Riding my first Uber in Australia

I have been a fan of Uber way back in the Philippines and because I was left behind by my bus this morning, I had to take it despite the repulsive idea of paying $35 more than I should have if I went to the bus stop 1 minute earlier. Haha!

So, it was the same drill, hailing it via the Uber app, and 3 minutes later my ride arrives. The difference with Uber in the Philippines is I pay there in cash whereas here I had to register my debit card before hand to be able to book the ride. For the sake of making this post I went into the receipt details and learned that a booking fee of .55 is charged. Made me wonder how much is charged in the Philippines.

My driver was Md Abul B- - - -r and he was a good one. For the 10 minutes we spent driving to the city my first Uber ride was a memorable one. I just wanted to write it here because I felt good today - meeting him, and meeting Giles and Zoe - and having just a good time.

So he sort of guessed why I took the Uber saying "did you sleep it in?". Of course I did not, but I miscalculated the time so that's quite sleeping in the details. I shared to him how it was my first time riding Uber here in Australia and so we talked about us being migrants because he's from Bangladesh and he's been here for 16 years (which the accountant in me calculated that we're about the same age because he migrated here when he was 16) and I'm here for 2 months.

We talked about how I arrived here on a summer and him sharing his winter arrival and understanding when I said I have yet to experience a hard rain like how it goes in the Philippines because they used to have it in Bangladesh as well. According to him, it seldom happens in Melbourne. It was good hearing about how he shared feeling miserable having arrived on a winter when it's cold and windy and dark and being far away from his family because it is very relatable.

And how after all these years when I asked if he still goes home to Bangladesh he talked about how his family only did twice because it is expensive it could amount to around 10 grand a trip. He talked about when going on a holiday that the Melbourne expenses do not stop - rent, insurance, etc, - so they just invite Mom and Dad to come over because it is much cheaper. We had a good laugh when he said that their place is much cleaner when Mom is there. I added - yep, and the cooking! Not that I still have Mama Merced to invite over but yeah, moms are the best =)

It was just days after new year's eve and we talked about how the Melbourne fireworks was better than Sydney, and that he was working that night although he didn't feel working at night normally because there are more drunk and loud people during those times and it's not just his cup of tea. I learned that he works the 4:30am to 2:00pm shift which he prefers because there's a lot of daylight left from 2pm until the sun sets at 8-9pm so he can do whatever he likes.

Up to this part of the conversation which I am enjoying because I am talking with a local, I am noticing how good his accent actually is. Plus going into how he spends his day, his experiences, his thoughts is a joy ride in itself - it is a very good opportunity to learn about this city I am spending the rest of my life in. I can see that he is a good person even with the limited time we conversed.

Then he asked me how I am liking Melbourne so far and I shared how we also thought about going to Sydney when we were choosing which state to land. I am liking the life I have in Melbourne now although I still can't compare because I haven't been to any other state. I commented about how Sydney prices are around half the price in Melbourne and they say it is more calm here. Md Abul also shared his insights saying that Melbourne actually is a good city and he's finding it the best from almost all of the states he visited. He said that Melbourne is more tolerable of migrants and as you go up north where most original settlers are that honestly they are more resistant of migrants. He shared about his three classes - original settler, migrant, convict and that it is common knowledge to not like other classes as you have.

As to the comparison with Sydney we agreed that it is more busy and that it is ok to go visit there take a holiday but still live in Melbourne. We liked the word "chill" in association with Melbourne way of living and how people here just take each day in stride and in a que sera sera whatever will be will be way. He liked the fact that there are more concerts here, more sports to attend. He also shared how his house would have costed him 2 million had he bought it in Sydney so setting inflation, interest rate increases and the time when he actually bought his house aside, it's a good insight of how even in one country there's a lot of difference going on.

I guess it depends how people perceive the place they choose to settle in. We share the same sentiment  maybe because we are both familymen but I don't really mind if others want to settle anywhere else other than Melbourne. Some thrive in a busier environment so...

Then we talked about retirement, I'm not sure how the conversation got stirred to that topic but we talked about how going back "home" is an option when we reach our golden age. Not like go "home" go home but just spend some time overseas and come back to Australia again because it would start to not feel home overseas when you've spent so much time in Australia it becomes your "home" home. I understood this part of our topic specially when he shared that his older kins are doing the same - because we all have our built in homing device and sentiments ready to kick in. For how it goes, it works as we grow older and hear the North Star calling.

Then we arrived at 500 Collins Street and thus the end of my first Uber ride in Australia. I am writing it here to document how even the mundane things as taking an unexpected Uber ride could end up giving me a lot of thoughts to reflect on, how meeting a random driver could give me a lot of insights, how deciding to converse with him to while away the time could make me feel good because I could just have used my phone and shut up all throughout right?

So when the app asked me to rate him, I gave him 5 star.