About Me

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Welcome to the online blog for traveler/writer/photographer Steven Barber. Come in. Relax. Take off your shoes and socks -- or any other article of clothing, this is the internet. Have a look around. I hope to intrigue, amuse, entertain, and maybe provoke you just a little. I love to find adventure. All I need is a change of clothes, my Nikon, an open mind and a strong cup of coffee.

Monday, August 31, 2015

All Roads Lead to the Sunset Strip


"I have the Uber app on my cellphone."
                       - Patton Oswalt




There have been a lot of headlines lately regarding the ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.* A lot of heated rhetoric not only from the people who feel these services are detracting from market income (taxi and limo drivers leading that particular charge), and from people who have tried driving for one or the other and found their experience lacking.

(*Does anyone else think we're getting a lot of our corporate names from Germanic and Scandinavian sources these days? Uber, Lyft...Ikea...DRNK Coffee...Keurig...)

Several months ago my wife and I were looking at our increasingly tight bank account and realized we should look at other potential sources of income. I work full time as any regular reader knows, in a job which takes me out of town and on the road quite a bit. My wife is a singer and so has a great deal more free time for other ventures. We've tried a number of different avenues, including selling coffee, graphic design (which she still does) and other ways to supplement the combined income.

Then I ran across Uber, and suggested that perhaps she ought to investigate the business model. After careful scrutiny she decided to give it a try and a month later convinced me to do the same. (She drives Monday-Friday, I drive weekend mornings. This gives us the best options toward income generation as well as avoiding conflicts with our professional gigs.)


Our Ubermobile
To set ourselves up for the greatest chance of success we took a look at timing and what our goals would be for income generation. (We went into this mindful that gasoline, automotive wear and tear and taxation would be issues we needed to consider.) So we decided that our targets would be $50 per day -- our share -- with a combined weekly goal of $350. A nice little extra amount in anybody's pocket, and well within the realm of possibility from the activity levels we've seen.

And we both enjoy it. For me it's a chance to get out and do something I enjoy (explore and drive) while meeting interesting folks and intersecting with their lives for a handful of minutes. It gets me out of the house and away from the computer, while at the same time giving me a chance to drive around and rediscover old neighborhoods or new ones. Kind of fun.

And so far, with only a few exceptions, everyone we have driven has been a fascinating encounter. (Those that aren't are usually in some sort of stressful circumstance or hungover -- we don't drive evenings, so don't get the drunkards, but my morning schedule does involve more than a few hangovers.)

And we've both had some good stories to tell. Of people we've met who do fascinating things, or particular drives that were out of the norm for some reason.

Now. To address some of the controversies that seem to be swirling around the services. I don't drive for Lyft (my wife does), so my observations are strictly Uber-related.

First: The Expectations.
Many of the negative comments I've seen from other drivers all revolve around missed expectations. The service doesn't pay as much as they expected. We did our homework and knew, going in, that it wouldn't make us rich, nor would it do anything more than supplement an existing income.

Second, Uber does some things that are annoying. What company does not? In this case it usually revolves around expectations of the drivers and the various financial arrangements and services. I'm not a fan of UberPool, for example, which allows riders to select an option which means you have to pick up a second rider along the way or otherwise get a lower rate overall.  And, frankly it's confusing at times when you get a second ping -- it's often best to simply go where the application says to go and not argue about it. But the second rider, in my opinion, makes it less convenient for the first, and as a service provider that grates on my instincts. But the riders select the option, not me, so caveat emptor and move on.

Another flaw in the system is not knowing how long a particular ride is going to be. I don't mind the long ones, but the very short ones can be a problem depending upon how far you are away from the rider when you get the dispatch ping. It's not unusual to receive a ping from a rider who is ten minutes or so away...only to arrive and discover that the ride is a handful of blocks, meaning you get (in LA at least) just a few bucks for your effort. In one case I received a ping which required me twelve minutes for me to get to the rider, only to then discover he was -- literally -- going five blocks. Two bucks and some change for my effort, hardly enough for the gasoline.


Public transit
I call this Uber Roulette. You never know what and who you're going to get. In a way this is fun, particularly when you get a great rider or long run, but a hungover zombie going five blocks after you've traipsed across town to get them is nobody's idea of time or money well spent.

