Visiting new places is great fun, especially places, which you’ve dreamt of many times. I had always dreamt of going to Goa. And the main reason behind it was the Bollywood blockbuster Dil Chahta Hai.

I saw my dream coming true when my teachers informed me about a trip to Goa and Mumbai. It was not at all easy convincing parents, especially when you’re going with friends. However, I was and on January 4 I boarded the bus making my Goa dreams come true.

Fifty-four students from Classes VII, VIII, IX, and four teachers started on our Bombay dreams.

We stayed in a hotel in Mumbai and there we got to visit many places, some we had seen on TV. We visited the Prince of Wales Museum, Nehru Planetarium and Science Museum and

Marine Drive. We spent the entire next day in Esselworld and Water Kingdom. The different water rides like Water Coaster, Black Demon, Roller Coaster and Thunder were thrilling experiences. We all had a tiring day so we slept till late the next morning.

That day we visited Juhu and had our first experience of being on a beach, and we left for Goa the same evening.

We reached Goa, our dream place, the next morning. We relaxed the whole day and collected different types of shells but the best part of the experience was diving into the waves.

The next day we visited St Francis Xavier’s church where sacred remains of St Francis Xavier is preserved in a silver casket. We also visited other churches and explored the city of Panjim.

We spent the next morning on the beach and in the afternoon visited Fort Agauda, Dona Paula and a famous temple of Goa. The special part of that day was the one-hour boat ride on river Mondovi and danced to live music on the boat.

This was our last day and we returned feeling a bit sad but a whole lot happier for having experienced our dream.

— Nishchal Banskota, Class VIII, St Xavier’s School