I love Waze and how it tells you things without mincing words/sending conflicting signals. I love the roads of SCTEX and NLEX for the thought that went into constructing them so seamlessly almost. I love how NLEX’s management put up additional toll booths, makeshift ones in the Clark exit in anticipation of the many vehicles that would pass through this Holy Week. No, I won’t say “Love, love, love” like you-know-who. And maybe, “love” is not the apt word but “admire”.
After the nightmare of Holy Thursday, we decided to advance our departure from Bataan to anytime tomorrow, to Saturday evening. We left Morong at 6 past, drove past no-street-lamps- roads but luckily the car’s headlights were functioning, maybe for 45 minutes, drove along SCTEX for maybe an hour, NLEX for I don’t know how long now, but total travel time was 5 hours, compared to 6.5 last Holy Thursday. Our pit stop was an hour – at Caltex along NLEX where we bought sandwiches in KFC for dinner at 9 past.
Traffic wasn’t too heavy except just before the toll gates in the last exit leading to Manila. This was where WAZE was trying to help but we ignored it. It said to take the Bocaue exit but we opted not to, being unfamiliar with the said exit. We should have paid heed as doing so might have cut waiting time at the toll gate by 20 minutes at least.
Lesson learned.
Thanks Waze, NLEX and SCTEX.
Good luck to those traveling back to Manila or southwards of Baguio, Ilocos, Pangasinan, Pampanga tomorrow. Be ready for traffic. Have food and drinks on hand, don’t drink too much if you can help it. Nature might call where infrastructure isn’t available. There’s always the shoulder of the highways, though…
Really, good luck. I hope by some miracle, the traffic won’t be too bad.
All images from Google.
Derdo's Weblog 
hahahaha! maybe you should have. she’d be pleasantly surprised.
Tapos nakikain kami no? (Ay, ang kapal. But she was always very generous with food and hospitable too.)
Bocaue exit is a straightforward one — you exit the gate, cross the main highway, then enter the gate. Sayang.
Laking traffic ang naiwasan namin kagabi because the bus took that route.
Di ba? Pero it was unfamiliar to us, akala namin ma padalaw kami sa kay Josie pag nag-exit sa Bocaue. Ignorance is not always bliss (ful).