Then there is the advertising and competition for drivers. My wife and I have both seen several television ads looking to recruit new drivers. Not riders. This, to us, is detrimental to our financial model. An overabundance of drivers simply means everyone makes less, while a healthy market of riders means we can all make good fares without the riders being gouged or delayed by too much time spent waiting.

Second: The Controversies
Uber, and to a lesser extent other services, have been fighting an ongoing battle with taxi drivers, cities, airports and other transportation services which consider Uber to be an unfair competitor.

Let me address a few things.


Public transit
As an Uber user myself, one observation I have had is that by and large the Uber vehicle and driver are nicer and better equipped than are many taxis. Inevitably the Uber drivers are more engaged and engaging, and don't seem to mind the conversation as much as taxi drivers do. And I have had any number of frustrating and unsatisfying experiences with taxi drivers who don't know the city. Uber's app gives drivers a much more complete and accurate pathway, and I've never had one end up circling an area several blocks away from my destination, nor have I had an Uber ride get lost en route. 

(A few years ago I had one cab driver who actually required me to give him directions to find a freeway after picking me up -- 20 minutes late -- at my house. It's a truism in LA that if you get lost, drive in a straight line: you'll encounter an ocean or a freeway sooner or later. Now in all fairness, I have had a half dozen far better experiences with local taxis, so this is probably not a complete assessment.)

But, my own personal use aside, what I have discovered as a driver is that Uber's average rider is one who would typically use public transportation rather than a taxi. Far and away the majority of people I pick up and transport are not the taxi services' bread and butter, they are the local transit system's users. Busses and subways, versus taxis or private cars. 


Avoiding the Night Scene
This is an important point, I think, in the overall debate. Who, exactly, are being targeted by the various services? Yes, there are exceptions, and in many cases I do end up at LAX in a ride that would normally be taken in a taxi. I would guess that's maybe 5% of the rides I get. The remainder are longer rides -- such as a groups of young people pooling their money to go many miles up to an amusement park or concert or event. This sort of group would usually be relegated to a bus system, and likely would never consider a taxi for the same run.

Or sometimes it's people on a Saturday morning who -- how shall I put this delicately -- wake up in someone else's abode. Or people who are using Uber and having the ride paid for by other people -- like the mother from Bolivia I describe below, or someone being put in a car by a friend who is taking care of the cost.

So in a large way, viewing this strictly from my own perspective as a user of Uber and taxis, as well as a driver for Uber, I think there's a missed conversational mark in the ongoing debate -- in several directions.

Third: The Adventures
As you probably noticed, the title of this piece is "All Roads Lead to the Sunset Strip". My wife and I play a little game when one of us is leaving to go drive for a while: "Where will you end up?" 

We both drive starting in Long Beach, a large city some thirty miles southeast of West Hollywood, and there are a couple of regular scenarios for us. First: rides which keep us just around around Long Beach, and perhaps the South Bay. It keeps us local, and the runs are usually short.

A second scenario is that we get a ride in our area that takes us on a long journey somewhere else in the LA metro area -- usually deep into Orange County or up into Los Angeles proper. 

(This is another aspect of the Roulette game that I referenced above. No matter where you're picking people up -- anywhere from working class South Central Los Angeles to the wealthy neighborhoods of Newport Beach -- the destination is a mystery until they pile into the car.)

The reference in the title of this column is a reference to the apparent reality that when if we're drawn up to LA for whatever reasons, 90% of the time we seem to have a ride that takes us to the Sunset Strip. No other destination seems to occur with the same frequency. 

I shared this with one of my passengers, who said he thought it was because of the type of person, at least in LA, who uses Uber. And that the Strip represented a social destination for that kind of demographic. That's an argument I can't refute. In many cases the riders are younger, and seem to be headed for either work for some sort of gathering (wedding parties, bachelor parties, pool parties, etc). So he may be exactly right. And the Strip is an interesting destination to be sure. It's also a place we pick up rides...so it god both ways (pun intended).

And this hits again to the nature of the rides we get as an Uber driver: I've taken people to work, particularly when they are late; to parties when they are in great mood; home after a late night of too much of the parties and are looking forward to nothing more than a bed, a few Advil and a sound sleep; to people headed towards vacation or business trips; and the (thankfully) infrequent emergency run somewhere. In one case, a cell phone was my sole passenger as I ran it forty miles to the owner, who had carelessly left it behind the night before.

