Some cities are like a dream . You nurture the thought of being there like a motion picture playing in your head. The sounds and sight have already played up in your mind a million times , different versions of the same story.
There’s nothing that one doesn’t already know about Goa that one can possibly include in a travel-checklist.
There’s the fenny drinking , the walking on the beach under the stars , the haggling at flea market for junk that maybe you’ll never end up wearing, the bike riding through a line up of coconut groves, lounging at the beach so on and so forth.
And in the idea of experiencing the many treasures that they hold, you some how escape the reality.
So when you end up making a trip to this tourist paradise and don’t end up ticking any of those checks in your head , you end up feeling a little disoriented and a lot disillusioned.

But perhaps like the saying goes – you win some , you lose some . It was the other way around during my latest trip to the land of beaches , fenny and coconut groves ( discounting the fish curry and many other items of sea food that don’t appear on my list )

And winning I did , at the Casino Royale , a floating cruise with a three deck casino – complete with a dance floor , a restaurant , gaming arena and splendid views.

But other than this fleeting realization , all the other stereotypical signs were missing. No carnival mood, no frivolous dressing up, no devil-may-care attitude. So does that count as a trip to goa at all?

I ll save my answer to that till I actually experience the must-dos on my next trip. But calling these 4 days (largely spent inside the conference rooms) a waste would be unjustified.

I did manage the sunset on a quiet beach ( the wind in my hair and the waves playing around my feet) & the long walks exploring the “limitless luxury” of The Lalit .

I came back with some pretty sights , but there’s unfinished business and there’s hope that it won’t be long before I am back to experience Goa the way its meant to be.

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone