Celebrity Helped Her Get Out of Speeding Ticket – Mariel Fry (Transcript – S5E6)

(sneak peek)

MARIEL: My friends and I, we go to the Jersey
shore.

so I , back in the
car with two of my girlfriends and my girlfriend ended up cutting through part
of the highway, like through one side of a major highway to another side of a
major highway.

Cause she almost
missed a stop and cut through everything which is called the Jersey slide

she just went for
it and ended up going on a curb,

(intro music)

BHAVNEET: Welcome back to another episode of drive
with us podcast. I’m Bhavneet.

TARANJIT:  And I’m Taranjit., and we’re super excited to
have you ride with us as our drivers, take us on some adventurous drives around
the world.

BHAVNEET: Today’s driver is Mariel fry from
Connecticut. Before we meet Mariel some quick car keeping. Did you know we have
a YouTube. We posted a video version of this podcast on the drive with us
podcast, YouTube channel. So be sure to check it out and watch our guests as
they share their driving.

TARANJIT:  we also share some of the crazy road driving
experiences that we witness ourselves on our Instagram at drive with us
podcasts. So come over there and say, hi and chat with us. , now let’s meet
today’s driver Mariel fry. Mariel fry is a founder of travel experiences.
Re-imagined where they elevate voices of people in the tourism industry. She
interviews, tour guides and hosts from around the world to share their stories.

(transition music) 

BHAVNEET: Welcome Mariel to drive with us podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us today.

MARIEL: Thank you so much for having me. This is
so exciting. I don’t drive too much anymore, but I do love to drive. So I’m
excited to talk about.

TARANJIT:  Well, that’s a great segue into our first
question. What would you say is your relationship with driving and how do you
describe yourself as a driver?

MARIEL: I love to drive, but I live in the
tri-state area in America. So if you don’t know what that is, it’s New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. With that, you want to be quote unquote cautious.
But you also act like a video game driver. Depending where you are, it’s
definitely worth it to be careful.

 I’d like to call myself an old lady. I’m about
four 11, so it’s about 150 centimeters. And back in the day, I used to sit on a
phone book, you know, the big phone books, the yellow ones. This is how old I
am, but I used to sit on those for my driving lessons. And I used to just be
really cautious because I would be right in front of the wheel.

So I’d always look
over. God forbid I was in an accident. It wouldn’t be good for me, but I was
just always trying to be careful, trying to look both ways and really being
mindful of other people walking. So I’d like to think I’m cautious. Some people
think I could be a little crazy sometimes, but depends who’s in the car.

It depends where.

BHAVNEET: I feel like, there might be some people
who are like what phone books.

MARIEL: I know, that’s why I was like, I caution
saying that, but I used to use a phone book or a pillow back in the day, which
I know sounds really silly, but they were a thing back then before all these
cell phones and technology came into play.

TARANJIT:  Yeah. I think now in cars they have like the.
you can pump up the seat now to be hired, so you don’t have to have an actual
book underneath it. So that’s an improvement,

MARIEL: Yes, I would have put the seat up and
then the seat in. It’s a running joke, but my husband, I got married,

a couple months
ago and I’ve been with him for two years And he’s never seen me drive up. So

he’s nervous too.
He’s like, I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know what to think, because I
really just need things different.

Like with the
mirror set differently, I need the driving wheel set differently. I need the
seat set differently. You need it up. I need it in, I need all these different
things. So for me driving, I need my own smaller car, something easy to get
around.

BHAVNEET: And I completely understand how you are
describing. Video game driving in New York, New Jersey area. It’s a whole
different world. You’re just like weaving in and out.

Like don’t hit me.

MARIEL: Yes, it’s very true. And I’ve driven
through Manhattan only a couple of times, cause I’m too nervous. But the few
times I have, it’s almost bumper cars slash again, video gaming, like getting
out of the way or making it through that next light, if you can get past. And
it’s really scary. I’m always terrified.

So I try not to
drive in the city. But where I lived was outside of Manhattan and it still was
crazy. It was people driving parallel parking. It was, making sure you didn’t
get a parking ticket, which have gone, unfortunately, a few of those, but it’s
just really trying to be mindful of the area you’re in and where you’re
driving.

