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A 19-day adventure by Emma Read more
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  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    Day 1

    The start

    February 10 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ -5 °C

    For me (Emma) the trip started already on Saturday (10/2) in Uppsala when I boarded the train to Lund, after insanely hectic past few weeks. Energy levels were low with a a cold on its way. But it’s all fine, the trip has begun!

    I bumped into two Indian classmates in town who helped her with the bags. So symbolic right?😆

    Now it’s time for family time in Lund (🥰) and tomorrow I’m meeting up with Dora to officially start the trip.    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    1
    Day 2

    Reunited and Goa bound!

    February 11 in Sweden ⋅ 🌬 2 °C

    Finally reunited!! And on our way to Goa!
    The journey to CPH airport went smoothly and it still didn’t feel real that this trip was happening. At the gate we bumped into Dora’s old friend who was on the same plane to Delhi but on her way to Kathmandu to do her thesis.

    On the first plane we sat next to an old Danish lady who has her own guru in India which is where we she was headed. It’s her 28th time in India. 🤯 while the whole plane was asleep in the middle of the night she performed some kind of a prayer-looking ritual that. I was half awake and observed everything. An interesting experience to say the least😅

    On the plane there were feeding us every second it felt like. Snacks, dinner at 11pm and then breakfast at 3am before landing.
    After 2-3 hours of sleep we were in Delhi where we only had a 1.5h layover because of the delay of the first flight. At that point the trip started to become hectic quite quickly….    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    1
    111
    Day 3

    Touchdown Goa!

    February 12 in India ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Like we said, only 1.5hr from when we landed in Delhi until the departure to Goa. The routine is such that we had to claim the luggage, and then check it in again. We said goodbye to our Danish lady and rushed as quickly as possible to the exit, found the right desk and finally our luggage. But then the chaos started when we realized we were nowhere near the next check in desk. The lack of signs didn’t help either. All the staff that we asked for direction told us that we were very late but to hurry!

    And we hurried. Ran through the airport, found the desk, surpassed the “line” and left the luggage. Then security, surpassed that “line” too and run the last bit to the gate to learn that the departure was late and there was no need to rush…

    Anyway, finally we boarded, ate some more on the plane and landed in Goa! The adventure can begin!

    Taxi wasn’t the easiest to find but after some help it worked out. The driver was driving like crazy ofc and drove us to the nearest SIM card shop. There we managed to fight for somewhat lower price and were proud of it. But later learned that Dora’s number is actually someone else’s when she started getting messages directed to a random dude.

    Next stop after more chaotic driving was the ATM it didn’t work. Next one did. Phew! We got charged extra for all the stops but oh well.

    So far we’ve been around the city a bit. It’s very lively and felt chaotic, but maybe because we were very tired. We’re on a hunt for wedding outfits but no luck so far, except some shoes that Dora got. We have one day left to figure it out. Ended the night at a local music festival, at the Samba Square in Panaji.
    Our accommodation is really nice and the hosts very welcoming!🥺❤️    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    11
    Day 4

    Dress shopping - Mapusa market!

    February 13 in India ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Today we went shopping for dresses. First in our city (Panaji) where we found nice Sarees for the temple ceremony😍 a very nice lady at the store helped us and we’re so thankful for that.
    The city felt less hectic today, maybe because we were more rested. It had a summery and festival vibe from all the decorations from the carnival. We love it here!

    After some city shopping it was time for Mapusa flee market! Dora had googled it and it was supposed to have a bunch of stuff that we need. Also Dora’s friends were there so we were looking forward to meeting up with them.

    What a place Mapusa is 😂 People working there walk around and want to talk you into coming to their store. First I fell for it (of course) and started talking to a girl that I thought was nice but soon realized that they are everywhere and she’s not my friend😅
    We were walking around there for good 7 hours, it was hectic and exhausting but still very very fun. But getting the outfits was hard. No changing rooms either obviously. I tried a few over my clothes but they were way too big, or too expensive. Even tho I turned out to be good at bargaining. Dora found one yellow dress (we needed yellow for Haldi) quite fast but I needed much more time. Found something in the end, not very satisfied, it’s too small. But better than nothing. At that point I had to lower my standards. We also had some great local food at the market, for example the huge “crepe”, Masala Dosa😋

    But all in all we had a great time in Mapusa with Dora’s friends! They’re super nice and we hung out until late at night. Strangely, the bars are not open until that long, around 11pm. In Mapusa we quickly and randomly “joined” the festival parade which entailed walking through huge crowds of people and vehicles trying to not get hit. You become one with the traffic.🌟🎊🤘
    Excited for the wedding tomorrrow!    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    22
    Day 5

    Wedding day 1 - Haldi & Mehendi

    February 14 in India ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    After a quick stroll in Panaji for shoe shopping and breakfast at our favorite place (our hosts’ café) we finally arrived at the wedding. WHAT A DAY!!
    (The wedding was in two days, first day was the Haldi and Mehendi events, while the second day included the temple ceremony and the evening reception)

    The welcoming at the resort was insane - as we stepped out of the taxi the music and drums started playing and went on for so long that even the taxi driver couldn’t believe it. They were also filming us and taking photos, paparazzi 😅
    It really hyped us up!!😍

    Then time for get ready. The vibe was so nice, relaxing and calming at the resort. All the guests were there and I met the rest of Dora’s friends. Such a nice and vibrant group.

    The outfits from Mapusa turned out AMAZING! Way better than I imagined.

