We headed down south, with its promise of a gentler, more relaxing and less taxing introduction to the magical wonders of India. Just what we needed after the hustle bustle and jostling crowds of Mumbai.
The first stop was Panjim, the Capitol of the state Goa. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi River estuary in Tiswadi Taluka. We stayed at the beautiful Alfonso Guest House which is situated in the quaint Latin quarter of the city. The roof top is where I spent most of my time (nursing a Kingfisher beer hangover) looking out to the Jungle grown mountain side and the whitewashed St Sebastian chapel. This is also the best place to get your traditional Goan fish curry! 

From Panjim we took the long but beautiful train journey through the Western Ghats to Hampi. 
This place will leave you speechless, it had an almost eerie feeling, heaps of boulders piled high over miles of undulating terrain, paddy fields, banana plantations, and the ancient ruins of scattered temples, to me it looked like a movie set, something out of Jurassic park.
We crossed the little river by boat to get to the hostel side. Not such an easy task when the boat resembles something paddington bear floats around in and there is 8 of you with backpacks trying to balance and screaming out in fear of falling into the bog of eternal stench! We found a great place for only 200 RPS a night, no fan, electricity or water but a bed with a fly net, and a fully stocked bar, I was happy! 
My favourite spot was Nargilla Guesthouse and restaurant, this is where we met all the weird and wonderful hashed to the max hippies, I played jambe drums and didgeridoo with the local music man and partied my night away surrounded by the UV glow of the mushrooms and pixies on the wall. Hampi was my favourite place in India, the rugged beauty and peaceful sunsets made me smile from the inside out, truly a breathtaking experience.

July 2012 is when we landed in Mumbai. I had heard so many conflicting stories about India, its dangerous, its full of mutilated beggars, you will get sick and shit yourself a lot etc, but the more positive reviews were what got me curious, the spiritualness, the colours, the cultures, the food! 
The first thing that happened is a huge swarm of taxi and rickshaw drivers came around us like bees on a sticky nest, this was quite terrifying for the first time and I will never forget having that first indian armpit shoved in my face (it happened many times over the next two months) you know there is no word in Hindi for privacy, this is because it simply doesn't exist. 
That first taxi drive was mostly spent on the edge of my seat trying not to have a heart attack, from not only the fact that our backpacks were hanging out the boot with nothing to secure them in, but also the insane and ridiculous driving! They remove their wind mirrors so they can get within inches of each other, there is no order or road markings and by some miracle no crashes! They even open their doors mid drive to spit out fountains of bright red saliva from chewing on the paan.
We drove for a few hours and it was so much to take in, the mounds of rubbish pilled high, the tiny children barefoot sifting through it, the beggars banging their bowls on the windows, the brightly coloured Hindu gods splashed on every billboard, poster and wall, the amount of cattle standing smack bang in the middle of road (I now understand the saying 'calmer than a Hindu cow') and the smells...oh the smell, one minute putrid fish the next beautiful thick rose oil, it was tingling my every sense and invoking my spirit. 
This is when I realised you have to surrender to India, her whims and people take you by the throat and drag you in unimaginable directions, and I was ready for the adventure I was about to embark on.


Gateway to India, Mumbai. 

My travelling adventures began at the ripe old age of 19. My three best friends and I decided it was time to escape the cold miserableness of England (and our boyfriends) and set out on a year long journey packed full of debauchery and adventure.
This was the first time we had ventured outside of Europe so we picked our destinations, the popular back packing route of Thailand & Australia.
I would like to say 'I found myself' and 'a path for the future became clear' but the the main thing we became passionate about that year was passion pop! (a sweet fizzy Australian wine, mildly more classy than boxed goon) Yes I fell in love with the excitement of waking up every day to a new (drunken) adventure. 
We spent most of our one year working visa for Oz at a surf camp working in the kitchen. No matter how heavy the night, we were always up before breakfast shift for a surf and we were always there, over-enthusiastically entertaining the backpackers come sunset, it was the perfect lifestyle. 
This is where I caught my travel bug, meeting all those people from other backgrounds and cultures, being forced out of my comfort zone and becoming more confident. And many years down the line this surf camp became a very relevant part of  my life again, but I shall get to that in a later post....suspense haha!!


So as the year came to an end I knew it wouldn't be last time I took off to explore, and this is where my story starts, 5 years later in 2012....