When Christmas Cheer Meets Travel Chaos...

How Could I Forget December 24, 2022?
And how can I hide my fears as December 24, 2024 approaches? Even as I write this post, I am reminded of the PTSD I experienced back in 2022.

It was finally Christmas Eve, the world filled with joy of the season and festive cheers while radiating the deep sense of urgency and chaos. I had a very simple to plan just like every other day I wanted to travel, " Wake up early, prepare, get to the car park and in two hours at max, I'm already home chilling with my grandmother".
Little did I know that the radiating chaos of the season will get to me too; it was also my first time traveling on Christmas Eve, and I was clueless of what to expect.

I kept to the end of my bargain and arrived at the park early. The first sign of what I would call a bad travel, was that the passengers were more than the buses available, human traffic, huh! That was the very first time I've ever seen such.

I didn't have other options so I queued and not long enough it was my turn and I bought the ticket boldly stamped with 'non-refundable.'

Just when a bus was available, I was eager to grab a spot for myself and that was when I discovered that it's not just about getting the tickets, the tickets were numbered and some persons with "letter C" were still waiting for a bus while I held a ticket with "letter G"... My heart sank. oops! What have I done? Still reminding myself that it was the best shot i had so I would have taken it regardless.

After about two hours, my turn came. I boarded the bus, but a new issue arose. The loaders were charging exorbitant prices for the luggages.They were charging almost 60% of the luggages' worth and some passengers refused to pay creating luggage traffic, lol
It was dragged at length eating up precious time before we finally began our journey.

It was all going smoothly with me watching my movie when I felt like the driver's speed has reduced compared to when we left; upon raising my head to know why, I saw a long line of vehicles ahead. Damn! It was traffic, one of the worst things I hated in travelling?

At first, I was optimistic, hoping it would be cleared by the traffic wardens and police officers because they were everywhere on the road, but minutes turned to hours with us barely moved a hundred centimetres.

I still was maintaining my cool, watching my movies like I've got no worries, trying to stay positive but still it didn't clear up, we were literally crawling; an hour crawled by and so did two hours, damn! It was already four hours since I arrived at the park; that's like the hours it usually takes me to travel to and from home! I was stuck.

Source

It got worse when my phone died. With the flat battery, frustrations were written all over me because the only company I had literally left me,but then, when one door closes, another one opens, lol.

I discovered the passengers were killing the time with different interesting conversations, I didn't contribute but sure listened and laughed when they cracked joke.
Snacks passed by and one of the passengers called him back and bought for everyone...Strangers became companions, united by a shared predicament.

Eventually, the traffic started to clear up and then came the most annoying realization, we've been stuck not because of roadblock or accident but because the policemen were searching all the vehicles making use of the road, * Jeez! A man-made created frustration?*

Not bad they were doing their jobs but insisting on searching all the passengers one after another, something they've never done since I started using that road was indeed what I couldn't understand.

Luckily, they received a call to stop it and let the traffic flow. That was the saving grace that day, nonetheless, the damage has been done and it was left on the drivers to drive their way out of the backlog but I was happy we were making progress atleast.
By the time I arrived home, it was few minutes past 3 p.m, the longest time I've ever spent on the road. I couldn't do anything, just took my bath and slept.. no strength to even share the story of my life.

Now, I'm scared again this year because I will be travelling on the 24th day of December again...... I just hope history doesn't repeat itself again but nonetheless, I will be going fully prepared with full battery and full Powerbank this time around, hehehe.

Thanks for reading and have a a nice day 👍

Posted using Neoxian City