Another dream fulfilled!
On March 19, 2012, Ed and I embarked on a journey that would take us on a 36-hour land trip to Albay, a 3-day layover visiting relatives, a short drive to Manila, and another 2 days relax period before flying back to Cagayan de Oro. All-in-all, it was an exciting experience for us, me especially, because this had been my goal ever since we began our tours operations. And it all started with a simple dream: to cross the San Juanico Bridge.
It all came about when my brother (you might have heard of him – Joey Cuerdo – entrepreneur, DOT event organizer, chairman/ executive officer of Mojo sandals, surfer) decided to sell his old Trooper to us. We were already considering getting a smaller second-hand vehicle for our small tour groups and it seemed the perfect deal.
At first, Joey planned to ship the car to CDO. Then Edgar suggested that we could pick it up from Manila. Then I suggested that we could meet Joey halfway in Albay since he (Joey) had a project (5th Bagasbas Festival) in Daet, Camirines Norte and he could check up on developments, and then Ed (with Mama and me) would drive it all the way to CDO. In the end it was decided that we would make it a vacation – with Mama, Frankie and Thea joining the trip.
So it was final: Mama would be with Joey and the ladies driving to Albay from Manila, while Ed and I would commute there from CDO. It was all decided on so quickly that there was only enough time to tell a few relatives of our plans and even less time to tell them WHY we were taking a vacation in the most inappropriate of times.
Wait a minute! Didn’t I just say that we would drive the Trooper back to CDO? Why did we proceed to Manila, then? Well, on the night before our scheduled travel, Ed discovered a major anomaly in the car’s documents – one that had to be corrected in Manila where it was registered. So, instead of explaining once again to relatives why we were driving to Manila instead of CDO, we just went and did it. And so when we arrived in the Philippines’ Capital, nobody knew we were there.. este.. except those who read my Facebook status updates.
They say that the hardest part in any endeavor is taking the first step. This was the first time I took the land trip from Mindanao to Luzon. It was the first time I had traveled by land for more than 12 hours straight to reach a destination. It was the first time I had sat through 14 provinces/6 regions/ all 3 major island groups in just one trip. It took us a whole week. And I wasn’t tired at all. Are we going to do this again?
Definitely!
Life in the Bukids 