Goa on the cheap

We’ve been here 5 days now and are feeling at home in our apartment that we basically did all of the cleaning thereof (another story) and are checking out restaurants for a Christmas meal to see if it is turkey, tikka or tandoori. The weather has been great, not too humid, nice breezes and probably around 28-30 degrees. Aside from a couple of expensive taxi rides to try to send some parcels home from DHL and then India Post, the cost of living here is very reasonable. Beer, 650 ml bottle ranges from CAD $1.80 to $2.80. Lunch with soup, sandwich, appy, 2L of water and a couple of pop with tip is about $12.00 for two. This is at the beach. Dinner is less away from the beach. A 3-4 course meal of rice/veg noodles, curry dish, chicken dish and chapati is about the same, maybe a touch more. Add in beer at $2.00 CAD, say 5 beer and you leave full and tipsy for less than $25.00. Not too bad in my books.

This blog isn’t a “how to” travel guide but realistically speaking, if you are done with the backpacking, dorm accommodation, shared bathroom experience you might have done in your 20’s, then seriously plan on about $150.00 per day per couple. A reasonable clean hotel room will run $35.00-65.00 per night. Expenses add up quickly and they are expenses you don’t generally plan for. How much is it to travel from point “A” to “B” never mind how much to take auto rickshaws, tuk tuks or taxis from point “a” to “b” in your destination? Not necessarily cheap. Tips, beggars, water (especially water) and toilet paper add up. So, although India on $5.00 a day (revised to $25 a day) is still probably possible, we’ll pass. Give me the bed bug infested, diarrhea splashed bathrooms? Sorry. Been there done that.