This past week was a bit of a roller coaster, emotionally. For the most of it, I was in Boracay to shoot a residential development. That’s great and awful. Let’s do great first: It was great because it paid well enough, and I’ve come to realize that I love Boracay unironically.

My feelings for Boracay have gone full circle. I loved going there while in college and even after college. Then it got so crowded, commercialized and dirty that I avoided it, decided to grow up and see other places. Then I grew up some more, been to other places, and I’ve come back to it with simplified feelings: I just love this best beach in the world.

But it’s awful because, to get there, I have to ride in a small plane and land on a very short tarmac. It was especially horrible because the weather has been bad and there’s nothing like a bumpy ride in a small airplane to get me to ponder about mortality, fate and the general state of my life. Have I really lived? HAVE I?

Anyway, I made it there, and obviously, I made it home. I put in a couple of honest day’s work, felt I really delivered on a job, had some really good meals, and met some really nice and interesting people. I got to hangout with my brother (who I got to help me out on this gig) as a boon.

Traveling is also an effective reminder of how old I’ve become. As much as I enjoy the novelty of almost every experience in any new place, I easily get homesick. I miss my routines, my bed, and my bikes.

I got back from Boracay yesterday and today I couldn’t wait to hop on a bike and stretch my legs. I met up with my buddy Hester and just spun around. Biking with Hester is great. He’s a family man and a dad to two very young, cute daughters, and even if we’re high school buddies, it helps to have someone slightly ahead in terms of life experiences to just talk to and bounce my idiotic single guy preconceptions off.

In cycling terms, he’s the dude ahead of you, carving a line, taking on the wind, being strong and smart about it. (I know Hester reads this tumblr, he can buy me a drink later.)

Anyway, highs, lows, this week was kind of cool.

Often, during a ride that’s tough, that I had to wake up early for, that had me bonking 20 kilometers from home, I’d think that, shitmothereff, this will be my last ride for awhile. I’m not going to think of bikes and biking for some time. I should be wrapping my head around work, time with loved ones, and all other things important.

Then I get home, cool down on an easy chair, kick off my shoes, peel off my sweaty gear, and think, when and where are we riding next?

(photo by Jun Uy)