And the people themselves can be just about any type of person. I had a rider some weeks ago who works for a medical marijuana dispensary, and regaled me with some of the adventures -- not all good -- such a job can entail. In another case I had a television commercial producer who was busy patting out a raging forest fire of a problem from the backseat of my car as we drove nearly forty miles between Long Beach and his office in Santa Monica. 

And yesterday a very nice woman from Bolivia, who spoke very little English, needed to get to LAX in a hurry -- not because she was late for a flight, but because her daughter had inadvertently left with the woman's passport and was herself boarding a plane so could not make the forty minute drive to run the passport back to Mom in time. (Mom was schedule to travel home next week and would have been unable to board without her documents.) 

We had a very nice time in the car as Mom asked several questions about Los Angeles, and -- her in the best English she could muster, and me in my own mortally wounded High School Spanish -- we managed to have a much more relaxed time after she had retrieved her passport and we were beaded back to her hotel. 



So Über is not perfect, but if you approach it will the correct expectations and goals it can be both a great service for riders, as well as a moderately profitable and safe way to make some extra money. I cannot speak to the experience of others, but my own has been a good one, and certainly a fun one at most times.

YMMV

Pic of the Day: The Friendly Skies



It's been nearly two months since I last flew. Do they miss me?

And when will I fly again?




Sunday, August 30, 2015

Pic of the Day: Bearly There



A swing back through the Canadian tundra for a visit with my favorite polar bear, Berry Butt. As you see by the spot on her nose, her backside wasn't the only stain giving away her favorite snack.




Friday, August 28, 2015

Pic of the Day: The Fremantle Markets




There is nothing like grabbing something to eat at a marketplace. The food is fresher, more tasty and likely a lot healthier for you. Well, maybe not the latter, but yum!

The Fremantle Markets. Fremantle, Western Australia.




Thursday, August 27, 2015

Pic of the Day: Skagway Morning


Early summer morning before the cruise ships arrive in the charming gold rush-era town of Skagway, Alaska. The town, which boasts a year-round population of around 300, readies itself for the onslaught of four massive cruise ships which are docking down at the waterfront. The lifeblood of the Skagway economy, tourism nonetheless produces a solid wave of humanity as the tourists disembark for a day of fun and (hopefully) spending money.





Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Pic of the Day: Dawn in Santa Barbara



Today's picture comes from just up the coast in Santa Barbara, a very Mediterranean and beautiful city about an hour and a half northwest of Los Angeles.

It's an escape into a completely different world. 



Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Pic of the Day: The World at Its Best


I love the wine countries of the world. One of my favorite places on this green Earth is the Napa Valley in northern California.

This is a vineyard along the Silverado Trail, a more rural and rustic setting than are found on the vastly more trafficked Highway 29 which runs through towns along the western side of the valley. 

It's where the world is at its best.




Monday, August 24, 2015

Pic of the Day: The Lion's Embrace


From 1999 to 2011, the MGM Grand resort in Las Vegas featured a large lion exhibit as part of the casino hotel's attractions. Constructed for $9M, it was a detailed habitat which allowed the lions a chance to wander and play, while humans could observe them from a surrounding glass wall as well as a glass tunnel running through the display.

It was a spectacular and beautiful exhibit, and dearly lamented when it closed.


If you would like to read more about the reasons for the closure, you will find this interesting.

The lions were relocated and can now be found at the appropriately-named Cathouse (aka The Lion Habitat Ranch).

The below shot -- taken by my wife, not me -- captures two of the lionesses in a sweet moment as they sleep, and the reflection of an admiring onlooker.


Sunday, August 23, 2015

Pic of the Day: Hung, Drawn and Quartered




A pub in London just a block from The Tower, a legendary building in which enemies of the crown (and sometimes "allies") were brutally tortured or worse. Some were hung, drawn and quartered.

 (from Wikipedia) "Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where they were hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculateddisembowelledbeheaded and quartered (chopped into four pieces). Their remains were often displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake."

Rather nasty business. I'd strongly recommend you not be late with your bar tab at this establishment.


Saturday, August 22, 2015

Pic of the Day: All About the View



A while back I wrote a short blog entry about some of the most spectacular views I've had from my hotel room window. And more than a few have been stunning: natural vistas of ancient places such as Monument Valley; city views of Manhattan, Rome or Seattle; tropical forests, waterfalls and seas. 

