My Impromptu Summer Vacation

Summers always make me want to break away from the routine. They make me more restless, I think the humidity makes me crankier than the usual. This summer I wanted it to be different. I dint want to overanalyze anything to death before doing it. I dint want to convince myself that I am too young/too old/too dodgy to do anything. This would be the summer of Lenovo: for those who do :D

And having a new group to hang out with did help. It’s kinda weird how well I got along with the interns from the US. It took me all of one week before I planned my weekend trip with Kevin, Ami and Katie! Yes, me the person who thinks at least a 100 times before stepping out of the house went on a trip with three strangers. Thankfully, it turned out to be one of the best trips in the past few years otherwise I would never hear the end of it from the two stooges. I like hanging out with them because I can do all the touristy stuff that I always wanted to do in Mumbai which no one else was interested in. It’s nice to discover Mumbai all over again from a new perspective.

The trip to Goa almost dint happen because I did what I usually do, over analyze, but I had a good reason to make that trip happen. My last vacation turned out to be a visit to the hospice so I justified myself to everyone who would question the kind of money I was burning for one weekend. I was working on two projects and it was kinda not a good time to take a weekend off but I dint care about my appraisal anymore. I am leaving this place before the next cycle so who gives a fuck :D

I booked a different flight because by the time I finally decided that I was doing this, the actual flight got filled. So, I went the airport all by meself and was working for almost an hour there. It dint feel like a vacation, it felt like a business trip. I arrived in Goa an hour before my friends and I had to sit in the airport, I could almost feel the vacation laziness creeping in but I still was in work mode.

I had no expectations for this trip, it could go either way but I was super excited about the hotel because I spent almost three days researching Goa hotels before booking this one. I basically railroaded the others into selecting this one. The moment we got out of the place, it felt like we are back in the 1950s. The furniture looked at least 100 years old and the beds, oh my god the beds. We were the only people in the main house which had about 10 rooms in total and all of them were open. It was like we were living in this huge haunted mansion in the middle of nowhere. Every scene reminded me of shining.

Doesnt it remind you of the twin's scene in shining?

I love the bed, but I dont think I can ever sleep in this monstrosity!

We got dressed and headed to Britto’s as that was the place Ami’s friend suggested for dinner. We got a table pretty fast and then went on to drink at least 10 bottles of beer in the name of drinking games. I played so many drinking games in the name of bottoms up and by the end of the dinner I was pretty sloshed and Kevin was almost asleep. But Ami and Katie had other ideas. They wanted to dance and for once I dint say anything because I wanted to be that person who doesn’t think too much. I went along with the flow.

Baga in the rains is better with lesser crowd and has more place to maneuver. We started with an empty club and as the night went on we moved from one place to another only to find everything was free for ladies. It was not so good because by the end of the night I did not remember the amount of alcohol I imbibed. But, I remember a lot of dancing. Apparently I even danced in the rain later on(this part I don’t dredge up). It was the perfect Friday night, not that I am planning on a repeat performance, but I just wanted a validation that I had it in me. Also, we were thrown out of the club because the bouncers couldn’t manage the crowd control :)

The night ended when we got robbed by the cabbie who charged us a bomb to drop us off. I recall sitting in the cab and feeling the rain on my face. But, in reality I had my head outside the car and the driver apparently stopped it and wouldn’t start the vehicle unless I get back inside. We were dropped at the hotel at around four in the morning and as soon as Ami and I got out we were part of the synchronizing puking team. The next thing I remember was waking up in my bed at 2 in the afternoon. I don’t know how I got there. I dint need help apparently, which was a good thing :). I also told Kevin that I would meet him for breakfast the next morning and the poor guy was waiting downstairs the whole time. After some profuse apologies, I had the greasiest brunch to get over the pounding hangover.

We all dragged our asses out by four in the afternoon and headed to Curlies which Vailina (the analyst and my new office BFF swore was the place to be). I don’t know why I have never been to this place the last few times I was in Goa; all I can say was that I dint do my research properly. The place was just perfect. A peaceful shack right on the beach with a menu so long that you can have almost anything you want. We dint want to leave the place. It was our cozy corner. I did get up a few times to take some pictures but that was it. We just sat there the whole day, just taking it all in. I would give anything to have that unadulterated moment again.  We stayed there till 12 in the night till we finally decided to call it a day. The previous days’ events were catching up.

The perfect place

Sunset at Curlies

One of my nicer shots (if I say so myself :))

Thats the dance floor ceiling in Curlies, it looked more like Tim Burton movie set than a dance floor :)

We went back to the hotel only to find the power was out. If it looked scary in the morning you can’t imagine how bad it was in the night. And, to top it all the guy did not have enough torches so we had to make do with candles. Think of any horror movie before the creepy part comes, that was the feeling. We walked up to our rooms and packed all of our things and moved to our new upgraded rooms on the other side, which were much better and thankfully functioning ACs. Ami and I were sharing a room, so we were up till wee hours discussing life and all its accouterments.

Katie with the Candle :)

The next day was solely for shopping which we did in the scorching heat. We had a quiet lunch at Anjuna and headed back to the hotel. We were tired but good tired. I loved the vacation because there was absolutely no agenda. It was a weekend getaway in every sense of the word which was what I need at that time.

I wish I had more of such vacations, I guess I should plan more impromptu trips like this one. I am dragging the other two stooges the next time!