EricH1973

Ride Apprentice

17

Activity

Posts by EricH1973

No posts found.

Comments by EricH1973

    {{ ratingSum }}
     6 years ago in  Ford buys electric scooter startup Spin [TechCrunch]

    I went to San Diego last week, and those scooters were absolutely everywhere. It was eye opening the way it has changed the culture there. They litter the streets and they looked really horrible. It's a market disruption and also a societal disruption.  Someone has to do something.


  • To drivers,

    Is that picture indicative of how you pick up your UberEats? You just walk in, grab the bag that's a part of your order and go?

    I honestly don't have a clue as to how the pickup of food items work.  It sounds like a total nightmare. 


  • My Uber story was how I made two friends on a long-distance Uber ride. I was flying back home alone from college. I was supposed to fly direct into Boston from Raleigh, but the flight got cancelled. I was able to switch to a flight that connected through Batimore, but go figure, I got to Baltimore and my Boston leg was cancelled. (I cannot remember what the reason was. It must have been bad weather in Boston.)

    It was Friday and we were approaching the end of the day. My options were running out. So instead of sleeping at the airport, I decided to fly into Hartford Bradley airport just to get me *closer* there. With my college kid wisdom, I thought this would work. (In hindsight, I should have known that there'd be even less flights out of Hartford to Boston. I should have flown to NY or stayed in Baltimore.)

    Of course, we get to Hartford and the last flight to Boston seemed permanently delayed. Many groans were heard at the gate, but eventually, we all came to accept our fate.  ...and when you accept your fate, you stop stressing. There were a group of us (maybe 6?) who startd to play Uno card game (none of us knew each other before BTW). People from all backgrounds. It was the most fun flight delay I've ever experienced. Maybe ever at an airport.  We were all griping while laughing about sleeping on terminals chairs, making temporary tents between the vending machines, etc.

    In any case, the girl next to me, Sandy, beautiful black girl who was a self-claimed backpacker, mentioned even if she got to Logan at this point, there won't be any trains or buses she can take so she's stranded anyways. Then the guy to my right, Tom, a white base player from some mediocre band, said something similar.  (I am Asian btw.) We were all ready to spend the night there, maybe play games all the way through.

    That's when we realized we should just take an UberX! 

    Some experienced travelers (especially drivers who are on this forum) may not think this is that crazy, but to us, it was the wildest idea. Abandoning a ticket mid-trip felt weird. Taking an Uber for 2 hours, which we didn't know we could do.  My car was still at Logan...

    In any case, this driver, whose name I cannot remember, shows up, looking exactly like Shaggy from Scooby-doo. (No, it wasn't a van. I think it was a red Carolla.) and he graciously accepts our trip to Boston. 

    See, It was really the weirdest but a wonderful and memorable ride. Four people from completely different backgrounds and ethinicity, going on a road trip, in middle of a night, with Shaggy driving the car. At one point, Tom pulls out his base guitar and starts playing Sublime songs. We stopped by at I-90 rest area for pee and snack breaks. We all shared a few chill hits together, and we eventually made it back to Logan.

    I still sometimes wonder if it really happened.  I ended up driving both Sandy and Tom home, and I didn't get home until past 3:00. The craziest thing? We never got our full names and did not exchange information. Shaggy?  Took off and never heard from him again. Perhaps that's one of the reasons it feels so surreal.

    In any case, it was one of those stories I will never forget and restores all kinds of faith in the world.


  • Page 2 of 2
  • 1
  • 2