Bizarre Encounters with Cabbies | Meganotravels
Author: http://www.facebook.com/meganotravels1
Description: I find myself in strange situations almost every time I travel. Here are three stories featuring bizarre encounters with cab drivers around the world.
Date: 2013-07-01T14:00:32+00:00

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#### SOUTH AFRICA

# Bizarre Encounters with Cabbies

We all have some strange tales from our travels. I have a knack for meeting some of the weirdest people in the world, or finding myself in the strangest (and sometimes most uncomfortable) situations ever. From a cabbie in Philly telling me about spending years in jail for gang activity to three men surrounding me and putting their arms around me on the metro in Rome, I can’t seem to escape it.

So, with that in mind, here are the three most bizarre/uncomfortable things that I have ever encountered with regards to drivers. (Also, it might contain some offensive material. You’ve been forewarned.)

# Durban, South Africa

Goldie was middle-aged with long, greasy grey hair, which he kept wrapped tightly under a grungy bandanna. His cab company came recommended from the apartment rental staff, and while he was prompt in picking us (me, my boyfriend at the time, and his parents) up from the apartment, that was his only redeeming quality.

Just minutes into the cab ride to the Moses Mabhida stadium for a World Cup match, Goldie started ranting about how the black people in South Africa have everything, and the whites are discriminated against. According to him, since the apartheid, black South Africans get a ton of money from the government, which they use to buy Mercedes and fund their drug-peddling businesses. Meanwhile, he was a lowly cabdriver who couldn’t afford much more than a Chevy. We all remained pretty silent during this diatribe, entirely shocked at what was coming out of his mouth. Afterward, we dumped out of the cab and just sort of stared at each other for a few minutes, trying to process what happened before simply saying, “what the hell was that?”, chuckling uncomfortably, and moving on.

# Durban, South Africa (again)

That same night, we were supposed to be picked up by Goldie from the game. When we paced up and down the street for about an hour and a half, we finally decided he wasn’t coming and it was time to find another cab to take. There was a string of cabs outside the stadium, and so we walked the line trying to find a metered cab.

“Here’s one! Says so on the side!” said my ex.

Exhausted and sick of pounding the pavement, we piled into the cab only to find out that it wasn’t metered. Whatever, we thought, let’s just go home. Forget the fact that this guy didn’t even know his way around Durban and that my ex’s mom and I had to direct him back to the hotel, but about five minutes after getting into the cab, the weirdest thing happened. The driver popped in a cassette tape.. of Barney songs. My immediate reaction was to laugh, then wonder why this 30-something cabbie would have a cassette of Barney tunes: did he have children? Was he trying to learn English? Is this the only English-language music he has for his English-speaking clients?

Then my thoughts turned darker: I was convinced this was his way of just making us feel comfortable or throwing us off before he took us to some dark seedy place to kill us, harvest our organs, and sell them on the black market.

Thankfully, nothing happened or I wouldn’t be here typing this post. But we still got a good laugh out of it, and do to this day.

# San Francisco, United States

It was Valentine’s Day and pouring down rain, but dammit, I was determined to do something romantic. My boyfriend at the time and I were waiting just outside our hotel for the cable car to come so we could go to Fisherman’s Wharf for what Yelp users said was the best seafood restaurant in town. While waiting under the overhang at the cable car stop, I spotted a limo coming down the street.

I jokingly turned to my boyfriend and said, “Hey, there’s our ride!”

A few second later, the limo pulled up in front of us and the driver rolled down the window.

“Where are you headed?”

“Fisherman’s Wharf.”

“Hop in. I’ll take you for $10. I’m already on the clock for another client anyway.”

We hopped in the back and the driver rolled down the separation window to chat. Where were we from? What were we doing in SF? Were we having a good time? Suddenly, the conversation started to get really strange. He was telling about having wild sex with his girlfriend on a stove. Then he wanted us to guess how many buckets of cum would be filled by people “getting it on” that night. I felt like I was on that Taxicab Confessions show. I was waiting for someone to pop out and tell me how much money I’d won by putting up with driver Luigi’s gross shit. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to get out of that limo. Incidentally, that was the last limo ride I’ve taken.

What are some of your weird transportation stories?

image from here

### Author: Megan

Megan is an ordinary girl who outgrew her small town and decided to try the world on for size. She's on a mission to travel, photograph, and write about the world.

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- LOL…the Barney cassette guy cracks me up!

  I think I could write a book with mine. Like when I got into a massive fight with a Cantonese-only speaking man in Hong Kong that ended with me screaming and on the verge of crying and throwing my bags out the taxi at a random hotel, or in Greece when the taxi driver kicked me out because I wasn’t going in his direction. Thankfully I am renting cars my next few trips!
  CeCe recently posted..Birthday Europe Trip

  Reply

  - Haha–the arguing ones are the best. I got in a huge fight with a guy in Rome once who was trying to charge me almost triple what I’d been used to paying for a cab ride home. I guess he didn’t expect that I’d speak Italian and give it right back to him, but he ended up taking me for the price I told him he was going to.

    Reply

- In Athens when I was a teenager. The cab driver(who smelled bad) kept hitting on my grandma and asking my grandpa if they were having any marital troubles that they might possibly divorce over. He told me that if I grew up to have a figure like my grandma that I’d be such a sexy woman and then he started to rub her back & shoulders and trying to grab her hand(He had insisted that she take the front seat due to the air conditioning being the best in the front) which is when my grandpa lost his composure. It was really awkward to say the least.
  Kirsten recently posted..5 Favourite UNESCO Sites: The Ones That Surprised Me The Most

  Reply

  - Wow! While it sounds incredibly uncomfortable, it made for an interesting read! :)

    Reply

- Haha don’t you love it when something awesome happens (getting a very cheap limo ride) but then turns very bad. It makes you hesitate the next time something good happens.

  Reply

  - Haha, I know! Not my finest hour, but at least it made for a fun post. ;) I’d probably do it again.

    Reply

- The last one is my favorite.. haha. Those cab rides must be a hell of a ride..
  James Robinson recently posted..Hello world!

  Reply

  - Thanks! And yeah–I know how to attract the weirdos!

    Reply

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### Who is Meganotravels?

Hey, I’m Megan! I’m a full-time consultant and run
a non-profit on the side. And when I’m not doing those
things—I’m traveling! I’m on a mission to travel,
photograph, and write about the world.

Hope you’ll follow along!

### What is “Megano?”

An “Italian” name (rhymes with “Figaro”) given to me
by a friend before I studied abroad in Rome. I had to be
more Italian, you see. It’s stuck ever since.

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