It was a six-hour drive which turned into an eleven-hour one. Oddly enough, I didn’t mind. As a matter of fact, I had a blast!

One of my sisters, who now lives in Canada, was coming home for the holidays, and my parents thought it would be nice to take the whole family to a vacation out of town. Everything was booked way in advance, before my dad had his annual staycation at the hospital and before my mom had her date with the ICU. Everybody knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge, but we were all set.

And so, on the 23rd of December, we set off at five in the morning in four vehicles with two senior citizens, two fifty-year-olds, five fortysomethings, five millennials, two eight-year-olds, and an assortment of gifts and luggages. We were off to La Union! Road trip!

With that many people on one trip, there were bound to be a couple of considerations. Some of us had to have our coffee. Some of us had to have regular bathroom breaks. Some of us had to have proper sit-down meals. No worries! We were already booked anyway. We could take our sweet time.

 

What we didn’t expect was the heavy volume of traffic and the alarming number of vehicular accidents along the way. When we came upon two accidents, we were concerned but not quite shocked. They were bound to happen. But when the mashups kept on coming, we became a bit frantic. How could these things be happening?! And during the holidays!

That we were using Waze was such a blessing. That the car full of millennials was about half an hour ahead of us was a godsend. The kids updated us all throughout the journey, and so we quickly took Waze’s detour suggestions, saving us from being tied up in a gridlock because of another accident.

Of course, what would a road trip be without its share of detours? In search of a proper place to take lunch, we discovered this charming garden restaurant somewhere in Pangasinan. Hardin sa Paraiso was filled to the rafters with travelers just like us, all tired and hungry after sitting on our butts for quite some time. We wolfed down the grilled pusit, barbeque, sinigang, lumpiang sariwa, and tuna belly in minutes, it seems. I couldn’t quite remember whether the food was really delicious or I was just very hungry! Mwahahahha

 

And when mom found out that our Lady of Manaoag was in the vicinity, well, we had to make another stop. It was in her bucket list, she said. So off we went!

 

It took a couple more hours before we finally reached our destination, but it didn’t matter. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip — which was sprinkled with embarrassingly laugh out loud moments — and learned a couple of things about myself besides.

First, it doesn’t matter how old your kids get. You always worry! Mwahahaha

Two of my kids drive and I know they’ve driven to destinations farther than we were traversing, but I was still concerned. I would check up on them every now and then, and of course, prayed for them.

At one point, I wanted them to turn around — after having gone through kilometers and kilometers of traffic — because I knew that they were still a long way off a decent place to have lunch, so that they can eat with us in the garden restaurant.

50-year-old me: Eka, saan na kayo? Kain tayo?

50-year-old me: Eka, balik nalang kayo. Masyadong malayo yung next stop. 

20-something Eka: Bakit babalik? Mauna na kami. Matanda na kami, Ma. Kaya na namin ‘to! 🙂

I really have got to cut off that umbilical cord!! Mwahahaha

Second, the length of any journey ain’t a problem for as long as you’re with people you love.

Though there were only four of us in the car, we had ourselves a great party! I usually sleep on long road trips — it’s one of my special talents — but on this one, I only took a half-hour nap, I think. I didn’t want to miss the party!

 

We laughed. We sang. We took pictures. We ate. We drank. We talked about the good times and the bad, and thought of how we can make our disdain known to all these reckless drivers. We reminisced about get-togethers of yore, and realized that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Life! How funny!

As for the vacation itself, well, that’s another story! Mwahahahaha