While I was on my way home last Wednesday after viewing the exhibit on Blessed John Paul II, I passed by the new terminal of buses going to the Southern part of Luzon. Familiar names like Lucena, Bicol, Tagaytay met my eyes, enticing places that one would want to visit and just relax and enjoy. Believe me, I had this sudden urge to hop in one air-conditioned bus and let it take me to Tagaytay or to nearby Batangas. 
How nice it would be if you could take life so simply like that. Go wherever your feet take you and just feel what nature brings. But life, no matter how simple we treat it, is sometimes complicated. One has responsibilities that need to be done, and other people in your life who need to be considered.
I miss going on road trips and it’s my dream to go on one taking a public bus for a change. A friend of mine who recently went to Bicol to visit a relative took a bus going there, an overnight trip that costs P700 pesos one way. And she said that the trip was really convenient because there was a clean restroom inside the bus. I wish I could do that, go on a trip alone and visit some place away from the madding crowd, so to speak. Living in a frenzied world like the city, it’s a novelty to spend one’s time in a quiet place.
The question of “what if” and “when” always seem to be at the back of my mind, rearing its head time and again. What if I take the bus and spend my time just exploring? What if I take a ride just for the mere pleasure of it? Feasting your eyes in countryside scenery, discovering new places , conquering your fears of traveling alone on a long road trip – they may open your eyes to new vista and make your heart leap for joy.
It always is a pleasure getting re-acquainted with places you have visited in the past, see what’s new and what story it unfolds. And having a camera to record such event is an added bonus. And how lovely it would be if you could write and update your journal when you are on the road.
And Samuel Johnson has described it more aptly when he said “There is scarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with the melody of birds, the whisper of groves, and the murmur of rivulets.”
Dreams And Escapes 
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