    The ceremony was fantastic. After the bride and the groom made the grand entry we were all dancing together and even played some games. They had a host who was leading the “programme” and it was all very thought through. Then it was time for the ceremony with turmeric paste where all the guest took their turn to put a stroke of the paste on the couple. We also threw flowers in them and they on each other 😅🥰
    In the end they were all covered in yellow and took a dip in the pool. During this ceremony we also has some nice snacks in form of chaats.

    The group slowly moved toward the beachside where the seatings were placed. But there was no seating schedule really, we switched seats all the time bc other people would take our seats haha. We ate some nice food and drinks, danced, got henna tattooes (mehendi part) and danced some more.

    ✨Thrill✨ is the only way I can describe this feeling as.    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    Day 6

    Wedding day 2 - temple and the party🎈🎊

    February 15 in India ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Still blown away by all the impressions and feelings from last night, we started the second day of the wedding with a well needed breakfast at the resort. A lot of us were quite tired and hangover but the pineapples and lots of coffee solved the problem.
    We were so excited for day 2! The first stop was the temple for the religious ceremony. We put on our lovely saris and kurtas and headed to the temple all together in a bus. We had to take off our shoes, cover our hair (the guys wore turbans that they got put on at the resort) and bow at the “altar”. The ceremony was lovely even though we didn’t understand anything. Afterwards there were snacks to grab at the temple but soon we headed back to the resort where a very nice lunch waited. All the food at the wedding was delicious.

    After lunch it was time to practice the dance choreography that we friends would perform. Later it turned out that cousins had their own choreography, and so did the parents and aunts/uncles of the bride and the groom. Such a nice tradition. The dance was cute and I felt like I was on a class trip the whole time since we did all these things together as a big group.

    Then it was time to get ready into our evening outfits and we were off to the party of our lives.
    The reception area was beautifully decorated, we mingled and had some drinks while waiting for the couple. Then we were gathered by the father of the groom, to greet the newlyweds with some prskalice. Harsh and Nina Singh entered the venue dressed up, beautiful and ready to party! They opened with a wonderful dance full of love which made most of us shed some tears. After that, it was time for the Slovenian delegation to shine, because the dance of friends followed - we could say that we are proud of our performance, but we would be lying. Our performance was followed by dances from the family of the couple which overshadowed our performance for sure - luckily we were the first!
    Then the true party/workout began- we danced and danced together to Indian, American and Balkan music and sweat more than ever before, Indians truly know how to party! They were dancing to our music and we to theirs like we do it every day. It was unbelievable.

    This was truly an unforgettable experience that still feels surreal. (The separation anxiety hit hard toward the end….)    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    112
    Day 7

    First beach day!🏖️

    February 16 in India ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    The day after the wedding we chilled on the beach all day. All together. It was such a relaxing feeling just sitting down on sunbeds, drinking ice coffee, listening to music, chitchatting and enjoying life. Almost forgot how it feels. And it’s a very weird feeling that it is summer over here. Still trying to take it all in.
    We tried coconut for the first time too! We liked it even tho I expected more coconut taste.
    After the beach we headed to Candolim which we soon realized is BLING BLING. Very touristy and just full of old British and Russian people. Everything was built around it, even the menus are in Russian. There are way too many shops everywhere too, and the food is more expensive than what we experienced so far. (Kičasta Makarska, za vas koji razumijete) Not our vibe in other words.
    Tjaša came with us so we had a cozy evening together with some beer and fries. 😁♥️    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    Day 9

    Saharaki Spice plantation

    February 18 in India ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The highlight of today was the spice plantation Saharaki. We went together with two of Dora’s friends, Tajda and Jiri. We saw some cool stuff like coffee, cocoa, cardamom, vanilla (which is actually a parasite?), cloves, kokum, and of course cashews. The tour ended with a nice buffet lunch and a bit of spice shopping.
    Today we also saw Old Goa and went back to Mapusa market which was much more crowded this time. The selection wasn’t as good either and according to a lady we met, it’s only the poorer people that sell there on Sundays since the richer ones can afford to take the weekend off.
    The highlight of the day except the plantation was the driver who drove us there. He told us that getting a taxi back would be hard so he waited for 2 hours and then drove us around to the other places. People here are very nice 😍    Read more

  • TravelerBalkan in Goa☀️👯‍♀️🎊🌸
    Day 10

    Back in favourite Panaji 😍

    February 19 in India ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a few days in a very touristy and annoying Candolim we made our way back to Panaji. We stayed at our old neighborhood with the same hosts. ❤️ We ate our favorite samosas at the café at our accommodation. Even tried their ice coffee this time. Soo so good! At the cafe we also met an older lady who has travelled a lot and told us that she’s been to Bosnia. Turns out she went to pilgrimage in Međugorje where she tasted a tea she liked a lot, forest fruit tea by Franck. She even had a tea bag of that tea in her purse, Šumsko voće!🥺

    Afterward we went for a cocktail in a cool bar next to our stay (Joseph bar), I did some work, and then we had another favourite dish at the café, cheese omelette😋

    Later we took a walk around the city and finished the evening by hanging out with the hosts. They made us a famous Goan drink, Urrak, made from the cashew alcohol Feni. The hosts are amazing and were telling many different stories. Apparently monkeys can sometimes find their way into the cities and climb on buildings. They told us that it happened a couple of times that a monkey came into their apartment and took something, like bananas. They gave us bananas for the trip tomorrow and told us to watch out for the monkeys 😉

    Also a relative of the hosts is a successful biomed researcher in Sweden working in Stockholm Small world. 😊

    A new Goan dish for today was the Bebinca , a 7 layers Indo-Portuguese cake with coconut taste. (Not pictured bc we ate it too fast)    Read more

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