Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

  • I did a super short interview: Expat in Goa for Expat Finder
  • My parents are back in the US now. Coming here they had issues with American Airlines… but that was nothing compared to the issues going home! Because of their first leg out of Ohio being delayed, (as I shared) they were delayed by 24 hours in Chicago. The MORNING of leaving, my dad receives and email from cheapoair (my preferred booking site) saying “because you never took your outgoing flight to India, the return has been canceled. Contact the airline.” Um, they did take the flight a day later. So more eff ups from American, who were SO rude on the phone and made us fight for almost 3 hours to get my parents seats on the plane they already paid for. Cannot even tell you the whole story in detail, as my head will BLOW UP.

Now your story,

(I warn you, this is a lot of rambling. I tried to edit it, I swear… but I just couldn’t get my point across without rambling (and still probably didn’t).

Life in Goa can look pretty damn good on Instagram can’t it? Guess what, sometimes it sucks! Yes, truly. Obviously there are days like this:

good and bad of goa

where I just lounge around, write on the blog, and make a batch of candles. But it isn’t all roses and sunshine all the time. I have a hard time believing it is for anyone.

I try not to share too much crazy negative things on here (but coincidentally JUST shared a post on how backpacking India can suck)- and share almost nothing about my personal life, except Huck’s passing and one mushy post about meeting Ben aka why I moved to India.

I do tell the negative stories that directly relate to living in India as an expat because it’s what people need to know before they decide to live here. Sometimes my ‘This is India” stories are funny while others show a side to India that is a bit dark, like the way men have treated me on occasion.

But there’s other “bad stuff”. Usually, the bad stuff isn’t necessarily blog-worthy (I don’t want to bore you!). When you’re abroad and negative things happen it seems to stack up really high, really fast because you’re far from home. Nothing like a bad week to remind you of that. 

The same week Huck fell sick from rabies, Ben and I had a downright terrifying run-in with some idiots, and a couple days later Ben saw a baby tragically die.

By the end of the week Ben left for Kochi. The BIG “bad things” were done, but little things started to happen.

The Little Bad Things: 

I’d spend three hours in hot Panjim getting business cards printed just to see the cat knock over my vase of flowers on them. A cobra would be outside the house terrifying my cat AND I’d swerve to miss a python in my alley. Our driver got in a fender-bender which resulting in a mini-street fight and my car broke down (over and over), along with the A/C’s and the fridge. Then there was the Volvo break down of the century on the way to Mysore… where I had to take packed local buses for what turned to a 19 hour journey.

My head in the clouds Goa friends told me Mercury was in retrograde and to wait to out ;) I did. Things got better, as they always do.

When it all comes at once there are times when I think “WTF am I doing in India!?” or even Goa.  I don’t always share these moments because it makes me feel like a spoiled brat complaining and they’re quite dull when they aren’t put in one paragraph all at once, but I don’t want to portray that life is always rainbows and butterflies living as an expat in Goa.

After getting some comments saying things like they’re jealous of my perfect life or they want to move to Goa for my easy peasy life, I realized maybe I’m not showing enough of the bad of living abroad in India. I have to say, I don’t think a photo of my broken refrigerator would get many likes on Instagram. I always have and will continue to share photos that aren’t that flattering (hello, my travel playlist selfie).

People who know me know a few things for certain: I don’t like hugs (or really even touching people, so how I became a nurse then a masseuse is still a freakin’ mystery!), I am not mushy gooshy, and I eat junk food and fast food all day long. I don’t really have the personality for a personal blog and that’s why I stick to sharing tips and other straight forward posts.

train selfietrain selfie! almost as bad as the playlist selfie

be yourself, travel, backpacking stereotypes, wanderlust, beach, travel foodfood, the real love of my life

good and bad of goa

This photo Ben took of me after the Omni broke down and we had to push the van half way across Panjim bridge on our own. We waited in the May heat for two hours until the car was fixed. No AAA to come save me here (Although Sai Service isn’t half bad, just slow as fuck!)

The end!

See what happens when I try to write something that’s personal? It is super long and makes no sense. Aren’t you happy now that I stick to lists and bullet points? Check in next Friday for something better ;)

This is India!

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