I was a faithful commuter for about 3 decades of my life. I didn’t really see the point of learning to drive when, living in the heart of the city, most places I needed to go were practically walking distance or at least a short ride away.
But then,one day, a friend told me, “Every successful woman knows how to drive a car.” And while I found that statement particularly offensive, it did make me think about all the self-made women I knew and wonder if there’s a grain of truth to that statement after all.
Not even that, though, could push me to learn. Years passed and city traffic grew worse, still I stubbornly lived through the grit and roughness of dusty streets, smelly and rude drivers, and equally smelly and rude passengers (the nice ones like me are the exception of course! Hey, I’m writing this). I gamely joined the daily challenge of running after polluted public vehicles that will stop anywhere EXCEPT the designated stop. I learned to adopt the evil eye when crossed with obnoxious passengers who insert and refuse to respect the line (Line? What line, you ask. You are correct, of course. There is no line). I learned to be tough on heels and climb aboard moving vehicles that refuse to come to a full stop when loading passengers. Now, that’s what I call girl power.
I believed I was handling it all well, really. Until one day, Mactan Island happened. Mactan came calling with a job that will require me to cross the bridge, not just once but twice or more, each day. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, eh di W.O.W! I tried. For a year, I really tried. But there is just something about crossing bridges, especially Those Mactan Bridges that can easily hold you hostage for hours, that makes a girl re-evaluate her baggage and options. It came down to two things: I give up the job or I give up the 4++-hour-roundtrip public commute and learn to drive.
There I was, chagrined to my core, that I actually needed a car after all this time.
Sooo, after deciding to join this W.O.W. club, here’s what I learned:
First Tip: Go the Extra Mile. The first step to driving, I was told, was to get a Student Permit (SP). They say that the farther the LTO branch, the better the waiting time. It’s true. Some recommended to go the extra mile and go further south to Talisay or north to Danao. Me, I went the extra mileSssss. I went as far as Medellin LTO branch and was rewarded my SP in under 15 minutes.
Giddy with excitement after getting my SP, I promptly asked my father to teach me the basics of driving. That was my first mistake. You would think that fathers know best. You would think that learning along the almost empty streets in the province would be stress-free. Perhaps. But apparently not, in my experience, when it’s your father teaching you. Fathers, I realized — as much as they love us — will always be paranoid about their daughter’s safety. And being too fearful on the road is just no way to learn how to drive. So after a few sessions and finally scaring the both of us out of our seats for almost running over a stray dog lazily sunbathing and refusing to budge in the middle of the road, I gave up. I went back to the city, looked up a professional and promptly enrolled myself in BestDriving School. Best decision ever – I never got screamed at again, I get to ask as many questions without that exasperated look, and less stress because I knew this time I was using a training car not my own. Plus, there’s actually a program that you follow. Cool. That would be tip no. 2.
Getting your own license – and the renewal every five years (used to be 3!) thereafter – is another exhilarating experience for every woman on wheels. Brace yourself for the wait that is comparable to visiting a doctor’s office, the queue that is even worse than lining up for your NBI clearance, and the service just like that in any government office. The key here — Tip No. 3 — is to learn how to manage your expectations and, as a woman, draw in that inner source of all patience. There is no use being mad. It is just a rite of passage everyone just need to go through.
Then, there’s car shopping. Unless you are granted one by your family or a company, you’d find that this is a particular challenge as well. Especially for women. As much as you’d like to have three of each like clothes or shoes, you really just have to pick one brand, one shape, and color that you like for, frankly, the future 3-5yr amortization is not something to sneeze at. So you’ve got to be sure. And oh, here’s tip no. 4 — it’s best to have someone with you who actually knows about cars, because apparently, it all goes beyond color – there’s fuel efficiency, horsepower, engine and … Admittedly, I’m not cool enough to know this stuff, you just need to smart enough to find one who does.
Finally, there’s the daily driving. When the honeymoon with the new car is over, you’ve got to learn how to make this particular marriage work. You’ll find it’s not all romantic moonlight rides at the almost empty SRP at midnight, or ecstatic climbs to the Tops. You’ve got to deal with the everyday challenges too – traffic jams, parking tickets, reckless drivers. Give it three years, and you’ll begin to question why you went through all the trouble above in the first place. But then, as a final tip – just remember that like most things, only love will see you through.
The way I see it, driving may not be for everyone, even for some successful women. But choosing to drive and learning how to do it is not just a gift or privilege, but also every bit a milestone — and a kind of success, in a person’s life.
This mobile story was initially composed in my mind while patiently inching (literally) my way through the almost 3-hour traffic jam crossing Cebu’s Mactan Bridge. (Originally posted on June 21, 2018)
Ayin Quijano 
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