6/27/2023: Amsterdam & the Crazy Taxi Driver

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is beautiful. Definitely our favorite spot so far. Beautiful sights, amazing food, bikes galore, and an eco friendly lifestyle like we’ve never seen. EVERYTHING looks like a photo.

We checked into our hotel and met up with our friend Brad who will be traveling with us the next few days. After a late night exploring the town, we attempted to get a ride home.

Who knew it would be so hard to get an Uber/taxi! After 30 minutes of our Uber driver being “7 minutes away”, they cancelled on us. We tried again and after some waiting (the dude was missing every turn), we saw the driver turn corner to the pickup location. The three of us waived our arms frantically and watched the Uber drive right past us. J took off, chasing the car down an alley and around the corner. While Brad and I were shrieking with laughter at the sight, we waited about 10mins before realizing there was a bakery behind us with some epic looking treats. Not knowing how far J would chase the dude down, we decided the group could use some massive cookies and an Oreo waffle to go. Mid checkout, J runs in saying he finally got the guys attention after banging on his window (multiple times). We paid for the food (too late to turn back now) and when we got back, J informed us that the dude had left. Ugh!

Meanwhile, a taxi starts driving down the other side of the street. Fortunately the taxi hit a red late and J was able to, yet again, chase down a ride for us. We got into the taxi and it became very clear very quickly that the dude was planning to rip us off. We spoke up once he mentioned how much it would be, which didn’t go over well. The driver quickly became defensive and when we asked to get out, didn’t stop. He was getting angry and quite scary and we opened our doors and told him we’d pay him up to that point but wanted to get out. He stepped on the gas, bringing us back into the car and becoming clear that we were in trouble. The boys tried to calm him down while also advocating for a fair price. Didn’t go well. Taxi dude decided to park in the middle of some railroad tracks! We didn’t see any trains coming but were incredibly worried about how long he intended to park there. Shortly after, we gave him our money and hopped out as fast as we could. He sped off and I realized shortly after that I didn’t have my phone (which also contained my license and credit card). After a brief meltdown, I accepted defeat and we went back to the hotel to try to contact the dude, lock the phone, cancel my credit card, etc. Needless to say, it was not our favorite day.

~ Savvy