake on the beach and there are lots of boats that will take you out to see the dolphins.

I love the sand crabs, their industrious hole digging creates gorgeous artwork in the sand.

Because there are usually many tourists here (in times of no Coronavirus)  there is a huge selection of food choices. I’ve been sticking to my pescatarian diet (fish, eggs and vegetarian) and have lost many unwanted pounds. I am not missing the meat.

 

 

I decide to henna tattoo my right hand and I am very pleased with the result. I am promised that it should last a good two months. Unfortunately it seems to be wearing off more and more, I was taken by the henna artist’s story that her natural henna lasts two months. If someone tells you that, don’t buy it. Usually the maximum is two weeks or less depending on the body part and how much you wash that area. Mine lasted less than a week…probably due to increased hand washing and frequent hand sanitizers.

 

 

After yoga one afternoon we walked with Wilf (yoga instructor) to the Sundowner a wonderful outdoor restaurant/bar at the north end of the beach. To get there you walk along the beach and ford a river knee to waist deep if the tide is on the low side or take a small boat if the tide is high. The sunset from there is gorgeous and beer is only 100Rs ($1.90).

After sunset we walked across the low tide river, stopping at our bungalow and then onto the main street for supper. They have some really good restaurants. My two favourites were Zest and Nireas Healthy Haven. Wilf left the Sundowner a few hours after us and said the plankton were glowing in the water when he walked back. Unfortunately we missed it.

 

 

 

 

We go to Wilf’s yoga classes every day, sometimes even twice. He is an excellent teacher always willing to give individual attention. Wilf and his wife, Becky decided to leave England and work in Goa ten months of the year in order to give their six year old son a better environment to play and grow. They also teach in other international locations, here is their web site: Putusretreats

The Palm Forest Palolem owner is Louise who is from New Zealand. I am certain all the lovely touches such as the orchids in the rooms, beautiful soaps, delicious and healthy breakfasts are Louise’s doings. Palm Forest can be reached at: https://www.palmforestpalolem.com/.

I especially enjoy our hour long ayurvedic massages. A husband and wife massage John and I at the same time in a room built of white flowing sheets that ruffle in the wind…there is a sheet between us. In India a man always massages a man and a woman a woman. I love that there is a bowl filled with fresh roses and marigolds below my face when I lie down and look through the opening in the massage table. The oils smell divine and she always ends off by massaging my head with oil that still has my scalp tingling a half hour later…unfortunately it does make my hair very greasy until I shower.

 

 

I want to do a cooking class and drag John along – he is such a supportive husband! I see signs for said class on the beach and follow them to the Yoga Tree where Ruban leads yoga classes as well as cooking. 

We make an appointment for lessons in two days at 4pm. Ruban’s cooking class is rustic – you see how real Indian families cook. No fancy cooking area, just the thatched hut used everyday for cooking with spices, flour and lentils on a table, and bags of vegetables on the floor.  We spend 3 hours watching Ruban make some  basic but classic South Indian dishes. Ruban clearly loves cooking- he complains that people don’t cook slowly anymore and in their haste to make meals quickly, the food and taste suffers.  It was certainly an interesting evening and the food is delicious. I learned a lot.

 

 

As the week goes on, we get more and more concerned about the Coronavirus news. More countries are closing their borders. Our flight home is still a few days off and the Canadian government is saying to come home ASAP. We hear rumblings Canada may close it’s border. All tourist sites in India, including the Taj Mahal, are now closed.  Tours within the country are cancelled. Also, suddenly the two provinces bordering Goa are getting more and more confirmed virus cases. We decide to try and change our flights.

On Sunday we contact FlightHub, who we bought our tickets from and they have a button to click for change flights. We are afraid to click in case we lose our confirmed flight without knowing what we are getting as a replacement. The website says their customer calls have increased 2,000 % and that they are trying to respond to change and cancellation requests but they cannot provide a timeline for answers.  We discuss whether to wait 3 more days and leave as scheduled or look for something sooner.  

Early Monday morning we email FlightHub to try and change to an earlier flight. We receive no acknowledgment email.  We do not have time to wait. By then, we figure, the borders could be closed or more flights cancelled. We read that American Airlines is suspending almost all of their international flights and although we are flying back on United it seems like a coin toss if our flight will be going 3 days from now. 

