Around the World In a Uber Car

Over the last three months, I have considered writing a book or musical about the Uber car drivers I have met. I have written half of a memoir, and I wish I had finished it. The memoir is entirely about my passion and love of music. I was born with a song coming out of me.

Now I know that meeting all these drivers makes me think of different songs. I don’t know why, but music is always on my mind.

Every time I take an Uber, I hope the driver is from a different country. You probably say, 'What does that have to do with musical movies?' Weird, but it has everything to do with it.

I ask the same question to every driver who has an accent. I say I like your accent. Where are you from, and do you have family in your home country? If they say yes, I ask if they’re coming here.

Last night I printed up maps of Africa, Asia, and Europe. I made a check mark for every one's home country. It amazed me that I travelled around the world. I did get the answers to my questions, even though I don’t go very far from my residence. Sometimes, I wish we could drive longer. I wanted to get to know these interesting people. I’m an inquisitive person and want to know everything about everything.

After I checked off each country, I was amazed but wished to fill in the rest of the countries.

Here are the countries that I have “traveled with an Uber driver.”

AFRICA

Algeria, Ivory Coast, Niger,

Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq

South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia,

Morocco, Libya

Democratic Republic of Congo,

Tanzania,

ASIA

Japan, China, Mongolia, Philippines, South Korea,

Turkey (Asia and Europe continents divided by the

Boasperous River), Russia, Kazakhstan,

Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nepal

EUROPE

Monaco, Poland

Now is where the musical movies come in, my story for readers.

I ask, “What kind of music do you like”? I tell the driver that my favorite music is show tunes or musical films.

We talked about it for a little while. Not every driver is talkative, but when they are, I enjoy talking with them. I ask, “What kind of films do they like? If they like musicals, my heart skips a beat. Then I ask one more question, and the answer is usually no. Does your country have a film industry like India’s, called Bollywood? Nigeria is home to Nollywood. The United States is Hollywood. Sometimes the driver doesn’t understand the film industry. Then I ask, do you like to see movies? Most of them like American movies.

One time, I had a driver from Cameroon whose native language is French. The French colonized his country. I asked him if we could drive around more and speak French. I never go far, so that is impossible.

Many of the drivers were from countries where the people speak British English. Liverpool was the home of the Beatles. We all know them.

When I arrive at my residence, I go to my apartment and Google the home country of my driver. As I get into the elevator, I think I’ve received a ticket to go around the world.