Thank God for Uber

On Wed March 5^th, Debbie and I landed at frigid Logan airport in Boston. We were there to visit my Dad, who will shortly turn 99 years old. As we taxied to the gate, we noticed an especially large number of odd-looking vehicles lined up along the runway. Inside the terminal, we learned that President Obama was landing for a fund raising mission (from whom I can not imagine). Well, we got to the street and headed for the taxi line up in what felt and looked like Stalingrad.

The cab line had the look and feel of rugby scrum. The dispatcher announced that Obama was in town and things were backed up. Right! It would be at least a half hour before we could even think of getting a cab. Luckily, we have the Uber app and had used it several times in downtown Boston on our recent trip for a National Review get-together. As we stood freezing on a Logan sidewalk, I clicked on the Uber app and watched the little blue GPS ball come to life. Samuel would be on the way in a black car (only limos at the airport) and would arrive in exactly nine minutes, my iPhone blinked.

As we looked at the Google map on our iPhone, the little blue ball inched toward us and the minutes till arrival ticked down. The iPhone rang (Uber keeps my number in it’s data base, along with billing info), and it was Samuel confirming that he was pulling into the limo pickup area and would wave to us. It seemed like a miracle as we headed across the street with one quick look back to the ever-growing line of frustrated travelers who would, at best, be in for a long frigid wait, if they ever even got a taxi that night. Thank God for Uber! As it turned out, we had ridden with Samuel after our National Review event in downtown Boston. It was sure great to see him again.