For most of my travelling life, arriving somewhere new meant a small battle and anxiety before I’d even left the airport. You’d push through the sliding doors with your bags, hot air hitting you in the face, and within seconds there’d be half a dozen men calling “Taxi, sir? Taxi!”, one already reaching for your suitcase handle. You’d pick one, more or less at random, and then spend the ride wondering whether the price was fair and whether this was really the way to your hotel. Or you’d organise private transport to your hotel at the time of booking, just to avoid the throngs of drivers eager to help you, even if it did cost much more than you thought it should. After all, what value do you put on removing stress?
These days I mostly skip all that. I stand somewhere out of the crush of those departing, open an app, and a few minutes later a car pulls up with a number plate I already know. It seems like a small change. But for a traveller, it’s been one of the biggest and best changes of the past fifteen years.
The long way round
Every traveller of a certain age has a story about the meter. The driver who took three laps around a roundabout, or the “shortcut” that added twenty minutes and a lot of money. You never quite knew if you were being cheated or if the traffic really was that bad, and that doubt coloured the whole trip.
With ride hailing, the fare is shown before you book. You can watch the little car move along the map as you go, so if the driver drifts away from the sensible route, you’ll see it. For the first time in a strange city, I actually know where I am and where I’m going. Leaving the airport is no longer like running the gauntlet, and the local drivers seem much less aggressive.
Lost in translation
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve held out my phone with Google Maps on it, and showed the driver the name of the hotel, only to find it isn’t written in his language, and he has little idea of what I am showing him. Or tried to pronounce a street name in a language I didn’t speak, and watched the driver shrug … or pronounce the name in English only to receive an even more bewildering look! Now the destination goes in as a pin on the map. Nobody has to understand my accent. If the driver needs to reach me, many apps translate the messages, so “I’m by the blue gate” arrives in their language and their reply arrives in mine.
Arriving without the local money
Anyone who has ever rushed out of the airport and realised they only have foreign currency knows the feeling. You agree on a price, but the driver takes cash only. You know the exchange rate, the ride costs $12 and you only have a $20, and the driver, of course, has no change. Supposedly. With the fare charged to a card through the app, that problem simply goes away. I can go to my room, get to my bed first, and deal with local money in the morning, after coffee. Hopefully, I won’t need cash for my coffee!
Knowing who’s driving
Before the car arrives, I can see the driver’s name, photo, car model and number plate. The whole trip is tracked, and I can send the route to someone at home so they can watch me reach my door. And, just the other day, the driver took a slightly different route to avoid traffic, and I immediately got a message on the app asking if everything was OK! For a solo traveller, that’s real peace of mind. And if I leave something on the back seat, like my umbrella, I can message the driver through the app rather than writing it off.
Late nights and early mornings
Flights don’t always land at friendly hours. When buses and trains have stopped for the night, an app still finds me a car. The same goes for the 4 a.m. start to catch an early flight, when I’d rather not be standing on a dark street hoping a taxi passes.
From anywhere in the city
Once I’m settled, the convenience keeps going. I can be at a temple on the edge of town, or a café down a lane with no name, and still get a ride from right where I stand. In most of Southeast Asia you can choose a motorbike instead of a car, which slips through traffic that would leave a car sitting for half an hour. Though the experience may leave you with a few more grey hairs!
Dinner comes to you
This is my favourite part. The same apps that get me across town will bring food to my door, often at almost any hour. When the monsoon rain is hammering on the roof, or when I’m under the weather and the thought of getting dressed and going out is too much, I can scroll through local restaurants and have a hot meal arrive at the gate. In some places you can also order groceries, pharmacy items, or send a parcel across town. I usually order two meals just because it bothers me to have someone carry such a small order across town just for me. Anyway, curry is always better warmed up a day or two after it’s made.
It isn’t perfect
Of course, there are catches. Pickup points at big airports can be confusing, with the driver on one level and you on another, or the “Ride Hailing Pick Up Point” is located further away than other forms of transport. Don’t count on the local taxi driver to point you in the right direction, either! You need a working phone, a charged battery and data, which isn’t always a given in the first hours in a new country. And I think often about the traditional taxi and tuk-tuk drivers whose living has been squeezed by all this. Some have joined the apps; many haven’t. But it does “keep them honest”, and it’s much harder for them to overcharge you for the ride.
There are also still plenty of places where none of this exists. On many of the Pacific Islands there is no app, no map, and no card payments. You rely on people, and people rely on each other, and hope someone knows someone who owns a truck.
That’s a very different way to travel, and in some ways a much more personal and richer one. And you meet some remarkable people. But that’s a post for another time.