I agree it happened to us the 1st year but not since as we are prepared.

Hi There,

I like to keep a few rupees in my holiday wallet from previous visits.

when i present the " porters " with 10 or 20 rupees for their services, it's great to see the reaction !

One said to me "pound coin please? "

my reply was sorry but it would be no good to you mate we're in India now.

ian.......

Another thing they do is ask you you give them a £10 note in exchange for ten pound coins because they can only change notes into rupees, they cant get coins changed. You have to be careful because they will give you 9 pound coins and hope you don't notice. This has happened to us a few times but we counted the coins so they didn't get away with it.

It is a little intimidating the first time you visit but we always carry a few nuggets in our pockets to tip the 'lavatory attendants'.

Lots of market traders in Goa are also from out of state.

Its the same all over the tourist world.

Workers/sellers will travel to where the tourists are to try and make some money.

Just smile and say No Thank You if you don't want a 'porter' to carry your luggage, works for us.

T&J

HI

Tried to smile and be polite but almost had to fight to try and keep hold of our bags, its the last thing you need after a long flight have complained to tour operators they do not see it as thier problem being self employed if anybody harassed my customers i take the view it is my problem there fore i take steps to make sure this will not become a a issue for repeat trade,tour companies seem not to value our trade or they would put a stop to this.

One thing i did find was our driver from the airport to the hotel seemed not to looking fer a tip i feel that as he did the work he shoudl recieve the reward

yuors

glenroid

It used to be a lot worse when the porters were allowed inside the airport as they grabbed your bags as soon as they were on the carousel. We gave them £1 each the first time we went but last year grabbed our bags ourselves and kept a tight hold of them. I think for the amount of time it takes to carry your bags from the airport to the coach the porters earn more an hour than I do!

think i will move out to airport and make more money than in uk

I just hold on to the trolley tightly and walk quickly and confidently saying no to anyone who asks...I always feel sorry for first time visitors, they must think where have we come to, thankfully the rest of Goa is nothing like the "porters scrum" at the airport...though as Gemma said it is now much better since they can't come indide the airport.

We're going to Goa in Feb.....looking forward to the porter scrum :( We get that when we go to the Gambia, but we learned to hang on tightly to the bags/trolley & just keep walking. The worst bit is when you return to the airport the porters are in the hold of the coach unloading bags before you get off the coach, you have to have eyes & wits about you cos you find bags going off in different directions with different porters....oh what joy!!! Is it as bad on returning to the airport in Goa?

No going back is relatively calm.....the porters strike before the tan develops ;-) as they presume everyone is a first timer.......lol