Mama's Travel Quirks

My mom at the airport, hating me for taking this photo. Haha

Living with my parents is one thing; traveling with them is an entirely different story. Don't get me wrong - I love traveling with my parents especially when they pay for everything. It's not always pleasant, but 99% of the time, it's very interesting. 

Mother's Day, San Francisco, circa 2006. Harhar

For the past years, I've traveled more with my mom than with my dad. My travel memories with my mom are mostly associated with our shopping sprees/adventures. To say she loves shopping is an understatement. Shopping gives her a reason to live. Between the two of us, she's the more impulsive buyer. She gets excited whenever we go to any mall or chain of outlets. Or even at the local grocery/wet market. She easily gets fixated on a certain mall or establishment. In Singapore, for some strange reason, she loves the 24-hour mall, Mustafa, in Little India and this particular OG Orchard Point Mall at Orchard Road. Not any other OG mall, just that one branch at Orchard Road. We try to keep her shopping impulses at bay but it can be difficult, and sometimes, heartbreaking. Once, at an outlet, after seeing her hoard a bunch of items she might not need, I tried to stop her from going to the counter. She simply looked at me, almost teary-eyed, and told me "Gusto ko kasi bilhin eh." How could I argue with that? Sometimes she buys too much items that she doesn't even remember what she has bought anymore. On our last US trip, I saw two identical pairs of shoes in her luggage. When I asked her about it, she said she forgot she already bought the same one when we were in Sanfo, so she bought a new pair when we transferred to Ohio. She would also always convince me to go for it whenever I think twice about buying something. I used to follow her advice, but when I started paying for my own expenses, I know better than to ask her about my purchases. 

My mom has a lot of afflictions that limits her physically but amazingly, shopping gives her an energy boost I cannot understand. She always bails out on walking historical or scenic tours and she goes as far as looking convincingly sick so she wouldn't have to join us, but her mood completely shifts when we invite her to go shopping or window shopping for hours. On our Taiwan trip two years ago, we walked for two hours around the Ximending District. She didn't buy anything, but she just enjoyed entering shops and browsing whatever goods she could see. I was so exhausted then so I asked her if we could rest after two hours of walking non-stop. She would probably have gone on without me if she only knew how to get around. At a trip to the outlet shops years ago also in the US, everyone else was tired and sitting on the benches, but she was still shopping while lugging around two heavy shopping bags. And she claims she's too tired to walk a few meters on a city tour. 

A few hours before this photo was taken, my mom was looking sick on the wheelchair. Hehe

Packing bags for a US trip is always a production number with my mom. My siblings would send her their lists of bilins and she would go to the grocery and buy a month's worth of Lucky Me Instant Mami, Choco Peanut Butter, Regent cupcakes, shingaling and whatever Pinoy item she could get her hands on, even those that are not on the bilins list. The challenge would be to fit everything in a balikbayan box within the allowable weight limit. Before, she even brought dried fish and rellenong bangus when we visited my sister in Ohio. My sister was only too happy about it that we ate rellenong bangus for breakfast for an entire week. I've hated rellenong bangus since. Our luggage coming home would always be at risk of being overweight. She would buy pasalubong for everyone at every trip, including our drivers and househelps. In Sanfo, she even bought turon and empanada -YES, turon and empanada - to the Philippines. In fairness to her, the turon was really good. 

My mom would also say the darndest things - well, in general, but mostly when we travel. She doesn't like talking to Americans since they always speak too fast and she sometimes has a hard time understanding their accent. Whenever an American would call my sister's home and she would be left to answer, she would say, "Sorry, you've got the wrong number" and hang up on the caller, even if it was clearly intended for someone in the house. One time were walking one time near my brother's place when we saw a group of black people coming our way. She suddenly blurted out, "Yang mga itim..." I stopped her and told her not to use the word "itim" since they possibly knew what it meant. So she rephrased what she was going to say, "Ah.. yang mga black..." Haha. She would also make the oddest requests at establishments, like asking the people at Krispy Kreme to give her a classic donut before they pour the glaze on top (she's diabetic so she has to limit her sugar intake). She also prefers the airplane's window seat always but goes to the restroom every 10 minutes. She always requests for a wheelchair so she can get ahead in the lines. On such instances, I would slowly keep my distance from her until she finally gets what she asks for.

My mom is still my favorite travel buddy though. She's as fond of Singapore as I am and she would jump at every seat sale opportunity going there (assuming we have budget for hotel/allowance). I know all moms want the best for their kids, but my mom's generosity is overreaching. It's something I want to show also to my future kids or nieces/nephews (for now. And again, assuming that I have the budget to be exceedingly generous). When I was a kid, she handcarried home an entire family-sized pizza from the US just because she knew I liked the pizza from Uno's. Once, I lost a wallet on a trip (I was really prone to losing things when I was a lot younger) and she bought me a new one, bigger and nicer than the one I lost. I feel privileged that I still have the opportunity to repay her for  her generosity, although I think next time there is a need to stop her when she buys another tray of turon and/or empanada to bring home to the Philippines.

We have a few more days until our family US trip this Sunday and we're all really excited about it. When I come home, I'm sure I'll have a lot of new stories to tell.