Owning and riding around Metro Manila in my small but terribly reliable Xiaomi Pro electric scooter was the highlight of LakbayLoyd’s strange and isolating pandemic year of 2020. With travel restrictions put in place to control the further spread of the virus, I have to stay indoors and put all my leisure trips on hold. Until when, who knows?
I’ve lived my entire life without a car. I used to take the costly Grab rides going to and from work in MOA before the lockdown begun. In the absence of public transport during the ECQ, people could only resort to using their own private vehicle (which I don’t have) to buy supplies and other necessities. Some people (including myself), walk miles and miles just to get those essential goods.
So in May 1, 2020, right in the middle of the ECQ, I decided to buy my own electric kick scooter and drive around solo, allowing me to conveniently move around Metro Manila and still able to observe safety and health protocols as I didn’t want to expose myself to others.
I call my scooter EKS (short for electric kick scooter, or simply Ex, as in ex-bf, ex-lover, ex-everyone haha) and it comes handy for those many times I am in need to relieve my travel itch but didn’t want to expose myself to others. I rode to nearby parks and historical sites in Manila which I have never set foot on as my travel priorities were to go far places accessible by an airplane.
Even as Metro Manila was downgraded to general community quarantine, I still ride with my ever-reliable EKS to work, or grocery, or even to the malls. I can easily breeze through heavy traffic now that more and more people are getting out of their houses to work and allowing public transports.
EKS is the perfect handy, inexpensive, environment-friendly, and safe pandemic ride!
