I'm MOBIE!

After two months of taxis I am finally independent! Last Thursday I got my driver's license (a process I'll detail in another post), without which you cannot rent a car in Abu Dhabi. 

Ideally, I'd like to live somewhere that is very pedestrian and bike friendly, so the idea of sticking to taxis was sort of appealing to me. You have to walk to all the taxis, right? There are other benefits of taxiing around: someone else is driving and has to pay attention (there are a LOT of car accidents here and people drive like maniacs), you can get current on all your Words with Friends games on the way home from work, it is about the same price for a taxi and a really small rental car, taxis are easy to get overall and will go anywhere.

The drawbacks, however, outweigh the benefits. Most are obvious: there is a lot of waiting for taxis. For example, the street my school is on is not a super busy one for taxis, so we order them and sometimes have to wait more than a few minutes (whah, I know!).

Sometimes the taxi drivers have no idea where you are going. Frequently, actually. Often we just pull up the destination on Google Maps and hand the phone to the driver.

Worst of all for me is that taxis only take cash. I never carry cash around, and in lots of places taxis take cards, ride sharing companies like Uber don't even do that! (By the way, no Uber in Abu Dhabi)

But mostly the issue is freedom. It's not terribly difficult to get a taxi, especially anywhere around town, and the money I spend on taxis is probably about the same as renting, but having to find a taxi and go through the whole process is a deterrent to going out and doing things I need to do to take care of myself.

Now, instead of staying at school a few extra hours because I am going out later to a restaurant near work, I can go home, even for just 45 minutes, change clothes and go back out. 

I would like to point out that my actual parking space is even smaller than this! See that space between the wall and the yellow line? In my space, the yellow line is against the wall.

At the coffee shop today I parked under the only tree anywhere near that side of the road. There is a park across the road, which is the green you see. Do not be deceived, we are in the desert. There are not a lot of trees to go around.

Driving here is terrifying, even though they drive on the right like in the U.S. People are in a massive hurry. They love their car horns. They flash their lights even when you are in the right lane. At home, I am not a great drive. Here, however, I am constantly at 10 and 2, eyes wide open, looking around. People cut across 3 or 4 lanes of traffic regularly. They dart in front of you, no one uses their blinkers. I have been driving for just over a week and I've seen 2 accidents happen right in front of me.

There are traffic cameras everywhere, so most people, especially taxis, don't run red lights and slam on their brakes when a camera is in range. Cops are not sitting by the side of the road like at home monitoring speed--it's all electronic. Apparently if you own your car, you get a text when you get "flashed", as it is called. Since I am renting, I don't think I find out the damage until the end of the month when I pay my bill.

I am so grateful to be driving that none of this bothers me. I drive like Ms. Daisy, people honking and racing around me regularly. I'm so happy I just smile and wave (not really because I'm too afraid to take my hands out of position)! 

So if you are in the area and wonder what all the honking is about,  I'm like driving nearby.