I have done some spontaneous trips in the past couple of years - I haven't thought alot of things through about them, like who I'm travelling with or where I'm going to stay or whether I have enough money to get through it. Makes it more fun, I always say - the suspense keeps me guessing, wanting more and the excitement of it being a risky business keeps adrenline at a constant high. It also gives me the freedom to come up with plans as I go along.
A trip worth a mention at this juncture would be the most recent one I did to Goa. I met this boy, randomly (no kidding, huh!?) and I had already done one random Lonavla trip with him on my Kinetic (but let's leave that story for another day) and given how good a time I had the last time, I was quite enthusiastic to do this trip on a whim.
So it all started with me jumping onto a bus in the middle of the night with arbit classmates - all of us en route to Goa with no real plan. I love it! They got nice and stoned, and as usual, I had a good laugh at their expense!
The usual things were done for sure - Curlie's, sitting on the beach with King's beer, staring out at the water and singing the way I usually do (the sea and the Himalayas - I can't imagine the Earth has done a better job with any other place!). Coming back to my point - there were some pleasant surprises along the way - like the yummy breakfast we had at Sunshine Anjuna (our first lodge by the sea) full with bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast.
The Irish pub - Molly Malone's it was called, deserves a special mention of course, because as we noted at the end of our trip, it was where we started our evenings everyday!So this place was as Irish as India could make it - full with antique trinkets, Leprechauns, and beautiful green and brown decor, it was near perfect. It also helped that the people who went there were regulars and just made it an atmosphere so conducive to the today-much-wanted "chilling". Did I mention there was an ancient typewriter, wall telephone and some glasses that looked like something my great-grandfather would wear.
Another time I really enjoyed Goa was when we drove way past Fort Aguada and went into the greenery. As usual we found a place where no one was around, walked a crazy path down to the water and another little section of the fort ruins. It was sheer beauty - and the view from that spot is a sight I don't believe will leave my memory. I sat there for a long time and stared out at the water, hopping around over the rocks.
Then we discovered the Arambol beach - crazy expanse of sea and and a peaceful shack playing some awful music. That day made us decide to go back there to stay the night. And what a great adventure that turned out to be - in the process, we discovered Lamuella with its trippy music, yummy scrambled eggs and toast and the beautiful tiny room with a fancy mosquito net! The other shack we sat at at night - can't remember the name for the life of me - it might have been called 21 coconuts actually was just as I had described where I wanted to be that night - lively yet peaceful. Unfortunately, the rain washed us out after a while!
Terekhol was a crazy adventure. We were at the crossroads trying to figure out whether to go left or right - left would take us further north, even further away from the buses that were supposed to bring us back to Pune. We took the left turn. Obviously! I ran into the water as soon as I saw it, not sure why this beach in particular got me so enthusiastic. After appearing really shady while buying beer, we both settled quite comfortably in the shade of the trees. So obviously we didn't end up leaving Goa that day. Curlie's and many beers later, we got lost in the middle of the night with almost no fuel and not a soul on the road to ask for directions - it didn't help much that Rohan was sitting behind me being spacy and wasted!
I almost forgot to mention the day trip to Panjim when we visited Alisha at her home, got pampered by the yummy Goan fishy food and just relaxed a while there. But that only after doing a trip of the Portuguese Colony with its colorful buildings and small quiant streets. After lunch we picked up Alisha's friend, Shaira, we took off to old Goa. The St. Augustin's ruins were such an adventure! We all jumped the gate and walked around in what appeared to be a maze of broken walls, overgrown weeds, chapels and nuns from the convent discussing scripture.
The last day was spent nicely with Dalia, Sidhesh and some others, again at Arambol. It ended up being very random, as usual but we did manage to get some great grilled fish in the midst of it all.  And of course we ended our Goa trip with a beer at Molly Malone's before we headed off to catch our bus at Mapusa.
Ah! To good times, I always say!