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A Growing Empire – My Colombian Uber Experience

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Uber available in 42 countries.
Uber available in 42 countries.

Uber Spreading Across The Globe

Uber is a fantastic car service that has grown increasingly popular over the past few years. Since I don’t typically take taxis and instead prefer public transport, I have only used the service a handful of times and have thus not written much about it here.

What I keep forgetting is just how fast Uber is growing. This morning when my family and I arrived in Bogota by overnight bus from Medellin, I fired up Google Maps for directions to the hotel and saw that Uber was an option!

Uber Is In Colombia

Today's 40 minute ride cost about $11 USD.
Today’s 40 minute ride cost about $11 USD.

In fact, in addition to Bogota, Uber has service in other South American cities like Lima, Santiago & Rio. In total, Uber now provides service in 42 countries on 5 continents. Wow! They have grown.

Today was my first time using Uber’s international service. After seeing the message from Google, I fired up the app and it took about 10 minutes for the driver to arrive at my location. The initial message said it would take 6 minutes, but it was raining pretty hard so I don’t hold it against him.

Our driver’s name was William and he drove us very efficiently in his small white Chevrolet across the city to our hotel. It took about 40 minutes to travel 12 kms which is just an example of how terrible traffic in Bogota can be.

While I don’t have any complaints about the service (which works exactly the same in Colombia as in the U.S.), other Uber drivers that we have had in the past were far friendlier. William did his job, but never said a word to us other than finding out the destination. (Language wasn’t an issue because my wife fluently speaks Spanish and I am able to communicate as well.)

Conclusion

While today’s experience was life changing, it is a good reminder that I should check to see if Uber provides service in places that I am visiting. In today’s example, public transport just wasn’t an option, and I was glad not to have to deal with getting a taxi in the rain. As a comparison, Uber’s service was about the same price as I was quoted for a taxi.

If you have never used Uber, they offer $30 off of the first ride for new members, so there really is no reason not to try it. At the very least try them out once and save the money you would have otherwise paid a taxi. As someone who doesn’t “need” the service often, I am glad it is there on days like today!

Note: If you sign up for Uber through the links in this post then you receive $30 off of your first ride and I receive a referral credit. Feel no pressure to use my links, but if you do, I sincerely appreciate it!

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomerhttps://milestomemories.com/
Shawn Coomer earns and burns millions of miles/points per year circling the globe with his family. An expert at accumulating travel rewards, he founded Miles to Memories to help others achieve their travel goals for pennies on the dollar. Shawn also runs a million dollar reselling business, knows Vegas better than most and loves to spend his time at the 12 Disney parks across the world.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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