Odessa Part 4: In which I take a taxi to the airport
Local knowledge is always helpful. And often essential. In this case were it not for my CS host, I may not have successfully made it to the airport.
I needed a taxi large enough to accommodate the oversized box in which I had put my bike. So she called the service and asked for a large taxi - something like a van or minibus. They said no problem, they would send one since they have several, it was slightly more expensive but not by much.
Cut to this morning at 5:00. Fortunately, the cab was on time but there was no van, only a compact car a little smaller than a Corolla. They guy didn't understand any English at all and when I showed him the bike box he just stood there, dumbfounded. My host, Friederike, was fortunately on-hand at this ungodly hour (amazing) and watched the scene unfold from her balcony. She came down and expressed her disbelief that a van wasn't sent. The guy was confused, saying they had no such thing, but he would call another car and one would take my bike and the other would take me. That is efficiency!
Two more taxis proceed to roll up, I guess it was a good time for a convention. The bike box was too large for all of them but entered most of the way into one cab while sticking out the back. To hold down the trunk, he detached the cable that lights the taxi sign on the roof of the car and tied it to the windshield wiper in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the door down as much as possible. I just reached into the back and held onto it as he bounced over the cobbles in the center of town.
I needed a taxi large enough to accommodate the oversized box in which I had put my bike. So she called the service and asked for a large taxi - something like a van or minibus. They said no problem, they would send one since they have several, it was slightly more expensive but not by much.
Cut to this morning at 5:00. Fortunately, the cab was on time but there was no van, only a compact car a little smaller than a Corolla. They guy didn't understand any English at all and when I showed him the bike box he just stood there, dumbfounded. My host, Friederike, was fortunately on-hand at this ungodly hour (amazing) and watched the scene unfold from her balcony. She came down and expressed her disbelief that a van wasn't sent. The guy was confused, saying they had no such thing, but he would call another car and one would take my bike and the other would take me. That is efficiency!
Two more taxis proceed to roll up, I guess it was a good time for a convention. The bike box was too large for all of them but entered most of the way into one cab while sticking out the back. To hold down the trunk, he detached the cable that lights the taxi sign on the roof of the car and tied it to the windshield wiper in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the door down as much as possible. I just reached into the back and held onto it as he bounced over the cobbles in the center of town.
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