Here’s a travel dilemma for you.
After years living on the East Coast you and your spouse are retiring and moving to Arizona, but you have adorable pet cats and wouldn’t dare have them travel cross country in an airliner cargo hold. How do you get to your new home? You could make the 2,400-mile journey by car… but, wait, as life long New Yorkers you don’t have a license. Now what?
You do what every other New Yorker does to get around—hail a cab. It’s sounds like a joke, but for Bob and Betty Matas it’s the real deal.
The couple met cab driver Douglas Guldeniz a few weeks ago when they hailed his taxi outside a store. During the ride home, the Matas’ told Guldeniz about their upcoming move to Arizona. That’s when Bob Matas jokingly asked the taxi driver if he wanted to come along. To which Guldeniz responded: “Sure.”
Matas says initially he thought the cabbie was kidding, but as time went on they kept in touch and over the ensuing weeks the trip became a reality.
Enter the media. Somehow the press got wind of the strange travel plans and revealed the details on how the trip will break down.
According to Bob Matas (a 72-year-old former audio and video engineer for advertising agencies), he and his wife (and their cats) will soon load into Guldeniz’s yellow SUV cab and begin their journey to Sedona, Arizona. Guldeniz’s plan: drive 10 hours a day for a flat rate of $3,000. (The Matas will also foot the bill for gas, meals, and lodging.)
Sound steep? Actually, according to the executive director of the Committee for Taxi Safety, Guldeniz is giving the Matas a break—the standard, metered fare would be about $5,000 – each way. But, according to the city Taxi and Limousine Commission’s rules, drivers and passengers are able to negotiate a flat fare for trips outside the city.
So $3,000 it is.
Guldeniz told news reporters he’s looking forward to the trip.
“This job is not easy, and I want to do something different,” said Guldeniz. The 45-years-old taxi driver added he is anxious to make “some good memories.”
As for Bob and Betty Matas they will be riding in relaxed comfort in the mid-section of Guldeniz’s SUV while their cats ride in the back in their travel cases.
Happy Trails!
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