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’ve been back in Goa about a week and a half but I have not been working much because we have been out going cool stuff every day with Ben’s Aunt Ness and Uncle Donnie who came to visit. 
  • It’s a heat wave in India! I have 5 freelance articles to write, but my A/C is broken and it’s like 100 degrees in my house so getting work done is impossible. Heat waves here are actually really dangerous combined with draught and already lives have been lost. Goa is coastal so it’s not as hot here, although with the humidity feels very hot.
  • Ben and I rarely send each other selfies, but when we do this is what they look like: my black eye in Bali and him covered in Holi paint, which is unavoidable.
  • What I’ve been reading: [easyazon_link identifier=”0964729237″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]The Shack[/easyazon_link]. I’ve been doing this thing where I just read books I’ve heard are good without reading the inside cover to see what it’s about, so I had no clue this was about God. I thought for sure it would be a thriller about a pyscho murderer in a shack. I’ll let you know if it’s any good. 
  • I’ve been an ambassador for Pepo (an app) now for nearly 5 months. It’s the only social media app I use multiple times per day. I’m going to do a Q&A session this week which is a little bit like a Facebook Live. But, on Facebook, I have too many people who would see it and that’s terrifying lol, so if you have travel questions, please download Pepo, and join my chat ‘Hippie in Heels’ and you can ask me anything!
  • My camera lens broke the last day I was in Bali. The gear the twists the lens open broke, apparently. They say this is from dropping it, which with my camera covered in bubble wrap, I can assure you I didn’t do! I took it to Cam Clinic in Panjim, and they fixed it with a new part for 3,800 rs, just FYI if you are in Goa with camera problems, they were really good. They are located just opposite Don Bosco school in Panjim.

Now your story,

I’m going to tell you what we did all week with Ben’s Aunt and Uncle! I love when people we know come on vacation here because then I get an excuse to not work and go out to do fun things for a week or two. 

This is his Aunt Ness and Uncle Donny. Ness is his mom’s sister.

bens family visits goa

They stayed at Shanti Morada and LOVED it. It’s definitely a cool hotel. Ben and I went by to check out the room and it’s really nice with a giant bed and a standing bathtub + a really cool pool with waterfall. It’s more like a heritage house and has all antique furniture. It’s located in Saligao and is a good choice if you want luxury but not 5 star. 

We took them to lots of restaurants like A Reverie, La Plage, Anand Bar, Brittos, Thalassa, and I think more. 

We also hit up the Wednesday market where they got everything on their souvenir shopping list in record time. bens family visits goa

We wanted to go out on Vaayu’s boat, but it was broken so we tried this new restaurant in the river called Watermark but just for drinks and sunset. 

It was really nice, you take a boat out to their barge and it’s a great location to see sunset. The music is crazy loud though, but they turned it down when we asked them to.bens family visits goa

bens family visits goa

bens family visits goa

The photos above is Donni’s handiwork who was getting very creative with the sunset looking like a candle in a glass! I should hire him to do photos for the blog :) 

We HAD to have a drink at Happy Bar since anyone who has ever mailed us would see that as a landmark near our house. It’s our local bar and in England, they are really into having a “local”. Ben and Donnie had masala cashew feni at Anand bar which is something everyone should try once, although it’s so disgusting, the guys actually liked it.

bens family visits goa

One of the first mornings, we went out to Vaayu to rent SUP’s. It was so choppy out, but it was low tide so we couldn’t go in the river either. 

We gave it a go, but learning to SUP in choppy water is really hard. Ben’s Aunt did stand up though, so props to her!bens family visits goa

On our last night, we went to Taj Fort Aguada, which is really nice for drinks and sunset. 

bens family visits goa

I think we did other things, too, but I can’t remember them! They did go to Antares as well, and chill at Vagator beach, as well as explore closer to their hotel the days we didn’t meet them. They had a good time, so hopefully, will go back to England and talk Ben’s mom into coming out!

These photos are all from Ness and Donnie because my camera was broken while they were here, which is a bummer, but the two of them are good with a camera so it worked out!

Goa has so much to do that I always wish people visiting were staying a bit longer, but we squeezed a lot in a week and they had time to lay by the pool and tan which is needed when you have to go back to cold England weather.