I went to Baguio and hugged a tree

It was 45 minutes past midnight and we were still circling above Metro Manila, waiting for the captain to announce our final descent. Flight 2P801 from Singapore was already an hour delayed and we still have a bus to catch. No, not just any bus but The Bus – Victory Liner’s relatively new Deluxe Bus to Baguio City featuring an in-built lavatory, comfortable seats, free snacks, and most of all, free wifi! We have got to be in that bus. Not just because of the novelty of its cool features, but also – still high on Wicked The Musical, we couldn’t wait to defy gravity in Baguio City. Land the plane, land the plane now, I chanted like a witch. Our bus leaves at – I sneaked a glance at my pre-ordered Victory Liner ticket – OMG, in exactly 30 minutes. To avoid forfeiting our seats, we were instructed to check in already at, gulp, right that moment.

As soon as the airplane doors opened, my friend Jan and I hit the ground running, raced through the mocking white halls of NAIA 3, glowered at the slow-moving lines at Immigration and grabbed our bags. We took the first car for hire - never mind the bloated surcharge- and urged the driver to catch the Victory Liner Deluxe Bus at Pasay Terminal. How could it be, that even at midnight, Manila’s roads are still beset with heavy traffic? Good thing the young driver was sympathetic to our plight-- he wasted no time cutting through it all. Or, if I was thinking clearly at that moment, I could just say the driver was mad.

(Illustration by JPadreganda)

We reached the terminal just as the only remaining yellow bus was shutting its doors and crawling through the curve. I shouted and waved our tickets in the air, “Stop the bus, stop the bus!” Responding to the siren of distress, the terminal suddenly came alive. A car near the bus started honking for it to stop, someone helped us with our luggage and ran with us, one man shouted for another to pound on the bus, clueless passersby started shouting as well. For a brief moment there, I wondered, this must be the Pinoy bayanihan spirit at work. It was awesome experiencing it firsthand… if only we weren’t so stressed. The bus finally stopped. The stewardess (yes, the bus has one!) patiently opened the door only to tell us that, sorry, they were already full. I couldn’t believe it. After all the running, we still missed it. Worse, that was the last trip till morning – a sentence of frustration to the highest level. Thank you very much, Flight 2P801.

When things like this happen, you can choose to either cry it out or just move on and learn the lesson. We reluctantly opted for the latter. And I guess that’s how, at 2:00 am on a Friday, while cruising the busy streets of Pasay looking for a decent place to sleep, we comforted ourselves by taking to heart these five travel tips:

1. Never book flights or trips one after the other. For as long as you can help it, schedule consecutive trips at least a day apart. Even three to five hours lead time don’t always cut it. For your peace of mind, never expect airlines to be on time, even if they say so. Unfortunately, delays are a sad, but inevitable part of traveling. Don’t you notice, it’s always something -- a failed communication equipment, bad weather, heavy traffic, technical difficulties or just your plain forgetfulness. So give enough time for the dust to settle first when you land so you can see clearly where you’re going next.

2. Always have a Plan B. Travel plans have a way of going awry. You can lose a luggage, get lost or be stranded. In our case, it’s no joke going around Manila looking for a non-fully booked hotel at 2:00 in the morning. And expensive, too, especially when you don’t know the area. Even if you check in way after midnight and check out at 8:00 am, hotels will still charge you a full day’s worth. Truly, ouch. I wish all city hotels will start offering Sleep N’ Fly packages, especially with the nocturnal air flight schedules these days. If we had been better prepared, we might just have been able to find one that does, or just crashed at a friend’s place.

3. Pack well and limit yourself to just one luggage. In the long run, it pays.

4. When your travel itinerary gets skewed and there’s nothing else you can do, just sleep it off. Things will be better in the morning. After resting and indulging in a good buffet breakfast, we finally managed to catch another Deluxe Bus. This time, there were only about 7 passengers so we enjoyed more space. Less the stress, we were also able to see how funny it all was. We couldn’t stop laughing all the way to Baguio City. Something that we wouldn’t have been able to do had we stayed awake all night busy being mad.

5. Choose to look at the brighter side of life. Things may not always go well when we travel but Baguio City-- the summer capital of the Philippines-- is one destination that’s so cool it inspires one to look at the sunny side of things. For one, the viewing deck of Mines View Park is so high and peaceful you’ll begin to see things at a better perspective. Our systems and people may not always be efficient, but when you visit our cultural heritage at Tam-awan Village, you’ll find hope. If the ancestral tribes were able to work together, build structure and manage to survive the unpredictable mountains, so could we if we put our minds to it. And then, how could one afford to think of this country as poor when you see the abundant fresh vegetables and strawberry fields in Benguet, towering Pine Trees and rolling greens in Camp John Hay, beautiful rice terraces and glorious mountains all around? And if you’ve ever thought of Pinoys as inferior, you’ll change your mind once you meet the many creative people in Session Road who can sing through any heartache, magically turn an ugly thing to beautiful art and who can make various products out of one fruit and market them.

We may have been delayed in getting to Baguio, but then, with an open heart, I guess there’s always enough time to be inspired and be at the right place. Never mind the 6-hour bus trip. Once you find yourself in the midst of a magical place like Baguio, you feel so blessed that you learn to forgive and forget all inconveniences, even that of Flight 2P801.

Things may not always start out right, but traveling proves that in the Philippines, the winding roads can always lead us to something better. And that’s how, one fine day in the City of Pines, I finally thanked God and hugged a tree.





-- SunStar Weekend, January 21 & 28, 2012