My First Uber Experience

Have you done it?  Have you taken the Uber?  Holy cats.  What a great invention!  I know I’m late to this party but I live in a small town and Uber isn’t a THANG here yet, however, I heard  a rumor that we have not one but TWO in town.  This will make going to Whiskey Row a little more enticing on a Friday or Saturday night.

I took my daughter to San Francisco for Spring Break 2016.  We have never been.  What a wonderful city.  We booked a hotel out of the city so that I could spend more money on sour dough bread. . . .and you think I’m kidding.  So now comes our first Uber experience.  I downloaded the app at the airport (we had a lot of extra time since our first plane was canceled and the second was delayed. . . something about only one air strip open, weather and three airports near each other blah, blah blah).  I put in for an Uber – I did not choose Uber X, instead I chose Uber pool.  I had no idea what that meant.  Truth be told, I’m not sure how I chose anything for that first ride.  We met Yosep.  Yosep is the man!  He took us from Milbrea to Pier 33 for our Alcatrz Tour.  Well we had time to bond since it was rush hour.  Yosep is an amazing human being.  He is a Christian and from Seria.  Did I mention he was a reporter.  If you understand Seria, you know that being Christian AND a reporter are not looked favorably upon.  He was jailed for 6 months and his family was taken from him for three years.  THREE YEARS.  He cries for this country because of all the great things we have and he fears we are going down the wrong path.  He is so thankful to be here.  His family is here now and all doing very well.  He is still an activist and just returned from Washington DC.  WOW.

Uber ride two was uneventful.  Although Paubla was very nice.  I did ask her why the Golden Gate was better than the 3x that size bridge over on the other side; she did not know.

Uber ride three was with TOM!  Tom was hilarious.  I don’t think I have laughed that hard since being with my niece and nephew ghost hunting.  We met (damn it I forgot her name and swore I wouodn’t).  Well she was an actual GOOGLE employee!  I have never met one so it was a big deal.  Tom has a wife and a 12 year old daughter.  We will continue to pray for our families and each other’s families because that is how we roll.  We picked up Chase.  (Because now I understand the difference between x and pool, we TOTALLY dig pool)  Chase is a kid, not sure how old but he and my daughter were in the back seat and Tom and I decided these two should hang when my daughter moves to San Fran in a few years for college.  Chase was not, at all, upset about this proposition.  Chase likes la cross and soccer which is good because my daughter plays volleyball.  The two hit it off smashingly well.  Poor Chase didn’t have a chance.

Tefera was next.  He was nice but was overpowered by Uber pool man Jesse.  Jesse was next to me in the back seat.  Jesse is a young man who smokes out  a lot.  We picked him up in Haight-Ashbury.  Nice kid, deep thoughts.  Best quote “open your eyes so you can see”.  SEE!  DEEP THOUGHTS JESSE!  I liked him because his roommates are from Ann Arbor and I’m from Michigan so it was awesome.

The weather was rainy our entire trip.  My daughter was super cool about going on the bridge in the rain.  We were so wet and cold.  Lisa picked us up with two other girls were from Pennsylvania.  They were awesome.  We laughed all the way to Ghirardelli’s.

Our last Uber driver was Nazifullah.  He was way cool too.  He worked at the American Embassy in Iraq.  This man has seen some stuff.  He is here with his brother but doesn’t understand why Americans (broadly speaking) aren’t close with their families.  He was really struggling with this and I could empathize because when I lived on the Navajo Nation I saw exactly what he was talking about.  American culture (generally speaking) is not family centered.  When you are around a culture that is, it is glaringly sad how our culture does not embrace the family like other cultures do – Italians, Navajos, Mexican ect. . . .

Why is Uber so much better than a taxi?  The cars are cleaner.  The drivers are awesome.  I so recommend pool.  I think why it impressed me so much was that I had such deep conversations with people I would have never had the opportunity to speak with.  It was so refreshingly awesome.  There is no commitment so you can say your opinions and then be done – it’s like therapy.

GO UBER!