Squeezed In

Growing up, I used to enjoy traveling. Every Christmas, my mom, brother and I would often travel to another state to spend time with grandma. I always looked forward to the holidays because traveling was always interesting. We often traveled by train. There were a few times we traveled by the family car, but because my parents didn’t like driving long distances, we preferred traveling by train and private cars. Traveling by train was my favorite. The sound of the wheels as they moved on the rails was blissful to my ears. The honking of the train was unique- unlike every other vehicle. I also enjoyed how the train would stop at every terminal- whether to pick up new passengers or to drop those inside. I thought I liked traveling until I graduated from high school and started traveling on my own.

The first time I traveled by myself was after graduation- I experienced something I had never encountered before. I realized that traveling wasn’t as enjoyable as it used to be. It was a completely different thing from what I had imagined. I traveled by a commercial bus. And one thing about these commercial drivers is that they are experts in exploiting people. They know exactly what they are doing, but they are blinded by greed. How can you expect more than 22 people to sit in a 18-seaters bus and be comfortable? That’s the same thing they do with cabs. Typically, commercial taxi drivers are supposed to carry four passengers—three in the back and one in the front—but because of greed, they cram four in the back and two in the front. I’ve had so many unpleasant travel experiences that it’s hard for me to pick the worst one.

For day 14, the INLEO prompt asks us to share about the last time we traveled. The last time I traveled was 2 months ago. After school exams, I longed to go home to visit my parents since we didn’t see each other during the holidays. My friends, who l came from the same place, decided to go home together. As usual, we took a cab to the park. In no time, the car was fully loaded with passengers and ready to go. As usual, the drivers packed us like sardines. I sat down in the front seat, with my friend sitting beside me. Unfortunately, I sat close to the gear box, so whenever the driver shifted gears, it’d scrape my leg. It wasn’t painful the first couple times, but it soon became unbearable.

I couldn’t move my leg because the seat was very tight, so I had to endure it for a while. When I couldn’t bear it anymore, I spoke out. The driver stopped the car, and I stepped out to stretch my legs. After about 5 minutes, we resumed the journey, and in no time, the pain returned. This time, I knew if I complained again, the driver would get annoyed, so I kept it to myself and endured until we reached our destination.

Traveling is only fun when you travel in a private car, not in a commercial bus. I’ve experienced both, and I’d choose private cars over and over again.

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Thanks for reading.