Thoughts on Why RideSharing Kicks Ass

August 19, 2010
Location: Craigslist.org, Albuquerque / Denver Rideshare Posting

I decided as a part of this world tour I would give ridesharing a solid “college try” as a way of reducing my travel expenses and seeing if this world tour/green movement made any sense. I was terrified at first of sharing my car to commute with someone who I had never met before. I was also fearful I would find someone with poor hygienic habits, someone who delt drugs, or someone who would secretively be an ace murderer. My fears were quickly put to rest by my first ride share acquaintance, Elise.

It turns out Elise was totally awesome. She was a rockin’ hipster girl who was interested in going to Denver for the weekend to see an old flame. She was passionate about veganism, and even more passionate about not pushing her beliefs and choices on others. She loved travel stories. She adored YouTube. She does facebook. She could drive a Corolla like my inner gay-man-woman bitch wanted to drive. She shouted at cars, she drove above the speed limit. She had interesting stories. She believed in hygene – if she had a Penis I might actually consider dating her/him.

IN any case, I found ride sharing to be an easy way to reduce my carbon footprint, make new friends, cut travel expenses, improve safety and generally improve the overall experience of traveling large distances by road. I figure most of the people I meet online are in similar economic and financial circumstances I find myself in. They would most likely end up renting cars, traveling by themselves or purchasing an airline ticket. I figure if those are the options people have without purchasing a ticket, it’s going to be unlikely that they will do anything to restrict their travel options. Further, if they do bring a weapon along, it’s probably  because they are just as afraid of me as I am of them.

I don’t want to leave you all with the impression I will be taken advantage of and that I don’t do due diligence on people I ride along with. I do, but I think anyone seriously considering a world or national road trip should consider this as a great way to inexpensively travel the country. If you couple this approach with couch surfing and preparing your own food along the way it’s possible to save a great deal of cash and have some good friends.