Life is a videogame. From the very start, that’s the message this blog is trying to send. Or at least until Gran Turismo HD for the PS3 comes out

Every December 25th, I usually take a breather from the city by going on a trip to Baguio. This year however, I ended up following on the 27th because I still had to report for work that same morning. Total trip time was about 5 hours, not bad considering we had two stop overs going there — one to feed my dog who was occupying the whole back seat (he’s spoiled that way), and another to eat at the Mc Donalds in Urdaneta. So no, the trip going to Baguio doesn’t take 6, 7, or anything above 8 hours.

Think about it, if the distance from Manila to Baguio is 250 kms, then driving at a moderate, safe, and acceptable speed of 70 kph is fine. This should get you there in about less than 5 hours. Of course, traffic considerations aside, this is how it should be.

Going back? Well, that’s an entirely different story.

I had stayed behind on this specific trip because I attended the wedding of a former officemate on the 30th. Since I hated traveling during the day (because of the heat and traffic), I decided to leave for Manila before 12 midnight. What was supposed to be a routine drive home turned into me, feeling the need to outdo myself.

Lame as it sounds, I ended up filling up my Mazda 3′s gas tank by the Caltex (or was it Petron?) station near Kennon Road so I’d know how much gas I consumed. I even took the following picture before proceeding with my personal “cannonball run”.

I don’t know if people will agree with me on this, but I personally think it is safer to drive on Kennon Road during the wee hours of the morning. For one, you can be sure that everyone is going to be indoors. Two, lesser cars on the road. And third (my personal favorite reason), on blind corners, you can manuever with more ease due to the absence of on oncoming headlights.

By around 12:25am, I was already speeding at about 130kph on the long straightaways of Sison, Pangasinan. Want to know something surprising? I never topped that speed the whole way after that. The trucks and buses (not to mention the tricycles) that traversed the two lane highways between Pangasinan and Tarlac alone made that difficult.

To cut the long story short, I found myself at home by 3:30am. a good and dare I say abbreviated time of about 3 1/2 hours (with one bathroom break included!). I took the picture below by the Dau exit at 3am.

The one thing good that came about from all of this? The adrenaline rush ate up only 1/4 of my tank. Seriously.

Mud may get thrown my way because of this, so let me make this clear — I will never every do anything like this again (yes, even if I have yet to try it using a car with manual transmission lol).

• Driving at a higher speed entails becoming more alert to your surroundings. Imagine a cat suddenly crossing your path at while you’re going 120kph – your first instinct is to avoid the thing.
• Secondly, you put others at risk (even if there are no other cars with you on the road).

So please, everyone who’s going behind the wheel this summer for those out of town trips, take my advice and believe that the rush you’ll get out of it won’t be worth it.

Maybe now I can get that PS3. And this.