At the other end of the spectrum have been sagebrush, parking lots and busy streets. Once, in Miami Beach, our ground floor room looked into an alley with the back door to a night club's busy kitchen across the way. Not a lot to see. Not a lot of sleep that night.

And then there's this one. 

I'll let you guess where it was, but fortunately we only stayed there a couple of nights. 

The room was okay -- just...don't look out the window.





Friday, August 21, 2015

Pic of the Day: The Boptini!




Every Friday we feature a martini or similar concoction (recognizing that purists object to the mass-marketing of anything ending in '-tini') from around the world -- generally low-res sister versions of photos that are to be featured in the upcoming book Chasing Martinis.

This is The Boptini, a drink we "invented" for a fundraising event on behalf of The Jazz Angels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching young musicians about the history and performance of jazz music.

BOPTINI

1 oz vodka
2 oz cranberry juice
1 oz 7-Up or Sprite
Lime garnish

Gently stir, serve and listen to a little Thelonius on Pandora.









Thursday, August 20, 2015

Pic of the Day: Sausalito Morning



One of the treasures of the Bay Area is the famed town of Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Renowned for its stunning location, gentle demeanor and excellent shopping it's a major stopover for any road trip headed up the coast.




Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Pic of the Day: Kelbaker Road



I love a good desert drive and this is one of my favorites. Kelbaker Road stretches from the town of Baker -- well known to people on Interstate 15 as pretty much the only gas and restroom stop between Barstow and the Nevada state line -- straight south to intercept Route 66 a few miles to the east of the small town of Amboy.

Named for the towns of Baker and Kelso (a train stop pictured in the distance) it is a wonderful drive of straightaways, curves and an ever-changing terrain. Cinder cones, lava flows, rock formations, sand dunes and granite peaks can be found in this stretch of the Mojave. 

I think it's time for a road trip...



Tuesday, August 18, 2015

And while you're here....


...don't forget to check out the new CHASING MARTINIS BLOG.

We're gonna shake things up!



(Bad pun. What did you expect? It's 6am and I'm pre caffeine.)











Pic of the Day: Looking Down at LAX


Yesterday a couple of people posted photographs from the air to their Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Here's one I took after departing LGB headed for Seattle. That's LAX down below. From this altitude, probably five thousand feet, it looks small and almost...serene.

Heh.



Monday, August 17, 2015

Pic of the Day: Monday, Monday....




It isn't travel-related, but I awoke this morning to No Hot Water.

It's my blog, and I'll complain about Mondays if I wanna.



Sunday, August 16, 2015

Pic of the Day: One Lump or Two?




Here's hoping you had a wonderful Saturday night, and you may need this more than I do come Sunday morning.


BlackFriars, London


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Pic of the Day: Make Mine a Double



Roughly two hours sleep last night after a wonderful evening with my sister at Downtown Disney.

This morning's shot courtesy USAirways First Class upgrade several months back.

Make mine a double....




Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Pic of the Day: The Blackfriar




Though nowhere near the oldest or most storied pub in London, the Blackfriar is certainly one of the most beautiful. Opened in 1905, and saved from demolition by Sir John Betjeman, a noted poet and broadcaster with an affinity for protecting architectural wonders. 

From the pub's website: "Our historic Art Nouveau Grade II masterpiece of a pub was built in 1905 on the site of a Dominican friary. The building was designed by architect H. Fuller-Clark and artist Henry Poole, both committed to the free-thinking of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Jolly friars appear everywhere in the pub in sculptures, mosaics and reliefs. We are lucky to still be here as our wonderful pub was saved from demolition by a campaign led by Sir John Betjeman."

It's a charming pub with loads of atmosphere and ambience, certainly worthy of a stop-in and a pint...or two.







Monday, August 10, 2015

Pic of the Day: Mediterranean Diet


My doctor recently put me on the Mediterranean Diet.

He quickly quelled my excitement at thoughts of pizza and lasagna, telling me it was more about freshness and vegetables. Seafood would replace red meat.

Yeah. I can live with that.


(Seafood and rice at the View Point Restaurant. Srd Hill, Dubrovnik.)




Sunday, August 9, 2015

Pic of the Day: Greetings Mr Bond


I am a car fan, as you've probably picked up. Probably more Top Gear than Auto Week, but to each their own.

So when I see a gorgeous set of wheels, it makes me pay attention.

Aston Martin DB5 caught on the streets of London. Not Bond Street, unfortunately. THAT would have been perfect.