Anyways, the fact of the matter is that we were there, and there was a strike, and we were stuck at the airport. So how? The only way into town and to our hotel was by taxi. The queue was long – as it was the only public transportation out of the airport – but it was that or take the risk of waiting until the end of the day.
Thankfully, the taxi line moved rather quickly – taxi drivers must have been seizing the opportunity to take us hapless tourists to our destinations. We prayed that God will provide us with a good and fair driver, not one trying to fleece us.
The driver seemed like a nice “uncle” and altho there was a total break-down in communication, I managed to show him the address and he seemed to know the way.
Fast-forward – he stops the cab and tell us we have arrived. We looked at the hostel and told him no, that was not our hotel. Like how the Chinese say, it was like the duck trying to talk to the chicken!!!
He then fished out his GPS (only then!!!) and tried to type in the address while driving at the same time!!! So the meter was running as he typed in one alphabet at a time… we got pretty fed-up but as I looked on the deserted streets, I realized that if we get out of the cab now, we will have a tough time finding another one!
Even so, after going round in circles for a while, we decided to take our risk as the driver does nto seem to know where the destination is – and he is just wandering aimlessly!!!
He however, did not want to let us down! He just continued driving and we were at a loss at what to do!!! The wife told me later that she really thought he was gonna kidnap us!
Soon, we were out of the city area…and according to the roadsigns, we were heading into France!!!
I then whipped up my phone and called the hotel – trying hard to ignore the thought of how much the roaming charges were gonna be. I go thru to the hotel and spoke to the ppl there. I then passed the phone to the driver. But when he took the phone, he was just talking and did not seem to be listening to the person on the other side. He gave me back the phone and continued driving.
I tried to call the hotel again – and after a few tries (and sweating a lot), I got thru and the hotel ppl told me that the driver seems to know where the hotel is.
After a while, we arrived to the neighbourhood where the hotel is – and altho we see signs to the hotel (and I thought I saw the hotel from the pics I saw from online), the driver could not seem to get there!!! We drove round in more circles as the meter kept on going higher and higher. We told him to stop to ask for directions – but just like a typical man, he did not. Maybe he din know what we were asking him to do!!!
When we slowed down at a junction, I had enuf and rolled down the window. We started waving and calling out to a couple walking nearby. They came and we asked them the directions to the hotel. The driver again started talking to them but not listening.
In the end, we arrived at the hotel. One look at the meter showed a sum of more than 50 Euros!!! I went straight into the hotel and asked the ppl there to help us talk to the driver and tell the driver that we are not gonna pay such a high amount. The guy at the reception reluctantly agreed to go with me.
But when I started walking out, the wife was waving at me to go there quickly…
The driver somehow informed my wife, thru a notepad, that he was only gonna charge us 35 Euros!!!
We were truly thankful to God that we arrived safely and that he really indeed provided us with a good and fair taxi driver. In fact, the hotel reception told us that 35 Euros is actually a low rate for a taxi ride from the airport to the hotel!!!
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| Bought this in rememberance of our taxi ride! |
I actually felt bad for the taxi driver after that - he had to endure the verbal abuse from us, took us to 2 destinations and then undercharged us.
We thanked God for him and we prayed for blessing upon him.
*Interestingly, in the lyrics, 27 bands and artists that the Gym Class Heroes like are mentioned.
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