Thanks to Jeremy and Eva over at forksandjets.com for inviting us to join the Trip Base 3 best kept travel secrets blog tag. You can check out their entry here!

Rather than give away our favorite hide-outs we decided to go another route and give you three of our secrets (or not so much secrets) to traveling happy and for less money. Without further ado:
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November 20, 2009 – Day 330 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

Arambol Beach is a lovely, quiet beach. We enjoyed a long day in the sun and perfect water. It’s great for swimming since the sandbar goes out so far and the waves are typically calm. We started our day off with a champion’s breakfast: an omlette, toast, and fresh pineapple juice.

Our palm frenged walk to the beach

November 19, 2009 – Day 329 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

As uninteresting as they are to us (and to you readers as well), travel days are a necessary evil. It took three very slow, very crowded local buses to get us from Panaji to Arambol Beach but we finally made it.

Cows need a little beach time too

India is a whole other universe, unlike any place in the world. Things are rarely as they seem, people say anything but don’t consider it lying, personal space and privacy are words that probably do not even exist in Hindi, there are smells you could never imagine or figure out, and you will see more naked people than you probably have in your whole life (unless you live in Croatia).

Chaotic India

November 18, 2009 – Day 327 – Panaji, Goa, India

Today will go do in history as the most ridiculous search for a place to sleep. Hmm, where to begin? Maybe with the sleeper bus we took here last night that rocked violently all night on a curvy road and the “two person” bays were only long enough to accommodate 1.5 people in the fetal position. Or maybe the flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe with the hour and half fully loaded walk from the bus station, over the bridge into the city and then all around the city looking for a hotel that was (a) not full, and (b) not Rs. 1000 per night.

Lights on the interstate at night

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November 17, 2009 – Day 326 – Mumbai, India

We really packed in a full sightseeing tour of Mumbai today! We started the morning with a taxi ride to the Hanging Garden for a nice view of the beach and a bit of the city. The garden is very pleasant and extremely well maintained and for this reason, many Indians like to spend time walking around and people watching (yes, they stare at each other too), especially since the park is free to go in. Across the street is another smaller park where we passed a mini-market with 8-10 tables of random wares for sale and the giant shoe to check out the view.

Hazy day on the beach

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November 16, 2009 – Day 325 – Mumbai, India

Whether you call it Mumbai or Bombay, this city is a really happening place! It boasts the richest neighborhoods and most famous people in India but it also holds Asia’s largest slum. From both extremes, Mumbai is a place you will either love or hate. It is India and it is not. The people are different, the food is different, the prices are high and the city is abuzz and never sleeps. At any hour you will hear traffic whizzing and honking its way through the streets below your hotel room. You can always find a snack stand open and there is no shortage or high-end establishments to spend your hard-saved Rupees.

In the streets of Mumbai

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November 15, 2009 – Day 324 – Udaipur, India

So the sun is shining and making the lake in town look very pretty! The Lake Palace is glistening white out in the middle of the lake and the ghats are busy with locals doing their washing. We took a walk to Fateh Sagar lake that looked a lot like the one in town. It is pretty…from the right sightline. The edge we came to was strewn with garbage and the water was lower than normal since there has been a drought in the recent weeks (according to some locals we asked).

Gazebo over the lake

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