My favorite children's book is J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. As a child, I've always loved stories that expand my world and Barrie's concept of Neverland was a perfect escape for a child longing for adventures and limitless possibilities. I thought of it back then as the ultimate playground for exploration. I also loved that the protagonist explores this wonderful world through flying. I have been exposed to other fictional characters who fly, like Superman or Atom, early on, but Peter's ability resonated more with my young self because of its special condition - the fairy dust and happy thoughts. I thought those ingredients made the idea of flying more fun. It made me long to fly too. My favorite night dreams are always when I'm flying. For a while, it kinda made me believed that a time will come when humans will learn how to fly. Maybe in another million years of evolution, who knows, anything's possible. But for the meantime, we can only rely on the available technology that allows us to fly.
Right now, the only accessible technology to me is the commercial passenger jet, or the plane. For a long time, I've planned on taking my bike with me on my overseas travels so I could explore the place I'm visiting by bicycle. A lot of cyclists are actually doing that, but I understand that they had to dismantle some parts to fit the dimension limit of checked-in luggage, which means they had to carry their bikes all the way to where they are staying. I wanted to explore a commuting model where I can just pedal away from the airport to my destination. On my last trip to Viet Nam, I was able to unlock that achievement. From my house, I cycled to the jeepney terminal, folded my bike and hopped on the jeep. I alighted at EDSA-Shaw Boulevard intersection, unfolded my bike and cycled to NAIA Terminal 1.
Bi-modal Ride to NAIA Terminal 1
Strava record of my airport ride
It was a 19 km ride, traversing 5 cities in Metro Manila at night. It was exhilarating! I got lost of course (even with maps), I struggled a bit in crossing the Magallanes interchange, I always dread that area even when I'm driving, because the multi-level skyways covering the service roads makes me lose my GPS signal, and it's not friendly to cyclists and pedestrians. I had to take a long re-route to get to the airport. I was carrying a duffel bag on my rack and a backpack, so it was a bit heavy, there were times that I had to stop and take a rest. The good thing about cities is they never sleep, so there's always an open store for refreshment everywhere. Ironically, I stopped for a rest and coffee at a gas station's convenience store. While sipping my coffee, I watched the continuous inflow and outflow of cars refilling fuel and thought about how much the station had earned in the short period that I've been there 😅
Stopping for a quick refreshment
There were times when my luggage fell from my rack which made me thought of upgrading my rack to a wider one, but then I realized that I could use my rack's limitation to train myself to bring only the bare essentials, so that next time, I would only take one smaller bag. When I got to the terminal, I folded my bike, deflated my tires (airlines require that) and packed it into the cardboard box I brought, then checked it in together with my duffel bag. The process was pretty smooth, I didn't encounter any problem. I declared that it was a folding bike. They put a bike label sticker, I'm assuming that it is meant to let the handlers take it with care. But I'm not really sensitive about that, my bike frame is a chromoly steel and tough, I know minor bumps won't break it.
My flight was an early morning trip, so it was already bright when I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city. After getting a clearance at the immigration check point, I collected my bike and luggage, went out of the airport, unpacked the box, unfolded my bike, inflated my tires, mounted my luggage onto my rack, pinned my hotel location in Google Maps and pedaled away from the airport. It was such a liberating feeling to do that. I didn't have to wait for my ride or ask for assistance from anyone. And I get to save some cash which I used for other activities.
Ho Chi Minh city is pretty much like Metro Manila, there's not much cyclists on the roads, but I didn't encounter any problem at all getting to my hotel. I would talk about my transport cycling experience in the cities that I visited, right now I just want to show a short video clip of my ride from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to my hotel in District 3:
You can tell how happy I was to finally unlock this tri-modal mode of transportation.
I want to address something in this post though. I acknowledge the hypocrisy of my actions. I mean I use bicycle for transportation to curb my carbon footprint, but I do love to travel to faraway places, which I can only reach by plane or ferry, which are carbon intensive modes of transportation. It is what it is -a fragmented corollary of my personal construct. It's something that I haven't resolve within myself. I tried doing the carbon off-set, but that is not a real solution, it's pretty much like recycling. I do wish to fully break free from the destructive system that tricks our society into thinking we are on a progressive path. Someday, I will give up flying to achieve this complete freedom. How ironic... For now, I still depend on fossil fuels to satisfy some of my desires, and I wish the earth will forgive me for my selfish actions.
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