Three Cab Rides Part 1 - The Man from Dubai

Visiting New Orleans is an experience not to be missed. There is so much to see, to do, to taste, and to photograph that you find yourself constantly in motion. I nearly wore out the FitBit by logging unprecedented numbers of daily steps. Of course, in 90 degree heat and on legs still sore from a Segway tour, walking quickly got old. The solution? Call a cab. There are over 1500 licensed taxi drivers in the Big Easy and three of them I will not soon forget. 

Let's start with the Man from Dubai.

I had a three hour morning photo tour booked and was scheduled to meet my guide at Jackson Square. I decided to take a taxi because I knew that once I arrived at my destination I'd be walking for hours. Best to start out on fresh legs, right? So a cabbie pulled up and after we exchanged the usual pleasantries I told him I wanted to go to 750 Chartres Street. I was very proud that I knew enough to pronounce that "Charters" rather than "Shartrayze" and fully expected to get a knowing smile. Imagine my surprise when the driver asked if I could give him a better address than that. I said "It's 750 Chartres Street, the Jackson Square gate directly across from St. Louis Cathedral." That elicited a blank look. He held up his smart phone and told me there were several different 750 Chartres Streets and asked if I wanted to go north or south. That's when I knew I was in trouble. Not only did he not know the street but he also seemed to have never heard of two of the biggest tourists draws in the entire city.  I told him I had no idea what direction it was and that's why I had called a cab in the first place.

He apologized profusely and told me he had been a New Orleans taxi driver for only a week and that his GPS kept giving him the wrong directions and getting him in trouble with his customers. He then asked the hotel bellman for directions and we were on our way.

 During our ten block journey my determined taxi driver asked four more people for directions and apologized to me a dozen or more times. He also told me about his home, Dubai, and why he came to the United States. I learned that Dubai is the richest of countries but only for the few. You can't get justice there and no matter how hard you work you will never be anyone. I listened as he told me he came to America because here there is justice and here you can be somebody. Here things are fair. 

He was about to ask for additional directions but I could see the cathedral about a block away. We were heading away from it and about to turn the wrong way onto a one way street when I told him he could let me out, that I was close enough. 

He apologized again and I smiled while I gave him a tip. As I walked away I hoped America would be good to him. America. Yes, America where you can get justice, and be somebody, and even get someone else to take your written taxi driver's permit exam for you. I'm sure he will be just fine.