When Travel Gets Tough

For today’s Hive Learner’s prompt, the community presents an interesting topic; Travel Blog—most recent travel experience. Over the past ten years, I have realized traveling can be so much fun if done right. Over the past ten years, I have traveled using different transportation methods, and the most interesting is by train. I also realized that traveling is so much fun when you are comfortable, whether it is in a car or any other mode of transportation. That's probably why people take traveling as a hobby. Ever since I got into the university, I have had many travel experiences and not a single one is remarkable. None of them are memorable for good reasons. Whether it is being trapped in an uncomfortable situation for too long, rude passengers, potholes, or law enforcers on the roads who waste your time, keeping you in the hot sun—all the travel experiences I had in the last few years have been unremarkable.

I remember the last time I traveled. It was after my semester’s exams. I had been in school for more than 5 months and was eager to see my parents. I remember how I was supposed to visit my parents during Christmas and New Year holidays, but due to some reasons, I stayed back. I spent time in school, reading and preparing for an exam that I took in January. After the exams, I packed the necessary things and prepared to travel home to my parents. Usually, I travel home with my friends—we stay together in the same town and that day was no exception.

The journey would have been easier if it was straightforward. However, to get to our destination, we had to take multiple buses. We had to board a bike to the school junction then a cab to the park, then take another bike to the final park that would take us to our destination. The real problem started when we got to the first park. One thing about commercial cabs or buses is that they extort and exploit passengers. Because they are greedy and want more money, they overload the vehicle with more passengers than they should take. For example, they would put 6 passengers in a 4-passenger bus. This was exactly what happened. The cab we got was supposed to carry 4 passengers—one in front and 3 at the back. But instead, the drivers packed us like sardines—2 in front and 4 at the back.

To make the matter worse, the car was hot—the windows were stuck. I just couldn't wait to get to my destination. I knew I would be able to survive since it was just about a 25-minute drive to the park, and I did. But little did I know that something worse awaited us. When my friends and I got to the park, other passengers arrived immediately. The car was a Toyota Camry—the old model. Just as we expected, the driver packed us like sardines. Even sardines are more comfortable in their cans than we were. Unfortunately, I sat in the front with my friend. I was closer to the gearbox. So whenever the driver shifted gears, it would touch me and make me feel uncomfortable. About 5 minutes into the journey, I was already uncomfortable. I wished I could teleport or at least I wished I hadn't sat down at the front. But I couldn't do anything about it—I had to endure the discomfort. Luckily, the driver stopped a few times and I was able to stretch. But the relief didn't last for long.

In conclusion, my last travel experience was not nice. I jumped from one uncomfortable position to an even more uncomfortable one. But in the end, I got to my destination and was able to see my parents.

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Thanks for reading.