There are some moments in my life that I enjoy the most, and those moments happen when I want to travel to one site to another, I am a person that thinks everything that you do has something important and you can take advantage of it, I was born in a different country that I am living now, I have been living in Paris for six years already and I have met a lot of people here.

I moved in when I was 24 years old, my company sent to me for a business meeting with a French enterprise at that time I came here just for two weeks I couldn´t have the time to know all the city but I met some people.You can think that I talk with all the people in the plane when I was coming here but I did not meet anybody inside of that plane, my store starts when I came out outside of the airport. I was with all my luggage and I was waiting for a taxi to take me to my hotel, it had been thirty minutes since I came out and I just saw taxis with passengers used it until I saw a lady that stopped a taxi and she told me “Come on, go in with me”, we shared the taxi and she was going to the same hotel as me, unintentionally, I met my first friend in Paris.

I had to go to different places in those two weeks and I did not know very well the addresses if I took the bus, so I decided to go in taxis and most of those trips I had to share the taxi with unknown people. On my fourth day that I traveled to a different place, I shared a taxi with a senior man. During the trip, I could change some words with him I learned some new things about Paris and all the history of the city, he told me he had been traveling around the city since he retired. He taught me “Enjoy your life young man, you have so much to know you just have to realize that”, I won´t ever forget those words.The taxi arrived at the man´s destination and it turned out he was going to the Eiffel Tower before he got out he mentioned he loves to watch the sunset every day next to the tower.

I realized that Paris had a lot of things to offer and I wanted to see everything there. At the next morning, I woke up to go to work, got dressed and eat my breakfast when I was ready to go I decided to wait for a taxi that may be occupied, in that way I could meet new people to share experiences with and learn a little bit more about ParisThat that I traveled with a lady, she asked to be taken to a fashion company she works next to my office and it was really interesting to meet her, at the end of the trip I invited her to lunch in that way we could know each other, she accepted my invitation and after work we shared a taxi back home.I did not know what the future would bring to me, nobody could know this, that lady, who took the taxi whit me that time, we started dating and she became my girlfriend. I was so sad when those two weeks were over, I really wanted to take her with me to my country but she could not do it as she has her work and her life back in France, I had to make a choice.

Back at home, I requested to be transferred to the French department as I really loved the city of Paris and I wanted to go back. My boss accepted my request and I moved into Paris by the next month.I was able to see my girlfriend again and now she is living with me I can not imagine what would happen if I didn’t take that taxi that day.

My store did not finish there, I also could share taxis with a lot of interesting people, for example, one evening I worked late and I could not find a taxi because at night it is difficult to get one at late hours at night, I had to walk on the main street and waited for almost an hour to get a taxi, there was another man standing by me waiting for a taxi, he told me that day was not his day, he lost a lot of money as he was robbed and the only money that he had was the one to go back home, I decided to give him some money in that way he can go home easily.We shared the taxi when we could get one, in the trip to my  home he told me he works in a coffee house but he was fired today and also somebody robbed his wallet, I thought he was having a really bad day and I wanted to help him, I asked him for his phone number in that way I could be in contact with him. The next morning I went to work and I was searching for a job opportunity for him, I found in my company one of my colleges told we were looking for new staff, I immediately took my cell phone and call him, I told him to come to my office right away because we can offer him a job.

I called him and he came here as fast as he could, he made the interview and he could get the job, he was so happy he told me I saved his life because it took him so long to find the job in the coffee house and he got one in a new business. At that time when he told me the story about he, losing the job and being robbed, I was so sad for him and I felt compassion for him. To help some unknown person to get a job is something great. Now he works with me in the same department and he has become my best friend.

Sometimes I remember how I started and I always like to travel around the city in a taxi, the other day, I met a woman she wanted to go to the supermarket with her children, I offered her my taxi and she said to me to take the taxi with them.She is a teacher but lately, she has not had the chance to develop her career as she has the work to be a mom and now she spends her time with the kids and she does not have enough time, I had the same situation with my family back in my country. In my house, we lived my mom my two little brothers and me, when my mom went out to work I had to be in charge of the house and my brothers, I did not have the enough time to do whatever I wanted to, so I thought an idea, I could bring my brothers to my activities, and also the could participate. I advise her to send her child to the same school that she works in that way she can be near to them and they will learn and study all day.

Later on that day, I met again with the same woman she told me she followed my advice and the next week she will take her children to the same school she is working. She thanked me for the advice that I gave. It is pretty amazing how I could know a lot of people traveling in a taxi, now that lady is one of my girlfriend´s friend.

I met another man one day, just this time I did not share a taxi with another passenger, this time was the taxi driver that told me an amazing story. He told me “When I did not have the job of the taxi driver I was a regular passenger, I was a person that loved to visit new places. In this job, I have seen a lot of things and I could meet new people, most of them are my friends now. Paris is a big city and it is probable that we may see us for a few times, for that reason tou should be friendly here because you do not know if you will know an amazing people and you don´t give you the chance to have a new friend”. Since that moment I became a friendly person and that taxi driver that I met, became my new friend, I do not see him a lot as he is a driver and in Paris, there are a lot of taxis but whenever we see us on the road we share good and funny stories on those trips.

Before I came here and tell you these stories I shared the taxi with a lady, she stopped the taxi before I did, and I was taken to the destination first, but in that time the lady was so quiet, apparently, she does not like to talk during the trips.If she were able to speak with me, I´m pretty sure that I would help her because I could see that maybe she was sad normally, I do not like to see anyone around me that may be sad for any situation. That taxi trip made me understand that I will not get always happy and nice trips, that would be depending of the person that is in that taxi.

A taxi driver told me “I have seen here a lot of things and met so many people” this might mean he offered a word to the people that may travel sadly as that woman. One day I travel from my house to the Notre Dame Cathedral, my girlfriend and I were going to meet us there, during my trip I shared the taxi once again, I could meet a man that he was going to pick up his daughter to school, he told me his daughter has a disease but she loves to go to the school, he told me she is going to be the best student in her classroom, he works everyday to buy her pills and all she needs to be ok. He knows his daughter will be a great person in the future and he hopes to live a long life to see her daughter shine when the time comes.

I will tell you now the last story when I share taxis with people. When I lived in my native country with my family we were not used to traveling in taxis, we just walk or use the bus. Now that I live here I use the taxis a lot, sometimes I like to walk with my girlfriend or we rent a bicycle to ride around the city.This story starts in the second year that I was living here, I met a man, my job sent me to my country for vacations and when I came back to Paris, I got out the plain and I call a cap to take me home. The taxi driver had picked up a passenger first it was a man like my age, he talked to me on the way home, he says he has been living in France since he was a boy, he was not French, he always visited his native country to see the rest of the family. One of the things that I always remember is that he wanted to be a tour guide, as Paris is a big city and that hides a lot of secrets and places that haven´t been discovered.

Curiously, I never saw him again. In my opinion, I think he reached his goal. With this, I want to say that everybody of us can reach everything that we propose, and be friendly once in a while you don´t know what you can find in a taxi trip.