Dreamers Adventures

Lou & Francisco, 24 and 29, Italian traveling from Lisbon, Portugal to Goa, India. Organizing a long- term trip could be hard  sometimes, but with the right tips and advice you'll see how easy can be. Sharing our experience would be very usefull to...

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Palolem Beach - South Goa, India

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Sunrise in Palolem Beach - South Goa, India

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dolphin’s experience

A must to do in Palolem Beach  is to rent a kayak and paddle just a bit offshore..then stop for a moment and try to look all around you. You can see dolphins very close to you. It’s amazing how close you can see them. 

We had the luck to see a dolphin jumping right in front of us, 3 back-flips one after the other. It was incredible, so exciting !

Better to go in the morning , there is not many kayaks and boats so the dolphins don’t get scared and don’t go away.

Kayak are very cheap to rent. Single kayak : 100/150 rupees per hr Double kayak : 200 rupees per hr Don’t loose the chance to assist at this spectacle of nature!!

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Palolem beach - a paradise in earth

Paradise exists and it’s called Palolem Beach!!! Located in a small bay of Canacona Area, Palolem beach is a very chill place , good vibes all around , ideal for everyone. The contrast between the blue of the Arabian Sea with all those palm trees that surround the beach and the colorful huts  make the atmosphere magical. 

So far i would say Palolem beach is on the Top 5 list of my favorite places.

Sunsets are always breath-taking ! But in Palolem Beach they got something... magic. 

Palolem is a perfect place for paddle boarding - body boarding - kayaking - do yoga - jogging on the beach an all kind of outdoors sports activities. The Arabian Sea in this season is always warm and calm all day long . 

Pretty cheap for eating too. A meal for 2 people, which includes 2 main , 2/3 Naan/chapati and a bottle of water it would costs you from 250/400 rupees ish,  4 - 6 Euros approximately. Fresh fish and seafood are available in all restaurants, specified vegetarian menus - which is awesome for us because we are both vegetarian, in the begin it was hard to order anything so the specified veg menus help us out a lot.

This place totally worth a visit and trust me, once you come here , you feel like there’s no any other places where you’d love to be,

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the Goan Liquor

Feni Liquor is an alcoholic drink made in Goa ONLY. If you like to taste everything, You must give it a try.

This liquor is made with Cashew nuts or Coconut.

Personally I did like the coconut one most, Cashew nuts are delicious --- but only to eat :) 

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Indian selfie’s addiction

Indian People crazily love selfies!!!! Alone, in groups and more then all with foreigners.

it will be totally normal if while your sunbathing, playing on the beach or walking around, some Indian guy come to you asking to take you a photo of you or to take a selfie with you.

To be honest the first time it happened to me, i was a bit confused. 

Why would i let you take a pic of me?What do you with it?Then i though that They are just attracted to what it looks different from them, like all human being i guess.

What it makes it a bit wired is that this is not a random thing. Everyday there is someone asking for selfies and if you say no, they try to still a pic of you anyway.  Not all of course.

it can be fun at the begin, but then, it gets  annoying. 

It’s just unclear to me what’s the reason of such “addiction” to it.  I need to find it out . 

So if you ll be in that situation -  Don’t worry !!! Politely say No and generally they won’t bother you anymore.

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sunset time in Calangute Beach - North Goa 

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knowing gestures of other countries can always be useful , especially if you need to ask an information  and your spokesperson doesn’t speak any language a part from his.

In India everyone speaks at least, a bit of english, It’s very easy to communicate , move around and ask infos, 

However I do suggest to watch this absolutely hilarious video about the Indian way to say YES or NOT.

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Money exchange and taxi costs

First think you need to do once you land in a foreign country is to change money. 

There are many money change desks in Chhatrapati Shivaji Mumbai International  Airport , but  it doesn’t really matter which one you choose, they all have the same exchange rate.

1.00 Eur = 65 rupees

Out of the airport the exchange rate is:

1.00 Eur = 60/62 rupees

My advice is to change your money at the airport.

Note: Take big notes with you because you can get an highly rate.

For Example In Calangute with 50 euro notes the rate was

1.00 Euro = 63 rupees With 20 Euro note the rate was

1.00 Eur = 60 rupees .

…..About Taxies

If you land in Chhatrapati Shivaji  Mumbai international Airport and you need to take an internal flight with IndiGo Airline, you need to move to Terminal 1 and the only way to go is by taxi.

Abusive taxi drives  will ask you 500 rupees and say they are airport emplyees ,so you can t get cheaper…Well don’t trust them. Just take a lift to p4 , you will find  prepaid taxies that only costs you 250 rupees, baggages included

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Not only a dream anymore!

3 months of wait , 3 flights and 10.000 km away we finally got in Goa!!

First stop : CALANGUTE BEACH.

Located on North Goa - it takes approx 1hr30 mins by taxi from the airport.

