Experiencing such a spectacle – aside from the rare opportunity to drive 20 of Toyota’s MPVs sold in markets around the world – is one of the reasons why motoring journalists seldom move from the beat. Automobile manufacturers have mastered the art of organizing events as grand productions with entertainment values!

But it’s the unexpected pleasant sideshows that make the event stay in one’s memory for a longer while. It is unlikely that I will be invited to another cocktails inside a shark museum at the Sea World in the Gold Coast, nibbling on a variety of canapés served by roving waiters.

But that was not the end of the Toyota experience. Laid out delicately on our beds at the Marriot was a simple souvenir of the adventure – a framed picture of the group with the Toyota vehicles and the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge – propped up on sheets of red Japanese paper. For the creative and thoughtful efforts in making me feel the hospitality of Toyota, the framed photo now stands among my books in my bedroom.

If Toyota was that meticulous about insignificant things like souvenir photos, they conducted the Toyota IMV project presentation and the test drive of the 20 vehicles in the tradition of Toyota efficiency. That gave the 50 motoring journalists from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia the opportunity to drive all the MPVs through four road conditions: regular highway road, light, medium and extreme off-road. The tracks were set up in Darlington Park in Gold Coast.

Following the instructions of the marshalls – who had a list of drivers assigned to vehicles – I was able to drive nine vehicles and ride as passenger in seven, only in an hour. It was like taking all the rides in a theme park, one after the other, just because you had a ride-all-you-can ticket.

The "author" of the Toyota Adventure and experience in creative hospitality is my friend Vince Socco, General Manager, Marketing Services Department of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. Since we had the privilege of being invited to other Toyota events produced by Vince when he was SVP for marketing of Toyota Philippines, we recognized his "signature" on the event on Day One of the Toyota Great MPV Adventure. Who else can think of treating the "working press" to the golden spectacle of the sun setting on the Sydney Opera House — while enjoying fine wine at the Quay Restaurant?

As I said, it’s the little things that make a press trip remarkable. Until now, we still remember the launching of the Corolla at Repulse Bay in Hong Kong in 1996. Vince and his staff, one of them Ariel de Jesus, managed to organize the various flight schedules of 50 Manila-based journalists! Later, the launching of the Toyota Revo in Mactan was another production feat.

No one forgets an extraordinary experience.