Prologue - Blogabond

In 3 days at this hour, we should finally be on the road for our 2007 Christmas Family Road Trip and vacation. These trips never fail to excite me. As a child, I could never sleep well on the eve of a trip. My late father, my namesake and from whom I got my love for road trips, liked to leave at 2 or 3 AM when going to Baguio or La Union. I am not so sure that it was because he wanted to skip traffic or save on time but instead I think it was because he was just as, if not more, excited than we were. On several occasions, my siblings and I would be bundled straight from bed into the car still in our pajamas for spur-of-the-moment trips to points unknown. It felt like we were sneaking out of Manila in the dark, speeding through the towns along Bulacan and Pampanga with their residents still fast asleep, and greeting the sun in Tarlac or Pangasinan where we would stop for breakfast in one of our favorite stopovers along the highway. We would arrive at our destination by the time we normally got up on weekends or holidays.

I have not been able to do this much since we got married because my wife hates traveling in the dark and getting up too early for that matter. The only time I prevailed was when we once took a straight 12 hour drive to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. To get there by 7 AM, we had to leave by 6 PM the day before. The extra hour was spent getting out of Metro Manila alone. This eliminated the trip-eve sleeplessness and allowed me to take a good long nap before we hit the road. The rest of the evening and early morning was like a night out in the town without the drinking. I had a van at the time and the seats could be straightened out to form a big bed which was perfect for the kids, still young, who mostly slept throughout the trip. We had an early dinner in Luisita in Tarlac after the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and a break for coffee and leg-stretching at midnight in San Fernando, La Union halfway there. After San Fernando, the countryside starts to get really provincial and the towns further apart with very little in between. The fact that we were traveling in the wee hours of the morning did not help. Even in these modern days, filling up your gas tank is a necessity and not breaking down a constant prayer. In the 70’s, San Fernando, the capital of La Union, would start to shut down by 7 or 8 PM. In the next town of San Juan, even the dogs would get out of the streets the moment it got dark. In any case, this just added to the excitement of the trip and made me all the more cautious. We arrived as the hotel (Fort Ilocandia, our favorite) was coming awake. The kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for action and I was ripe for bed and sleep. Up for lunch and a dip after, then a nice nap and I was back to normal by late afternoon. On the way back, we cut the trip in half with a stay in San Juan (or was it Baguio?).

We have done this trip so often before but it is like the first time every time. Personally, I enjoy the trips more than the destinations but it is the really the time spent with the people you love and travel with that is important. We experience even the same things differently on each trip as the kids grow up and my wife and I grow older. Personalities change and the dynamics of the relationships evolve. Individually, we pass through events in our lives, whether good or bad or happy or sad, that affect us and rule our moods and sentiments during these trips. So it’s not really about the trip nor the destination after all. It’s about family. Locked up in a car and a resort or hotel room, our companies forced on each other, enjoyed or otherwise. The trip and destination merely an excuse and a means to a more important end. 3 more days and we start this new adventure in our lives as a family.

written by

Joey Carlotta on December 21, 2007 from Las Pinas, Philippines

from the travel blog: 2007 Carlotta X'Mas Family Road Trip

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