I looked at my diary of the year that just passed and realized that it was the traveling-est year ever. Except for January and December that book-ended 2007, I had gone somewhere, somehow whether for work or pleasure. Normally, I go out of the country about 3-4 times a year, vacation leave times included. But last year was different; nine months found me going to places nearby and places far off. 

JANUARY

Since I got the new Mazda6 the day after Christmas, there was no time to test drive it what with the traffic in the city and short drives here and there. However, on the second week, I went to Khiran Resort for some work near the Saudi border which is about 110kms away from Kuwait City. Needless to say, it was fun to drive down the nearly-empty highway so I let the engine rip till the needle on the gauge read 210KPH. Good choice of car, I congratulated myself – hardly a murmur and nary an unpleasant glitch to mar the smooth suspension system. I felt like driving a Merc. Solid. On the way back, I said, what the heck and drove to the farthest point north close to the Iraqi border – almost the same distance to the Saudi border from the city. I crisscrossed the whole country in just about four hours. That was all the traveling I got to do in the month. 

Getting ready to test drive my new baby

FEBRUARY

Went to Dubai. Twice. One was to meet some fabric supplier on a weekend. Arrived in the morning and took the flight home in the evening. Back in the office the following day, I was told that I had to go back again since there were some new requirements from the client.

Dusk in Dubai

So hopped on the night flight arriving past midnight. Long queue at Immigration and got to the hotel almost 3:00AM. Hardly got some shut-eye but did what had to be done in the morning so I had the half day free just to see what new things were going up in that construction-mad city. Miscalculated the terrible traffic on the way to the airport so I missed my flight. Had to rebook for the following day and enjoyed the beer with crispy pata in one of those Pinoy joints in Deira while watching a Pinoy band. I toasted the traffic for being a blessing in disguise.  

MARCH

Should I stay or should I go? That was the wife asking me from Manila. We were supposed to go to Delhi to attend my Boss’s younger daughter’s wedding. Mahal daw ang pamasahe ng Mla-Del-Mla. Nevermind, I said – come back to Q8 and we’ll fly together. Cheaper that way. But we couldn’t be absent. I could get fired for snubbing this affair. And so we ended up attending on the last week. Four days for a wedding is a mite too long. But who am I to complain when we had a good time. 

My Boss's youngest daughter's wedding

APRIL

Egypt. Land of the Pharaohs. Been 17 years ago since my last foray into that realm. Now we had a restaurant project in Cairo on a boat docked on the Nile. Had to go, do a survey and meet with the local guys who were on board. Three days. No sightseeing, just work. But the view of the river from the 22nd floor of the Intercon while having a couple of Stellas was just compensation. Specially at night. 

Went back on the third week. More work, no play. Got tired.

 

 

These three pyramids in Ghiza have been around for over four millennia

MAY

Jazeera Airlines had a summer offer. Cheap. Looked up my vacation sked and noticed I had 10 days unused from 2006. Booked. Where to? Ah, Egypt once more – the son wanted to see some old civilization and I thought it would be good to educate him. But what he had in mind was to draw the backdrop for a blood-and-gore videogame he was developing starring Rameses. Anyway, the wife was back from her Manila sojourn again so all three of us flew to Luxor arriving at an ungodly hour so we spent half the day snoring in our hotel room while everyone else was shooting the sights. We had two days to visit each and every cranny where a pharaoh was buried before going further south to Aswan. Beautiful place – peaceful and relaxed. I couldn’t think of a better time to spend than lazily cruising the whole afternoon on a felucca manned by an amiable Nubian boatman. We made a side trip to Abu Simbel to pay our respects to Rameses’ colossi just a stone’s throw away from the Sudanese border. Then we took the overnight train to Cairo. Of course, no visit’s complete without seeing the three wonders on the Giza plateau. But we added a couple of older pyramids in Saqqara for a whole day on taxi and camelback. That night I dreamt of nothing else but triangles! 

