Let's Not Meet Again

Ride to the Airport

This takes place during our vacation to New Orleans, LA in January of this year. It isn't exactly a horror story like some others on here, but it still gives us the chills to this day. My girlfriend and I had found a dirt cheap flight and hotel package to New Orleans so we decided to jump on it. We both love that city, so going there for under $150 round trip for both was a steal.

Our vacation was planned for four days, but we had so much fun and had saved so much money we decided to look up the possibility of staying one more day. With our luck still going strong, I found another deal online. We were able to exchange our flight for the next day, and we found a room for $50 that was just across the street. We had another great night, and then headed in around 2:00 a.m.

Knowing we had a flight we didn't party as hard that night. We both woke up around around 7:00 a.m. and decided to explore the city one last night before heading to the airport. We went to the park, and found someone who was selling weed. I smoke a lot of marijuana, and had been looking all week and couldn't find anything worth my money. This guy had some good leaf, so I bought a gram and we smoked in the park and then took a walk.

Like I said before, I smoke a lot. And if anyone smokes daily such as I, they know that even 4 to 5 days without can lead to a decrease of tolerance. We were way higher than we thought, and had lost track of time. We decided to go back to the hotel to check out and find a taxi or Uber. The one thing I had forgot with exchanging my ticket is that it was no longer a package and I wouldn't have a car sent to us to drive us to the airport. My girlfriend began nagging me that we should have done this the night before, but I assured her that we would be able to get one with no problem because it was a Tuesday morning. I couldn't imagine it taking us more than 10 minutes to find a taxi.

We check out of the hotel, and are standing on the corner with our luggage and I called for an Uber while at the same time trying to flag down a taxi. About 15 minutes go by and I still have no luck. I start to panic a little because I realize how we are against the clock now and I don't want to end up stranded across the country with no money and no hotel room.

After about 30 minutes I say we have to walk to a different part of the city because we aren't having luck here. I then see a minivan make a U-turn and stop in front of us.

"You need a ride big brudda?" the man said. He was a young African-American, maybe 30 years of age. He didn't look like a creep or homeless or anything, but I could definitely tell he was a street cat. I said "Yes, where's your Uber card? I don't see it on your back window". The man pulls out an Uber decal from the compartment in his door and shows me. It was very suspect that he didn't have it on his window but it looked legit so it may have fallen off. I then said I would sign into Uber so it's accounted for. He says there's no need for that, his reason being that Uber takes 35%. That was a reg flag right away. But at the same time I understood, hell, I might have even pulled that hustle if I could get away with it.

At this time my girlfriend, thinking this is the Uber I scheduled, is in the van, as well as our two bags. I take a look at my watch and it is after 10:00 a.m. already, and our flight takes off at 11:15. The Airport is 30 minutes away. I look at my phone and there is still no Uber or Lyft driver in sight os of us. I make the decision to get in and close the door.

I start to ask about how much this will cost us, and before I could get two words out the man says "Airport right, $40". The way he said it wasn't creepy or anything, but it was more like this was a routine he had practiced numerous times. The rate wasn't far off either. The taxi that drove us into the city was $35, so I was banking on an over/under of a $5 difference.