I'm Not Romantic But A Romantic

I have an admission to make: I am a romantic.

No, not that kind of being mushy-lovey-dovey-buy-presents-always-call-and-say-I-love-you-to-your-partner romantic. I'm the "other" type: the one who sees-something-as-nostalgic-&-god-damn-beautiful-and-sets-out-to-do-it romantic! Still not getting the drift?

Okay, here's an example. My Malaysian peers way of traveling is to go on road trips where they'd plan out multiple places to go and head out to each place, one by one. The upside of this type of travel is that you can cover a lot of places in a certain amount of time while the downside is that you can only spend a limited amount of time at a particular place then you have to move on to your next stop (unless you have wads of cash and lots of free time, that is) besides being susceptible to unavoidable fuck-ups which could cut short your tour.

In contrast, my method of traveling is backpacking to a certain city or town and bunking out there for 5-7 days before moving on. Now the romantic part is when I'm there, I want to immerse myself in the soul and culture of that place until I know (almost) every nook and cranny of the place. It's more than just buying a fridge magnet or key chain to show you've been there, it's trying to become a part of the city, even a teeny-weenie bit of it.

Another example which has some connection close to home (meaning my tanah tumpahnya darahku, Malaysia) is my insistence on taking the bus to travel rather than driving a car although the cost of riding the former ($30 to $40 one-way to Philadelphia) would be more costly than the latter. As a self-proclaimed romantic, taking the bus reminds me of riding the express bus heading back to my hometown, Kuantan, when I was in Malaysia. Taking the slow KTM commuter & LRT trains from my campus at Shah Alam to the bus station at Jalan Pekeliling then straight away bought a ticket for RM 16.90 (around $5.00 at current exchange rate) and always, always, always went for either Plusliner, MARA Liner or Bulan Restu which was way comfortable and faster than the gobshite Transnasional.

Next, I had to wait under the bus stop which had only two fans capable of giving little room for a breather as long I was shielded from the hot and sweaty tropical climate. So, taking the bus to-and-fro Philadelphia reminds me of my going back home where I have time to see the sceneries (Pennsylvania has livestock farms while Pahang has oil palm plantations) and just reflect on whatever I wanna reflect on. Read a book. Listen to music. Or just take a nap. When I've finally arrived, I felt a sense of rejuvenation and elation of going through a long physical and spiritual journey to reach home. Sweet home.

Told ya I was a romantic! =P