Travel blog? What travel blog?

Sometimes I feel insurmountably guilty for never, ever writing much of anything in the way of 'travel info' about India.
This is my pathetic attempt at rectifying that:

Our favorite destination in India is Goa - Calengute/Baga
in particular. But the hotel we call months in advance to book the one picture perfect, full-frontal balcony facing the sea, three walls of windows, cathedral ceilinged room they have, is just too precious to share with anyone. And I don't want to risk having any trouble acquiring this room, where the wind blows through from the sea like a breath from heaven, when I want it.
Selfish? That's fine with me.
I tried to talk H into moving there with me and had grandiose ideas of paying tons of money to install internet in the little rental but to no avail. The humidity in Goa would murder our laptops and thus ruin any chance we'd have of funding our long-term holiday lifestyle.

Other great beaches in Goa:
I've spent time in the airport city - Vasco, as well as Anjuna, Arambol, and Calengute/Baga and in each and every town I found a place to stay that was affordable (max $15 per night), either directly on the beach or just above it on a seaside cliff, or set back just enough to offer a panoramic view of everything. Except for in Vasco which is a factory town and not especially lovely, although the people are incredibly nice there.
Personally, I think the best way to locate where you want to stay is just get to where you want to go and walk around until you find something.

In Anjuna, if you go to the very very end of town, toward the beach, there is a little row of houses along the cliffs, to the left. There I rented a two bedroom house for Rs 350 per night (about seven dollars U.S.). Plus Anjuna boasts the terrifcally massive Anjuna Market - weekends and Wednesday nights, they are easy to find, impossible to resist, and can take literally an entire day (and an ample sum of money for all the stuff there is to buy) to wander through. The markets are full of all kinds of fabulous shiny things to satisfy your penchant for souvenirs, plus host sellers from all over the world who come to Goa to hawk their amazing designs, many of which are geared toward the rave set.

Speaking of: I won't try to direct you to the parties in Goa as they're changing every season, move from place to place depending on the police presence and legality of their licesnses, etc. Just know that like everything you might want from Goa, the legendary raves are easy to find.

In Arambol if you walk down to the beach and follow the cliffs around the bend you'll find an entire cliffside community with another more private beach just beyond. If you can navigate the rocky pathway along the cliff you'll find plenty of guest houses built up and down the cliff - some require quite a hike up to reach them but the views are spectacular. Closer to the sea there are darling little restraunts and more guest houses - one of which I chose for Rs 350 per night. It was a single room, double bed, with attached bath and shower, windows facing the sea and a little balcony outside. The best part was, this room was literally in the cliff, but on the lower side, so there was no one above me, no one below except the earth, sky, and sea (unless you count the guest house to the left and down a bit that was inhabited by nudists at the time).

All of the beaches in Goa offer beachfront or cliffside dining - and the food is pretty extraordinary everywhere.
If you're into eating endangered exotic animals you can order shark in many different flavors.
But, on Calengute, there are kilometers and kilometers of little beachfront shacks piled up next to eachother, set right into the sand - amazingly equipped with full kitchens, bars, huge stereo systems, and the random fire dancing show. Walking this beach at night is some kind of wonderful.
There is nothing more relaxing that sauntering up to one of them at sunset knowing that someone will come and bring a set of very comfy chairs, a table complete with lighted candle lamp, and some menus. That the sun will set directly in front of you and the stars will appear, meeting the sea on the horizon.
Sit down, order a drink and some food, sit as close to the sea as you want with your feet in the sand...the service is coming to you.
Planet Goa is a first choice and has a delectable outdoor seafood barbeque, selections served with a massive portion of vegetables and other yummy goodies.

During the day these places are packed with people slouching in rented beach lounges under umbrellas (max Rs 50 for the day, depending on the place) but the service is just as quick and the food and drink just as delicious.

Getting there is always easy, being there - even easier:
I'd been in India three months, living in Auroville on the east coast, when I decided to take a bus to Goa on the west. It was easy to find a place to buy a ticket because all of the bus companies are in one very very very long row on a street I can't remember the name of in Pondicherry. I just told my driver that I wanted to go buy a bus ticket and he dropped me off.
The best company to hire a seat with is Paolo Travels. Their buses were almost always on time, they provide bottled water, the atmosphere is not too hot not too cold (A/C can be your enemy, even in India, believe it or not), and they never splashed us into a ravine or nasty slough which all too often happens here.

This crashing into things and falling off of bridges is the same reason I do not travel by train in India and so have no advice to give in that direction.
I did once try to take a train from Hyderabad to Bangalore but couldn't believe the amount of process just to get a ticket, and there wasn't anything for almost two weeks in any direction. Instead I called up Air Deccan, plunked down my credit card and flew out five hours later.
When you're feeling hemmed in and need a quick and hassle free escape from somewhere in India to somewhere else in India - take a flight, they're cheap, frequent and now we've got Kingfisher Airlines with their nifty little red airplanes. Kingfisher is the best - once they gave H one of the toy Kingfisher airplanes they give to little kids. Plus, the food on their flights is honestly some of the most outstanding Indian food I've ever had (Nothing to do with my fascination for food on trays).

There are sleeper buses to and from every locae in India. You can travel by government bus or private bus. Only diehard travellers who are on a half-dollar-for-travel budget and want to be awake and uncomfortable for thirteen+ hours will travel by government bus.
Private busses can be hit or miss as well, but even on the yuckiest one I've ever taken I still slept almost the entire time.
Tickets are incredibly cheap - from Bangalore to Goa it's between Rs 500 and Rs 750 for a sleeper.
The thing to remember is that there are two little spaces in a sleeper compartment. I would imagine they could be very cramped and unfriendly places given the wrong circumstances.
When I travelled alone I always bought both sections of the compartment - it was like twenty dollars max and well worth the investment. Fortunately now I travel with my darling...no complaints in that case.

Anyway, the bus was no big deal. But I made the mistake of stopping first in Bangalore, not really having a plan, and realized as soon as I stepped out of the station and into the air the city breathes that I should have gone straight to the coast.
So I spent a few hours trying to find a ticket to Goa that would get me there now and lacking that, totally hot and sweaty and unhappy, I took an auto to the airport, bought a ticket, washed my hair in the bathroom, and got on a plane.
Less than two hours later I was outside. The air in Goa is like medicine.

I travelled around the state's beaches alone for two weeks - it's a tiny squidge of a thing on India's map so is easy to cover a good portion of on a short stay. I also spent way too much money but haven't made that mistake again (Goa can be an extremely comfortable and equally inexpensive holiday).

In truth, there are some really great places here in India, maybe even in Bangalore...
I guess it's about time to answer the questions about travel in India that people type into Google only to be brought to my site, which has done nothing to help them feel cheery about their upcoming trip (and those plane tickets can be expensive).