All I Needed to Know

about driving in Manila I learned from my Dad. I have been driving here in this crazy city for most of this year. Almost everyday I think of my Dad and all the good counsel he gave me when he taught me to drive.

Here is my Dad with Laird last year (he had a layover in Houston after coming back from a surfing trip.)




I thought I would put together a list of his good driving advice in honor of Father's Day:

• Never drive without a map in the car. He made sure every car had a in depth map of San Diego when I was at home.
  
• If you are going somewhere new, bring the map inside the house and slowly look over your destination and choose the best route. This works much better than frantically pulling out a map as you get lost. He used to help me plan before I drove anywhere new.
• Look over your shoulder EVERY time you change lanes.
• Double check your mirrors too.
• Change lanes gradually. This is one he emphasized and has saved me numerous times!

• Listen to enjoyable music. On long trips, he would switch the music every hour and let a new person choose a favorite CD.
• Always keep something fun in the car for random stops. He almost always has a surfboard in his car. I will never forget when we were in Guatemala on a bus and he pulled out a frisbee at a stop we made. We played frisbee in a field of goats and it was FUN.
• Enjoy the view, whether it be the ocean or the land or the airport.
  

• If you are driving for a long time, let a child sit in the front and have a long chat with them, mostly listening. We loved sitting in the front with Dad on a long car trip.
  
• Don't stress about things you can't control. Life is too short to get angry driving. I can honestly say I have never seen him mad at another driver.
• You can control the gap between you and the car in front of you. If there is bad traffic, stay pretty close to the car in front of you so no one can cut it. But not too close, in case you have to stop suddenly.
  
• Don't be afraid to get creative in bad traffic. He is known to always have a spare route in his back pocket for such situations. Sometimes it is a longer route, but a nice break from the traffic. At other times, we have stopped and sat on the roof of the car, waiting for the traffic to dissipate (4th of July especially).
  
• A car is just a car. It is a tool to get you around but not as important as the people inside.
  

Thanks Dad, I love you! Happy Father's Day.