My First Lyft

The same weekend I got the Lyft link text from my friend, I set up my Lyft account. I was still unsure as to what Lyft was, but was curious enough and coupled with the simple fact I was SO OVER the repeatedly rude treatment I got from LA cab drivers, it was worth a shot to at least set up an account on my phone. It took just a few minutes and voila! A cute little floating balloon icon was now on my phone's home screen.

On April 3rd, I was meeting the same friend who told me about Lyft for dinner so decided it would be the perfect time to give it a whirl.  I touched the little floating balloon on my screen, the GPS tracked my location and with a couple of quick finger touches, I requested a Lyft! A few seconds later, a Tinkerbell-like sound floated a response to me. My Lyft driver, Dylan, was only 3 minutes away. On my screen were two photos: a friendly, smiling face and the type of car that would be picking me up. That was easy.

I stepped outside to wait and moments later, a car with a giant pink, furry mustache pulled up. (So, that's what those are, I thought!) The car matched the photo on my phone so I knew it was my Lyft ride. I opened the front passenger door and Dylan greeted me with a huge smile, an upbeat "hello" and extended his hand towards me inviting a fistbump you only ever get as a kudos for saying and/or doing something completely awesome or a form of secret handshake that's reserved only for your besties.  My fist met his and before I could ask if it was okay if I sat up front, Dylan said, "Hop on in, where are we going?" I immediately began apologizing that I wasn't going far, explaining that I'm not too lazy to walk, that I have on heels...blah, blah, blah. (I was so used to explaining myself to cab drivers at this point!) Dylan laughed and said, "No worries! Do you need to stop anywhere along the way? Can I offer you a water? Snack? Do you need a cell phone charger?"

WHAT?

Is this for real, I thought to myself? All the simple things a person wants. Really? I was in a bit of shock.  Clean car. Check! Friendly driver. Check! A smile. Check! And then the added water, snacks, phone charger, polite offer to stop? I couldn't believe my ears. I know this sounds like an exaggeration, but I have had so many horrible cab experiences that I felt like I was on some other planet. A planet with flying, floating happy cars that donned pink mustaches with friendly drivers behind the wheel who felt like friends within 3 seconds of meeting...errrr.....fistbumping.

Dylan ended up stopping at three stores for me, navigating through traffic carefully, respectfully and as if I were precious cargo he had to deliver in mint condition. Come on, have you ever ridden in a cab? Precious cargo you are not. On top of that, Dylan and I had a great conversation about music and he gave me the name of some new awesome artists to check out. Instant BFFs. I was so impressed, I made sure I knew how to spell Dylan's name right so I could immediately send my gratitude over the omnipresent social media world! I sent my first tweet about Lyft just as we were arriving to my destination.

There was no turning back for me. I wanted to find the person/people behind this pink mustache Lyft phenomenon and give him/her/them a giant hug, kiss, fistbump...whatever! All I knew was I was very, very happy and knew this was the beginning of a beautiful Lyftlationship.

Fast forward to now and next week will be my three month Lyftiversary!