When I go on trips to far away places I make sure to make the most of it. You won't find me sleeping 8 hours and beyond nor wasting away precious time in a shopping mall. I love to explore and cover as much ground as I could. During my trips, I've met other gregarious people who shares the same traveling passion as myself and they too, have this sense of treating time on the road as precious. Any second or minute should not be wasted doing and seeing nothing. Hence, I call them the "24 Hour Road-Party People".
24 Hour Road Party People: A Day in Iloilo
An example of a trip I did recently wherein I almost spent an entire 24 hours wide awake and seeing new things was the Iloilo trip I did last January. It was my first "Dinagyang" Festival experience and as I was caught between a day job and my yearnings for getting on the road - most of the times I have to take a trip straight from my job and the result was often a sleep-deprived person showing up at the airport.
Straight From Work to the Airport
But, I'm not complaining. So, from work where I spent the previous 8 hours sitting in front of the computer and mopping floors to amuse myself - I went with my co-workers to a place in Makati called "Central" - its where "yuppies" and feeling "yuppies" and "anti-yuppies" drink themselves to almost death. It was a colleague's birthday so we drank some hard alcohol like "bad trip" over a spirited conversation about our job, of what else and other things.
After that about past midnight I went home to pack some stuff for my trip which includes of course a couple of underwear, three shirts, two short pants plus my camera and stuffing it all inside my small backpack.
I didn't sleep and just waited for 2:00 AM then I went straight to the airport for my 4:00 AM flight to Iloilo. I arrived at Iloilo at around 5:00 AM. Since I will meet my couchsurfing host Joanne after lunch I decided to make the most of my trip by exploring parts of Iloilo which consisted of doing a "Visita Iglesia" on some iconic Spanish Colonial Churches.
A Morning Visita Iglesia Across Iloilo
From sunrise to past lunchtime I was able to visit St. Anne Parish Church in Molo, Sto Nino Church, Tigbauan Church, Guimbal Church, Miag-ao Church, and the San Joaquin Cemetery and Church. I had my lunch near the beach at the scenic sleepy town of San Joaquin before going back to the city proper.
Couchsurfing and Connecting
After lunch I met with my couchsurfing host Joanne and proceeded to her friend's place to hang out where we feasted on liempo, pinakbet and a few sticks of marijuana. It was so good as my sleep deprived self got a bit high and felt energized in preparation for the next day's grand Dinagyang festivities. I also met other couchsurfing guests of Joanne like Alana and Yan who were an American and a German couple traveling the world and are making a pit stop here in the Philippines.
There's the culmination of a normal whirlwind 24 hour on the road. I still wished I'd stuffed more into that, well from now on I still want to pursue doing more and exploring further every 24 hours I spend on the road. Sitting back at the office in a cubicle, you'd realize what an opportunity it is to just go out there free as a bird and just gather miles off the road. I'm looking forward again to that wonderful opportunity.
*****************************
This is my fourth entry to the "Pinoy Travel Blogger's Blog Carnival" with the theme "Best One Day Itineraries" posted on Travel Photographer Karlo De Leon's 4AM Chronicles Blog.
