Yo ! 

I’m starting this email in the comfort of a high-speed Italo bullet train going at a screamingly insane 300 kilometers per hour. Inside the cabin though, it’s so quiet and calm, you could easily fall asleep.

Pati wi-fi mabilis din, kahit nasa tunnel. 

This awesome train is taking us from Bologna to Rome, which is 352 kilometers away, in ONLY 2 hours and 20 minutes. 

For context, on a typical congested day, traveling from Monumento to Makati along EDSA, which is only around 23.8 kilometers, can take anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours or even more, depending on how bad our traffic is. 

Imagine riding something that can take you from Manila to Baguio (353 KM) in less time than it takes you to be stuck on EDSA.

That’s how absurdly fast this train is!

On any other day, I’d have been blown away and amazed..

PERO on this day.. I’m not that too crazy about it. I'm kind of anxious, even.

Because we weren’t supposed to be ON. THIS. TRAIN. 

Yikes! 

We were supposed to go to Florence, which is a much shorter trip. But this express train is not stopping for anything until it reaches Rome. 

Sa sobrang excited, we boarded the wrong train.

Our real train was running late according to the announcement. They mentioned a new departure time, and we thought the next train that pulled up was the right one.

Hindi pala. Toinks. 

Now I have nothing against visiting Rome, but it was simply never in the original plan.

Gusto kasi namin tumambay sa mga mas chill na city to visit, to discover the hole-in-the-wall cafes and find restaurants with menus without translations, and be elbow-to-elbow with the locals habang kumakain. 

We wanted to avoid the summer hordes and the tourist traps. 

Kaya wala muna si Rome sa itinerary.

“A ganon pala ha, etong sayo! ” sabi ng tren.

Wala na kaming no choice, we were already hurtling towards Rome, whether we wanted to or not. 

So…. guess who's going to be elbowing other tourists for the prime photo spot at the Trevi fountain in Rome instead of getting lost in the side streets of Florence? 

This guy! 👆👆😎👆👆

And the cost of this mix-up? 

216 Euros or 13,867 petot one way. 

For 3 pax na yan with my wifey Jeans and our son Julian.

Certainly, hindi insignificant amount yung 216 Euros, not to mention the trip back to correct our route. Pasalubong funds na sana yun awts

However, if this happened back in my corporate days though, I would have SH*T my pants. 

You see, I was sent to Europe a couple of times for training back in my past life as a sales engineer for the oil and gas industry. It was a glorified desk job with the occasional travel perk.

Work-related travel nga lang.

This was back before I was an online freelancer.

An unexpected and unplanned travel expense like this would have sent me into a panic, drenching me in cold sweat. Not to mention, I would have spent some sleepless nights trying to explain and apologize to the professional penny-pinchers over in accounting.

Thankfully though, I don't have to do that anymore! 

On that day, we thought our train was going to Florence, only to find out we would be 280 kilometers off the mark.

And you know what ? 

Bagamat hindi biro yung mistake na yun, we were able to come to terms with it agad and actively chose to have fun pa din. 

We were still able to genuinely enjoy the packed streets and balyahan with the thousands of other tourists in Rome. 

Without immediately checking my phone for angry emails from my boss. 

Ay wait, wala na pala akong boss except si Kumander. Haha

This whole misadventure hasn't cost me a client or caused me to miss a deadline. In fact I told my clients in advance that I would be traveling, and they were actually happy for me! 

It's amazing how life changes when you're the captain of your own ship (kahit na train ang pinag-uusapan natin). As a freelancer and business owner, I've learned that sometimes the best adventures are the unplanned ones. 

Remember that movie Eurotrip? Nagkatotoo tuloy yung “Mi Scusi!” sa train. (true fans will get this reference)

So here we are, having really tasty chinese food(??) sa Rome kasi na-miss namin ang rice, at ang dami ding nag-dine in na chinese kaya na-intriga ako. Masarap nga! lol

Don’t worry nag-Italian food din kami, but ito lang picture ko. 

I’m both amazed and grateful at how a simple train mix-up has turned into an impromptu Roman holiday.

Lessons learned:

Always double-check your train and your train ticket. The bullets trains may be fast, but they can still somehow get late pa din ( look at the actual train number sa digital side panels nya, get one digit wrong and you’re going to pay 5 digits aguy haha ).

Flexibility is the new superpower. Corporate me would have had a meltdown; freelance me kept his cool, and carried on.

Gelato tastes even better when it's unexpected. Pistachio affogato is surprisingly a great combo. Trust me on this one.

So here's to happy accidents, impromptu adventures, and the ability to laugh at our own bloopers and roll with life's punches.

Oh, and to always, ALWAYS double-checking your train ticket before boarding. 

Maybe triple-check, just to be safe. ^_^

Wish you were here (accidentally or otherwise),

Shoden

P.S. We actually made it to Florence pa din eventually, but that’s a different email na. I have a feeling we were totally meant to come to Rome though. On the same day nga lang kami na-inform. Hehe

P.P.S. If you want to learn about how not to be afraid of bullet train fares forever as a Pinoy freelancer, join this 12-client getting challenge happening next week. Pwede pa humabol. (Yes ako din ang lead moderator nyan)

Just follow this link for more info.