Later in the morning, with still no response from FlightHub, we decide to try and book earlier flights on our own. John gets on our favourite flight website… Skyscanner. Availability is constantly changing. He finds a flight and by the time he gets to pay for it the seats are gone so he starts again. It’s also more difficult because we must avoid any flights that go through Europe with connections in the US. It’s even more difficult because the internet here is slow at the best of times and the electricity cuts in and out (one of the  charming features of this laid back paradise). At one point John is about to book seats and the power goes out and he loses everything…argh! Eventually John finds flights from Mumbai to London, then onto Toronto and books it. The confirmation is painfully long but finally success. 

The flight to London leaves at 3:00am tomorrow so now we have to rebook our flight from Goa to Mumbai and get from the resort to the Goa airport. The internet is still problematic and we are unable to book a flight online. We decide to just get to the airport and buy a ticket there. We have an hour to pack and say our goodbyes before the taxi arrives. I thought we’d have more time to say goodbye to India. Our driver speeds past villages, people and holy cows. 

After the 1.5 hour taxi ride we get to the airport at 3:00pm and are able to switch our original Wednesday flight on IndiGo airlines from Goa to Mumbai to today at 5:00pm (at an increased price). And we are off on the first leg of our journey home.

Our trip interruption insurance seems to cover the costs of booking earlier return flights – government advisory issued after you buy the insurance saying to not travel to where you are currently located. But the pages of tiny print (no doubt explaining why they can’t possibly pay out any money) make your head spin so we won’t know until we submit a claim.

The flight to Mumbai is uneventful. The beautiful and modern Mumbai Airport is very calm and organized but we have to take a taxi through the chaotic Mumbai traffic to get from terminal 1 to terminal 2.  There is a big tree in the taxi parking area that is filled with large fruit bats. Since the sun just set, they are all starting to fly out of the tree. Very cool.

 

Our 10 hour flight to London on Virgin Atlantic is full and leaves on time. 

Once we get to London’s Heathrow airport things are a bit hectic. First we have to get from terminal 3 to terminal 2 which involves a long hike. At terminal 2 there are long line-ups, no one seems to know where to stand. We do self check-in to get our boarding passes and luggage tags but the luggage drop line-up is massive and moving slowly. We just stand and wait… and wait… and wait.

The airport has internet and we finally get responses from our enquiry the day before to FlightHub to change or cancel our original flight. They tell us we have to make any changes through United Airlines. When we log onto the United website it says to contact your third party ticket seller (FlightHub) to make changes. You cannot win for trying. I am glad we did not wait for a reply from FlightHub and just booked the new flights.

John speaks to an airport employee handling the people constantly being added to our stagnant luggage drop line. John then motions me to come out of the line and we follow the employee to a new and very short line which has our luggage dropped off within 20 minutes. Hurrah! 

After security comes another hike to get to our gate. I never thought of airports as a place to go for a workout but they do have lots of long walks.

I’d say that 50-60% of passengers are wearing surgical masks. I have my mask on, John is going with no mask. As we finally get to our gate we sit and watch other passengers boarding a flight to Singapore… several are wearing complete hazmat suits. Yikes. 

Our Air Canada flight back to Toronto is also fully booked. Lots of people returning early from their plans abroad. We talk to a young guy who is travelling with his rugby team from Vancouver. They were to be touring Ireland and England playing games. They had played only two games before being told everything was cancelled and they had to return home. We are very fortunate that we were able to complete our trip minus the last 2 days.

Once we land in Toronto, everything runs quickly and smoothly. Staff greet you as you exit the plane, handing you a Coronavirus and self quarantine information sheet. They also verbally tell you that you need to self quarantine for fourteen days. One woman is arguing with one of the representatives, saying she is not going to do it. She does not seem to care as he calmly explains that she can be passing it on to vulnerable people. I want to slug her with my magazine, shoe and laptop weighted backpack.

We are out of the airport a lot quicker than expected. It is very well organized or maybe there are fewer people transiting through so no line-ups at customs. 

 

 

Now home, John and I are hunkering down for our self isolation. A dear friend has loaded up our fridge and a wonderful neighbour has offered to pick up groceries if we need them. I feel incredibly blessed.

This wasn’t the way that John and I envisioned our trip ending but it was an amazing experience. India is like no where else. I totally loved the friendliness of the people and richness of the culture. We look forward to returning and exploring this country again. Right now we are feeling incredibly thankful and blessed to be home and for the help and caring of our family, friends and neighbours.