The supposed to be a joyride on a friend’s car turned out later as one of the most wonderful travel experience that I ever had.
The story goes this way.
It was one late evening when I received an unexpected call from a friend of mine. She told me if I would like to accompany her for some sort of a trip along Metro Manila. She had just receive a new Toyota Vios car from her parents as a graduation present, and she wants to drive it first time with me. I was flattered, of course, so I did not waste any time in saying yes to her wonderful invitation.
We decided to meet up 7 am, yes; it was so early in the morning. I was really very excited, although I was feeling half nervous, thinking that maybe we might have some accident and we might get killed. I am a very cautious person; in fact, I always look first into what ifs and maybes of every situation before getting involved with it. I think it also shows my being pessimistic, but anyway, that’s me. Well, that’s just a related segue. Anyway, going back to the real story, as soon as I get myself ready for that joyride event, I fired her with a message telling her to fetch me right in front of our house.
Soon as we met up and got inside her car, we decided to get some rounds along Manila. Yes, I know what you are thinking. I know you are thinking like “Hey, Manila is just a jeepney away from your home. Is that really some sort of a joyride?” But my friend insisted that she would like to experience the traffic in Manila especially in Quezon Avenue, so I just agree with her. Anyway, that’s her car, and she’s the one who’s in charge of driving.
But while driving to Manila, my friend (her name is Camille) made a twist of mind. She asked me, “Would you like to have some chill of Tagaytay today?” Wow. I told myself, this girl is losing her mind now. She’s already planning for Tagaytay when I don’t even have a jacket with me that time. But her eyes were looking straight to my eyes, with a very cunning but exciting look. Speechless with her facial reaction, I agree to her decision with a simple nod.
We went on with our unexpected Tagaytay trip together with our memories and experiences together before. We laughed and exchanged comments that we have been doing every time we are going to meet up. In no less than two hours from Manila, we got a hold of Tagaytay, and oh, we decided to roll down the car windows and feel the atmosphere of that place. Cold, but I decided to ignore it, besides I’ve got no choice, I don’t have a jacket.
Taking rounds in Tagaytay would not make a sudden traveller like us happy and contented, so we decided to visit one of the prides of that place which is the People’s Park. People’s park, formerly known as Palace in the Sky, was built during the Marcos’ era, if my memory serves me right. Before, People’s Park or Palace in the Sky was a very wonderful place. It used to be well –maintained. But when we went there, I thought we were visiting a haunted place. The structures in that place were already coated with old age and low maintenance. The stone ladder has cracks already. Oh my, poor palace, do they have earthquakes in the sky? I thought to myself.
While we were tracking our steps towards to the peak of that place, the weather suddenly ceased being friendly. It rained. We would like to get a view of the Taal Volcano, for many people claimed that the said volcano looks good when you’re already at the peak of the Palace in the Sky. However, when we were already at the peak, we saw nothing but clouds of mist. The atmosphere was completely covered with mist, and that’s really frustrating for us. Thanks to the rain. As we went down from the peak, we passed by on some stores that sell souvenir items like t-shirts, handicrafts, and even foods. We just bought a couple of souvenir shirts that says, “I got this shirt in Tagaytay.” We also bought some snacks because it was already lunch time and restaurants were a bit far from that place.
After visiting Palace in the Sky, we went to Olivares Plaza and help ourselves by having a good and affordable lunch. Then, since it was raining hard, we hurried ourselves so we could get inside the car immediately.
“Bitin e.” Camille told me while we were already inside the car. At first, I thought she was talking about the food, but later, after questioning her about her clamour, I learned that it’s not the food, but it was the trip itself. So I just nodded and said, “It’s okay, kasi naman ‘yung ulan e. Wrong tyming.” We were already on Francisco road heading to Sta. Rosa, Laguna when she suddenly suggest again. Well, we used that road because according to her, she would like to use a longer route because it is still early to go home. Anyway, what she suggested is that why don’t we go for a swim in Laguna, since we were already heading for Laguna. Crazy idea, I thought to myself. The sun is shining brightly in Laguna so her decision is just okay. However, the silly thing about her suggestion is that we don’t have anything with us. Just imagine that? But she was really very insisting. So I said, okay, now, where will we get our bathing suits? She just smiled and told me that along the way we’ll find shops that sell bathing suits and everything about swimming.
I am asking myself what kind of strength and will power my friend has. Imagine, she’s been driving the whole day but I cannot see any signs of haggardness on her face. She’s still active and very bubbly. We’ve been exchanging stories before we went to Tagaytay and then we’re still exchanging the same stories while we’re heading to Pansol, Laguna. Along the way, we’ve been eyeing various resorts and almost all of them seem to be uninviting because they are jam-packed. Remember it was already summer, and the sun’s heat is already scorching everybody’s mind so they would want to go for a swim. After some sort of resort –hunt, we’ve found our spot, the Golden Sun Resort. We went inside and asked them if they are selling bath towels, soaps, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoos, and of course, bathing suits. I think the luck was on our side by that time, because actually, they all have the necessities that we are looking for. We only spent a few hours inside the resort. We just refreshed ourselves with the water from the swimming pools and we just took turns singing on the videoke. We also feasted with some of the foods being offered in the resort. We were very happy and fulfilled that we didn’t realize that it’s already seven in the evening. It’s only by that time when we decided to go home.
Physically, we both got tired with all the unexpected activities that we’ve done for the whole day. But it’s just fine with me. It’s not always every day when we happen to travel and explore many things all by ourselves. It’s not always every day when we happen to meet people along our way and it’s not always every day when we happen to learn lessons from our own experiences. So when this kind of things happens to cross on your ways, don’t waste any ample time, grab your chance and simply own the moment given to you.
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