Cozy & quite , Calangute is the right place to chill on the beach and totally relax . You just need to go down the beach and find a sunbed whenever you like. Bars and restaurants are all along the way and they all have free beds and Wi-Fi.

This is a recommendable place for families and seniors but also for young couple like us that need an escape from crazy Babylon.

The Russian tourism is very influent but also indians come over here on their holiday time.

This is a paradise where sunbathing with cows is normality , stunning smiley faces are underlined from the colourful woman's saris and the delicious smell of spices marks the atmosphere.

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Christmas tree in Praça Do Comercio - Lisbon Portugal.

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Álvaro de Campos ( Fernando Pessoa ) Afinal, a melhor maneira de viajar é sentir. Afinal, a melhor maneira de viajar é sentir. Sentir tudo ele todas as maneiras. Sentir tudo excessivamente Porque todas as coisas são, em verdade excessivas E toda a realidade é um excesso, uma violência, Uma alucinação extraordinariamente nítida Que vivemos todos em comum com a fúria das almas, O centro para onde tendem as estranhas forças centrífugas Que são as psiques humanas no seu acordo de sentidos. Quanto mais eu sinta, quanto mais eu sinta como várias pessoas, Quanto mais personalidades eu tiver, Quanto mais intensamente, estridentemente as tiver, Quanto mais simultaneamente sentir com todas elas, Quanto mais unificadamente diverso, dispersadamente atento, Estiver, sentir, viver, for, Mais possuirei a existência total do universo, Mais completo serei pelo espaço inteiro fora, Mais análogo serei a Deus, seja ele quem for, Porque, seja ele quem for, com certeza que é Tudo, E fora d'EIe há só EIe, e Tudo para Ele é pouco. "The best way of travelling is feeling

http://arquivopessoa.net/textos/2854

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Indian Visa Requirement

Get the visa sometimes can be thug - believe it or not Only Italian citizens MUST apply for Indian Tourist Visa personally at the Indian Embassy while the rest of the Coutries can do directly through the E-TOURIST VISA APPLICATION FORM on the website https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html .

                         DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED AT THE EMBASSY :

 Copy passport + original;

 Copy of your return ticket OR bank statement ( if you don’t have a return ticket you need to certify you have enough money to cover your expenses;

 2 photos ( 2″inch x 2″inch) 

 Printed PDF Form ( you must fill up a form online first then print it out ) ; you must upload one digital photo while filling the application online and it’s very important that the photo is full face, front view, eyes open. Center head within frame and present full head from top of hair to bottom of chin.Background should be plain light colored or white background.No shadows on the face or on the background.Without borders.Make sure that photo presents full head from top of hair to bottom of chin. Head should measure 1 inch to 1-3/8 inches (25mm to 35mm). Make sure eye height is between 1-1/8 inches to 1-3.Minimum 10 KBMaximum 300 KB

NOTES : 

Present the documentation 2 days after compiling the form online; 

Fees : € 52,00  +  € 7,00 CASH ONLY;

One week after You have got your visa;

this visa allowes you to stay 6 months;

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Where Are We Going ?

Currently living and working in Portugal, Brasil was the first place we thought we could go. Costa Rica , Ecuador, India were on our mind as well so what we need was make a real plan 

                          - HOW TO CHOOSE THE DESTINATION -

 Where are we going?

    Don’t choose a place just because , JUST TO SAY I’VE BEEN THERE TOO.

     MAKE A RESEARCH ;

     THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT PLACE CAN GIVES TO YOU ; 

For example we choose the state of Goa because it was a Portuguese colonie for about 450 yrs and annexed to India only on 1961. You can definitely notice in Lisbon a strong influence from the Indian Culture  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa

   How long? 

That’s depend always on your budget - Goa is for everyone it goes from luxuries resorts to modest bamboo huts on the beach, 

Have a look here if you want to have an idea of the cost of living in India 

——> https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Goa 

When is is better to book the flight ?

I know that usually book a return ticket is way cheaper then book them separately . 

In our case we decided to don’t go back to Lisbon and go back home in Italy eventually so it has been a bit tricky decide which thicket was the best to buy. 

We considered all :

LISBON - GOA Return  and LISBON -  MILAN one way

LISBON - GOA one way and GOA - MILAN one way 

LISBON - MUMBAI return - MUMBAI - GOA  return - 

LISBON - MUMBAI one way - MUMBAI-GOA one way - MUMBAI - MILAN one way - that’s the one we booked and believe or not was long way cheaper .

So always consider all the options you’ve got. https://www.skyscanner.it/

For Domestics flights we used https://www.goindigo.in/ - there are many flights options and cheap offers. 

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Welcome (स्वागत हे!)

Lou&Fransisco’s Indian adventures has born for those whom wants to make a change on their life,quit their job and move away ,live out of the comfort zone and go explore the world!! Exactly like My boyfriend and are doing. 

Got bored from our job ,we decided it was time to move somewhere else more exotic .. So why not India:) Through this blog we are going to explain step but step how easy can be change your life.