Yes, this is a blurb about "that one time," quite like a diary entry. No, it doesn't have a dirty, salacious secret. Well, actually, yes, maybe it does. I'm a bit embarrassed to tell this story. Only because I'm usually a very independent and capable person. No, I don't want to hear your arguments against that statement... on either the fact that it's a salacious secret or that I'm a capable person. Anyways.
Yes, I am fully aware that Lyft and Uber aren't true or "real" modes of public transportation like the train or subway. However, what you may not all be aware of is the fact that I felt like a complete imbecile throughout this process. Which, to my credit, doesn't happen very often- at least not in these situations.
Before you start judging me for being seemingly helpless and overwhelmingly dependent, please note that I have, in fact, traveled before. I've traveled numerous times, to numerous places, for a numerous amount of years. However, each time I was lucky enough to have had someone I know pick me up. I was lucky that the hardest part would be looking both ways before crossing the street to get in my friend or family member's car.
This time, I traveled to San Francisco to visit a friend and some family. This time, I wasn't so lucky. With no one able to pick me up, due to work schedule, lack of car, they hate my music taste, etc., I went to look up the BART routes (off the top of my head I have no clue what it stands for but it's the public transportation system in the city. Facts only). The place my friend was staying at was just across the bridge from the Oakland airport, and had I rented a car myself I wouldn't have been the least bit intimidated. As I looked at the stops I'd have to remember, and the different colors of the routes on my screen, I was a little worried (panicked) that I'd somehow find a way to screw it up. Mind you, I tend to screw things up a lot due to my ~talent~ of second-guessing myself and stubborn rejection of common sense and logic.
To be honest, if the area was a place I had visited before or had a general familiarity with, it wouldn't have been a problem. But, because I am the anxious, over-thinking, body-tensing, human I am when going from one place to another in new territory, I decided it might be time for me to invest in one of those "taxi-driver things". So, to answer your question-
Why Lyft and not Uber? To be completely honest, I couldn't tell you. Maybe it was through friends' recommendations and maybe (more likely the answer) because Zac Efron posted about using Lyft on his Instagram. Yeah, no I didn't get to try the more expensive form of Lyft (probably because I'm not Zac Efron and because I wasn't about to spend more than $20 in a twenty-minute window) but yes, I did indeed model a life choice after one of my favorite childhood actors (I still listen to the HSM 3 soundtrack).
Fast forward to the day I actually got to San Francisco, and there you will find a few of things that happened to me. Again- I know you'll judge regardless and I really can't blame you because I'm choosing to post this, but everyone deserves to laugh at themselves (in your case, laugh at me) every once in a while. And it is a Monday that I'm writing this.... so, cheers, I guess.
1. I put my pick-up point for a location that said it was 40 minutes away from me.
So when you pull up the Lyft app it literally tells you what to set the pick-up point as, at least at the airport it does. But alas, little Miss Independent decided Lyft didn't know what it was talking about and went to choose a pick-up location of her own choice. To which- she found out after waiting twenty minutes, that it was still another twenty minutes away. Don't worry, I canceled and didn't end up paying. I felt bad for the driver though, I deserved a low-rating from him, I'll admit.
2. I picked up the phone to talk to my mom once I got in the car.
This one is also on me, so I can understand why the driver may not be too pleased with me gushing over the Bridge and its lights with my mother. In my defense, I have a defense mechanism that includes an unnecessary amount of paranoia that allows me to make sure my life is documented so in the off-chance I end up inspiration for CSI's next episode- I'm gucci.
3. You will not end up inspiring a criminal TV series. So please, do not end up making awkward conversation.
After hanging up the phone and feeling relatively safer (to which I had no reason to feel unsafe), I decided to engage in conversation. My (what I perceived to be casual yet c00l) "So how's your Friday night been?" *insert awkward chuckle here* was met with no reply. In which case he probably still thought I was on the phone with my mother, or had found out in thirty seconds that I am, in fact, as awkward as I appear.
4. I tweeted about my experience.
Chalk one up in the L column. After the awkward silence my paranoia kicked in (I literally thought I would be driven off the bridge into the water..... wtf) and I decided I should document my last few moments of existence. After about two hours since my tweet I got asked if I was still alive. To which I conjured a response something like, "I'm sorry for being the biggest nuisance alive this is my third glass of wine happy days are here again". Today I still wonder if I should be concerned no one sooner questioned if I was alive since I told my ~loyal~ followers to wait twenty minutes.
5. I made it. And then walked two blocks from my drop off point.
This really had nothing to do with Lyft, it was (surprise, surprise) pretty much my fault. I didn't orient myself very well mainly because I like to believe I'm a woman of intuition every time I go to a big city and could find my way around without Google maps. Sadly, by the time I realized all I had to do was walk across the street to get to my friend's place, I had already got 10,000 steps on my FitBit (it's the little victories, really). Either way, still made it.
The overall Lyft experience was not bad, and definitely not worse than what I had imagined (is anything really worse than my imagination? Answer: Lol). If you know what you're doing (don't panic) and take general (not overly dramatic) safety precautions, the app is safe and can get you where you need to go for a fair price. If you're asking me for advice on how to get five stars as a passenger, you'll need to read another article.
