When I heard that some of the Tabing Ilog cast members were going to star in the Netflix movie A Journey together, I jumped at the chance to interview them about it. Little did I know how much the movie would actually wreck me.
In a nutshell, Kaye Abad stars as a woman who discovers her cancer has returned. She refuses treatment and decides to go to Australia with her husband (Paolo Contis) and their best friend (Patrick Garcia) while checking off things on her "magic list" (basically a bucket list) along the way.
A Journey Trailer
First and foremost, you need to know that this movie is heeeeeavy.
While it starts off light, and Tabing Ilog references and other nostalgic anecdotes are peppered into the movie, it is pretty heavy as a whole. I'm a cryer by nature but I still shed more tears than I'd like to admit while watching this.
Granted, this might have something to do with how much I related to the movie, but even without being able to relate to the health issues or their age, there is a lot to be learned from A Journey:
Do the things that you want to do.
Like Kaye's character, I found myself in several pickles in life last year, which prompted me to change my mindset about how I was living my life as a whole. Cue all of the trips, concerts, and random activities I've done since then.
A Journey reminds us that there is more to life than work and money. You can always earn more money but you won't always have the energy, youth, or good health to do the things that you want to do now. So book that trip, dye your hair, and see those penguins. Live a life filled with fantastic experiences that you can look back on. No matter what anyone says, you deserve it.
Make memories with the people you love.
At first, I didn't quite understand why the boys didn't make more of an effort to make one of Kaye's bucket list items come true prior to her getting sick again, but I now realize that goes back to being sucked into work and other things in life.
Anyway, if you miss/love someone, make time for them. Ditch the excuses. Take a trip together and rekindle your friendship/love. Take a trip to see someone you haven't seen in a long time.
I used to always put things off, thinking that "I'll make plans for next week/month" or "I'll see them next year" until surprise, it never happens.
Even though they are miles away, I recently visited my sister in Los Angeles, my best friend in Malta, my college best friend in France, and even some friends in Bangkok. Is my bank account happy? Definitely not. But I am. And I'd like to think they are too. It was well worth it in the end and I promised to see the people I love more often.
Always hold onto hope.
The most important thing I got out of A Journey though is that you should never lose hope. It's funny because hope used to be my favorite word. Somewhere along the years (let's blame all of the bad luck and crappy experiences I've had), I lost sight of that. But A Journey has reminded me to always hold onto hope - if not for ourselves, at least for those who love us.
Of course, A Journey isn't perfect. There were moments where my heart was already feeling so heavy and yet it felt like the movie was still dragging on. It's definitely not for the weak-hearted. I paused it a lot.
But it did remind me that I have been making the right choices in how I live my life nowadays. And if you haven't gone through a similar epiphany yet, I highly recommend you watch it. Just make sure you've got a lotta tissue ready.
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