Friday stretch

Today was my first time to commute alone from Makati City to Lipa City. Thankfully, I was blessed to hop aboard a bus where the last available seat was waiting for me. As if calling me as I made my way down the aisle, the seat was dead center at the back of the bus.

Although I'm used to going home alone since I was in college, going straight home from work was different from my school time jeepney-LRT-bus-tricycle routine with walks in between.

Here are the scenarios of commuting from where I work to where I live in the province:

1. I have to ride a jeepney going to Glorietta / SM Mall.

2. I walk to the MRT Ayala Station where I wait in long lines to buy a ticket and get on the train.

3. I go down the last stop, which is Taft Station.

4. I walk some more going to the indirectly connected station of the Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT 1), which is EDSA Station.

5. I buy a ticket, get on the train, and go down Gil Puyat/Buendia Station.

6. I go down the stairs of the station, walk some more, and find a safe place in the highway where I can cross to the other side where the bus station was. Oh, after going down the stairs, another option is walk some more towards the overpass a couple of blocks away in order to get to the bus station.

7. I catch a bus that passes by Tambo Exit, which is the exit nearest where our neighborhood is. The bus drives through the Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Southern Tagalog Access Road (STAR) Tollway in a two to three-hour long travel. Fridays have the most awfully heavy traffic from 4pm onwards, since ‘all the people’ are going home to their provinces for the weekend.

8. I get off at Tambo Exit, cross the street and walk towards the tricycle waiting area.

9. I ride a trike and get off right in front of our house.

There you go... a How-To-Get-From-Point-A-to-Point-B made personally by yours truly.

Unlike Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, sadly, I have no red shoes whose heels I can click three times while saying 'There's no place like home' to shorten the 3-hour commute back to Lipa City. Whenever I was asked, "Granted you can possess one superpower, what would it be and why?" I would always answer, "Teleport: It is the fastest and most hassle-free way to go to different places anytime, anywhere." :)

Anyway, I really like the Manila Light Rail Transit System. It's an efficient [not to mention cheap] way of getting around the Metro (in spite of the fact that one gets a first-hand experience of how it feels like to be one of those sardines packed in cans especially during rush hour).

Inasmuchas driving is a skill, I believe commuting is a skill, too. :D