The Road Trek is Toyota Motor Philippines’ premier annual driving event, where the Japanese carmaker highlights its latest vehicles while promoting the beauty of Philippine provinces. It’s a multi-day journey of drives, food, locales, and camaraderie. Safe to say that many journalists look forward to it. I even heard tales of attendees trying to get back on the list after not being invited again.
But on the day of departure, instead of us eating fresh pomelo in Davao by lunchtime, we were stuck in NAIA Terminal 2 because of a Philippine Airlines flight delay. The one hour delay became five hours, and it inevitably took a toll on everyone’s spirits. Yet as Day 1 began to unravel, the TMP marketing team sprang into action. To make the wait more tolerable, we were directed to lounges and restaurants for meals and tables to work on. PAL’s inefficiency even reared its head at the lounge area, where it took a long time to process and welcome inconvenienced passengers who were willing to pay for something that should have been given free.