Doing the Luzon-Visayas Loop: a Masochist’s trip
This is the 2nd of 16 installments of the Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
Call it madness, call it a masochist’s trip but, after much ruminations, I finally made it: The Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop. Of all the days of 2007, I picked the end of the year holiday rush to head for home in Cebu from Makati and back (after 3 weeks) by land and sea. I intentionally didn’t book any plane tickets so that I will be forced to take the land route.
No doubt about it, the trip itself is a bit brutal, taxing, draining and not for the faint of heart as I had to endure almost 30 hours of no sleep negotiating the Bicol – Eastern Visayas leg and partly clinging my butt on an improvised wooden seat without cushion inside a crowded van just so that I can at least make it to Ormoc on time. But despite all these hardships, it was an experience!
Just imagine:
- 2,600 kilometers
- 63 hours of total travel time
- 3 taxis, 2 cars, 5 vans, 5 buses, 3 jeepneys, 4 tricycles, 2 pedicabs, 3 fastcrafts, 3 barges and 2 pumpboats
- P4,700 total expenses for fare, terminal fee and a dorm type accommodation, and
- 16 provinces
The loop actually traced the following: Makati City – Laguna – Batangas – Quezon – Camarines Sur – Albay – Sorsogon – Northern Samar – Western Samar – Leyte – Cebu – Negros Occidental – Iloilo – Capiz – Aklan – Oriental Mindoro – Batangas – Makati City.
Ready… set… go! Me and my gear.
