Traveling Alone

I really enjoy traveling all by myself. As an introvert who have been used to the company of oneself for the entire course of her existence and had been going back and fro Iloilo city every chance I get, I find a certain piece of delight and calmness when I am silent, seated next to a wary stranger who, a few minutes ago, was congenial enough to offer me a piece of bread.

Without a friendly companion to help me around, I really would find it hard to carry all my bags or find a perfect seat to take on the bus but when I get it all together and had been seated near the transom window, that’s where the best things unfold.

As the wind unravels my hair, and my arms immobile from the coldness of the night, my thoughts meander on the stillness and the dark. City lights. Moonbeam glimmers in the distance. Stars hung about the sky and the elegant silhouettes that crop the gray sky. I could go on forever. When the only person affected by such splendor is me, the stakes of having to make another person understand you fully is significantly lower. Nobody has to find how boring I am or how genuinely I find happiness in the little things that life has to offer. Nobody has to think how scant my notion of bliss is.

Being alone exponentially magnified the internal effect of sightseeing. Having no one to talk to but yourself, I find my mind talking to me, if not my soul. The music emitted from the earphones of my Mp3 complements the mood and everything feels like a scene from my favorite sentimental movie. When I am alone and find the fields of Pototan magnificent in an instant, that moment stays with me as long as I want.

After being lonely and serene for almost an hour, makes you feel more of an observer than a visitor. Of course, at this point, I already feel the sudden surge of loneliness. At some point or another, I will think about friends who I had, once or twice in my life had a good time with. There I will be sitting and craving for the rhythm of laughter and conversation and wonder how it would be like if these friends are here with me taking this bus ride in full throttle laughter. The time comes when I realize the security a congenial companion can give me, for I know they know me so well.

Something great unfolds at this point. Being away from the fringes of my own life and being transplanted in a place unknown for just a minute without a friend gives me perspective about my life. As what they say, if being alone in another place is like being a ghost, then coming back is like being resurrected.

Sometimes though, I think of how comfortable I am with my loneliness and it frightens me. I don't want to be too comfortable with it that I will grow content with it and live my life alone, lest become an old maid. Sometime soon though, things will alter and run a smoother course.


Photo: The infamous picture of the pensive Kate Middleton taking a bus ride.