Queen Hatshepsut's colossal palace in Luxor's West Bank

We planned to have our silver wedding anniversary in Manila but due to stress and lack of time, we chickened out at the last minute. (Imagine hordes of relatives whom you hardly knew coming to the party!) Instead we had it right here in Q8 with a group of close friends. That was all that mattered. My other son in Manila came and joined his younger sibling on guitar with me on vocals (thank goodness our guests didn’t skedaddle out of the Reception) to serenade with Clapton and Bryan Adams gooey lovesongs the only woman in our lives – their Mom. I was more interested in the honeymoon. Supposed to go to Oslo and cruise down the fjords of Norway for two weeks but changed my mind when I saw a photo of Masai warriors in the plains of Africa on the cover of an airline magazine. Why not go on safari instead? I broached the idea to my renewed bride and she said yes, so off we went to South Africa. It was winter there and darn cold but we had the greatest fun in the jungle. Three parks and thousands of wild animals later reduced us to blabbering individuals. So it was back to civilization in Sun City’s Vegas-like ambiance before hightailing it to gorgeous Capetown and the beautiful winelands in Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarl. No beer this time. My tongue got introduced to sauvignons, merlots and pinot noirs. I cried when we left ‘cuz I couldn’t take any of them back with me! 

Safari drive in Kruger Park; scaling the heights in Capetown's Table Mountain

JULY

Another trip to Cairo. I was becoming jaded already. Ho-hum. But I sneaked out to visit the vast Cairo Museum. However, all of Tutankhamun’s gold couldn’t lure me back again. At least for some time. I was getting tired of the place. More so the nincompoops I had to put up with. Ooops, I hope none of them’s reading this Blog! 

AUGUST

The U.S of A. This trip had been brewing since March. Work. Had to visit the HQ of another American casual dining chain. They needed a re-imaging of their designs here based on what was being done there. And who better to do it than the genius called Moi! Would have loved it but the problem was the place was in the boondocks. Who has heard about hmm…..can’t even recall it now. Yeah, got it – Maryville, Tennessee. That’s redneck country! I was afraid I could get shot at. But it was a nice, laidback place where everything closed after 5:00PM except for the strip mall where I spent a lot of time going through Best Buy, Home Depot and Walmart buying nothing but Miller Lite which I took home with me to my room at the Hilton next to the small airport. That, plus a couple of pay-per-view X-rated movies put me to sleep early - never

Yeah, I finally biked across the Golden Gate Bridge!

had I slept so fitfully for 8-9 straight hours. Must’ve been the hotel’s down pillows! Anyway, the next three days were a whirlwind of checking out their various store locations and listening to what they had done, blahblahblah. I have forgotten much of it now. Couldn’t wait till it was over and flew out on the earliest flight to San Francisco. Now there’s a city! Visited the museums, biked the Bridge, went to Alcatraz in deep fog so hardly saw a thing and got to visit some long-lost relatives in San Jose. Last time I saw them was a quarter of a century ago already! So I got introduced to many nephews and nieces whose link to me was only because our middle initials matched. But it was fun and I got to finally savor Pinoy food after almost a week of hotdogs, steaks and buffalo wings. Nothing beats native, home cooking, I’d say.  

SEPTEMBER

Oh no! Another Cairo trip. A designer must do what a designer’s got to do. I clung to that philosophy to keep me sane. Nothing much to say. 

OCTOBER

Left for Dubai on the last day of the month. Attended the Index Design Fair which ran into the first week of  Nov. EB with Multiply buddy Lalaine who runs a mighty good magazine Pinoys in the Mideast (or wheresoever for that matter) could be proud of. Here’s a plug: www.illustrado.net. Got to visit my brother and his family as well but a short one. Hi, hello, goodbye! 

With my brother's family in Dubai

NOVEMBER

Again the wife was in Manila. And again we had to go to India. Wedding of my Boss’s eldest daughter (thank the Kamasutra he only has two children!). I could still get fired for not attending. So the same routine: she flew to Q8 then we flew to Delhi. We stayed for 5 days ensconced in the Taj Palace Hotel (courtesy of his pocket) and got to see a few sights and got to buy some more pashmina shawls. I swear, I will avoid Delhi in my next lifetime! 

Visiting Humayun's Tomb in Delhi during the wedding

DECEMBER

Could have gone to Bahrain to see my son compete in a painting contest but all the airlines ran out of seats before the Eid holidays. I thought of surprising the wife in Manila (she flew home after we got back from Delhi) for a couple of days but no more leave time left. Baka sermon pang abutin ko if I was just gonna be there for 3 short days. And so I spent the last month of the year blogging and editing tons of photos I amassed during the Feb. to Nov. trips. Not fun.

I doubt I’d travel this much again. Unless I retire and put up a travel company. Hmmm, not bad. Kareerin ko kaya yon!