Wisdom from the Road #23

On quests

Never give up.

Unless your feet can't go on any further.
(But it might be because of cheap footwear.
In that case, invest in a good pair of shoes.)

Melaka, Malaysia. An hour and a half into the quest to find the best mee goreng in Melaka during high noon, half the group gave up, but the other half persisted and pushed on, saying "We're near. I can smell it. It's just around the corner. I hope..." Hope and legs that never gave up. Tanjung Mee Goreng found.

Taipei, Taiwan. Roaming around Taipei all day wearing crappy shoes. Dinner. And then home. Or not. The Shoe Lady in the group turned on her shopping mode after dinner and wanted to go find a Birkenstock store (I wanted to go home, but couldn't be a spoilsport). Shoe Lady's quest for Birkenstock started, with three people in tow. We found the store after some kilometers into the night. End result: Shoe Lady didn't find a pair she liked and I earned myself three blisters. I should have invested in a good pair of shoes...Birkenstocks perhaps? Sorry, no budget.

Tagaytay, Cavite. On the road for hours and we needed a break. We dropped all other plans and stopped at Tagaytay for a few hours. Coffee Addict friend, who remembered something he read months ago of a Starbucks with a nice view of Taal, suggested we go for coffee. I don't care much for coffee but didn't have any other brilliant suggestion, so on we went for the quest for the Starbucks with the view. We asked around and was pointed to Robinson's. Uh, wrong Starbucks, no view. Even the baristas there couldn't tell Coffee Addict where this Starbucks–with–a–view–of–Taal was. Coffee Addict gave up and settled for coffee without a view. Next suggestion: People's Park, no coffee but a view. We, non–coffee–addicts, laughed when, from the jeepney window on our way to People's Park, we spotted the Starbucks overlooking Taal. Coffee Addict was clearly crestfallen. Never give up next time, Coffee Addict!

For more lessons from the road, please visit Go Learn.