Living Batangueño: Driving to Batangas City

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Driving from Manila to Batangas

I have been driving between Manila and Batangas City weekly since April 2005 and one of my frustrations about it is the wasted time - imagine around 5 to 7 hours a week (depending on how bad the traffic is) is unproductive time, just sitting on my butt, going from point A to point B. There was even one time I traveled from Batangas to Manila for 5 and a half hours!

Batangas - STAR Tollway

It was even worse during the episode when the "Bridge of Promise" was out of service. That bridge collapsed during the typhoon season of 2009, it was Typhoon Santi that destroyed it, taking the life of Romulo Soriano and his 3-year old son, Nicolo. His wife Malou who was also in the car when it crashed into the water, survived...

Later I found out that Malou Soriano, was a Red Cross volunteer - she was the one who facilitated by blood donation here in Batangas in February 2008. Needless to say, I remember their family every time I drive over the now restored "Bridge of Promise".

Bouncin' with Reyjr

On the Sunday evening drives from Manila to Batangas city, I would be listening to RX 93.1, most often with  DJ Danielle aka Dirty D and sometimes nerd boy extraordinaire Gino Quillamor aka Ginoboi and I would send myself greets via 2299 (Just key in RX space your message and send to 2299) for no reason. :p I would usually request for songs that would wake me up. Haha.

For some reason, my car's FM reception is not very good near the end of STAR Tollway. So I pop in a CD and sing along to Jason Mraz or Michael Buble or Michael Jackson, depending on my mood.

Things to do while driving

Now because of the length and frequency of my out of town trips, I actively looked for better ways to spend my time while driving. I thought Audio Books would be a good idea, but never really got around to getting some of those.

I would sing in the car sometimes, if I am alone - which keeps me entertained and keeps me awake at the same time. :p I tried spending a few minutes vocalizing, but that really didn't take much time, around just 5 minutes.

I can't read or exercise or watch a movie or take photographs or fly a kite or anything!  If you have other suggestions for things to do while driving, i would be very happy to hear them!