A New Adventure Begins

Around midnight we arrived in India to find the air pleasantly cool. We passed immigration, collected our baggage, got a taxi, and asked him to call our hotel to let them know we were on our way. Unfortunately, the hotel said it was too late to check in, so we were left with no other option but to ask the driver to find us a hotel. After a few stops and full hotels, at around 2.30am, we found ourselves a bed for the night. We didn't ended up going into Cochin as it was too late, and as a consequence, the next day, after a lie in, we spent the day hanging out in the hotel restaurant and foyer until we returned to the airport at 7pm.
At around midnight we arrived in Goa and took a very short taxi to our hotel and promptly went to sleep. Following another lie in, we walked to the local beach for a simple breakfast, and then shared a taxi with a German lady down to Palolem. As is our way, Cat and Flora stayed in a restaurant while Pedro found somewhere to stay. Our hotel was a very rickety room above a restaurant overlooking the ocean. It was simple, with a very

wonky slanted bathroom, that sometimes stank really badly. We didn't worry too much as it was only going to be for a couple of nights and we were very excited about Flora starting school the next day.
We woke up early and Flora had breakfast and then we strolled past the cows and boats on the beach to find a rickshaw to take us to the school. It was about a 10 minute journey down dusty and poorly build roads to the school, resplendent with it's bright blue gate and wall posts. Our first impressions were really positive. Flora was delighted to meet her teacher and went off without looking back. We met a few parents, who helped us in terms of choosing a beach to live on and how to find accommodation.
We spent the next few days checking out places to stay, renting a scooter and buying helmets. Many people felt that to have a true Goan experience you need to live in a Goan house. These are typically old, dark, sometimes dirty, with loads of insects and maybe rats. We didn't feel this needed to be

part of our experience and instead were delighted when we found a two bedroom apartment in Patnem which was only 18 months old in a complex with a pool. Done! The annoying part was that we had to wait a week to move in, and so we moved from Palolem to the Secret Garden Resort in Patnem. It was cute there, and the owners and workers very sweet and friendly, but the noise of the dogs at night and the crows in the morning was pretty hard to get away from.
During our week waiting to move in, we met lots more people, tried to get a feel for the place, went to a circus, a music night (more on offer than in Qatar already!) and ate in lots of different restaurants. We quickly came to the conclusion that the food is amazing, the beach beautiful, and the vibe very chilled. We were pretty certain the hardest thing about living here would be leaving.