Cause a lot of
people don’t really realize, or I don’t know, they don’t really like pay
attention. I think everybody’s on their phone these days. Whether it’s drivers,
texting, which certain things have happened to me.

, and not in a
good way. I’ve been on the phone. So again, you’re not really paying attention,
even walking, I’ve been guilty of this walking across the street and I don’t
see a car coming.

So all of a sudden
you think, oh no, got a jet and run to cross the street to make sure that car
doesn’t hit you. So it works both ways, too.

BHAVNEET: Yeah,

New York is like
its own different universe. I think in driving it’s it’s extreme.

MARIEL: Very.

BHAVNEET: This is a great segue into your crazy
driving stories. Speaking of crazy New York, , what would you say is one of
your top three craziest driving experiences?

MARIEL: I have been on the back of Vespas
before, and it’s crazy to be on the back of a Vesper or motorcycle, even though
I didn’t drive it myself. It’s very surreal to be on the back of one of those
and to see what other people hold on the back of them. For me, it’s crazy to
see the. Things that you put on the back of a Vesper or motorcycle I’ve seen
like ceramic pots, I’ve seen tons of luggage and I’ve seen a dog actually in
the back of a Vesper, which sounds very surreal.

 To me, that was just so crazy and strange
because I can’t imagine a dog balancing on the back of a Vesper or a motorcycle
and drive. You just kind of think, how is this possible? This dog is incredible
to do this. I can’t imagine doing that.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. With like no restraints or
anything. It’s like, wow, what are you

holding onto?

MARIEL: Nothing. They hold on to nothing and
they just balance. It’s so amusing and it’s so interesting. Another one, I
would say again, me not driving. , but I was in England recently. And on these
back roads, you can actually go 50 miles an hour on roads in America.

That would
probably be 25 miles an hour. our highways are 55 to 65. They’re back. Roads
are 50. So on highways, they go about 80, 85, which is terrifying to be in the
back of a car I’m holding on for dear life. And I’m just thinking, oh no,
what’s going to happen. But it’s normal. It’s very normal. There, here, people
are a bit more cautious.

So it’s
understanding the different rules of that, which a lot of people may not be
aware of.

BHAVNEET: That’s really crazy. I didn’t realize
that they drove so fast.

TARANJIT:  Considering it’s more tighter there. I would
think it would be slower speeds.

MARIEL: That’s what I thought too. But these
roads, I mean, they’re so small and you can fit two cars through them.
Sometimes it’s waiting, but they’ll just zip on through. And I’m just thinking,
oh no, it, especially when it’s dark out and you can’t really see and again, on
back roads, there’s no traffic lights, right?

So you’re hoping
that you see a sign at some point to tell you where to go, but you’re also
hoping that. Nobody stops you, nobody gets in the way nobody hits you. It’s
kind of playing Russian roulette a little bit.

BHAVNEET: I know that out west in America, the
speeds are at like 80 and around there, but the roads are so much wider. So ,
you don’t feel like you’re so crammed or you’re going to hit someone.

MARIEL: It’s definitely a little bit better when
you go more suburban or rural areas of America, because there are massive roads
you can get through much quicker. You know, being in the tri-state area where I
live, things are a bit tighter. , there’s a lot more people here. And so with
that equates a lot more congestion, a lot more people, a lot more cars.

So what you think
is arrived, 20 minutes actually could take you 40 minutes. It’s really a lot in
that time, depending on traffic patterns.

TARANJIT:  Have you noticed any, driving rules or.
Practices that are different in other countries versus here in America.

MARIEL: Definitely obviously England when it
comes to the right and the left, I think that’s probably one of the stranger
ones. For me, I feel what driving, understanding Uber’s too, and understanding
certain rules of how people go on the road. Because in some places you can
drive really quick. I think of Germany.

You can just zip
through anywhere. It’s crazy how quick these people go. But in terms of crazy
rules, I think people typically stick by them. , one thing I think of in
particular in Germany is they do the little ample man for green. And also for
red and yellow, but they don’t have like just a plain circle.

It’s actually this
ample man, which is supposedly their signal. I forgot what it means, but it’s
their way of. I think the explanation of this was like teaching children, how
to walk properly across the street and like seeing a person go through, I don’t
don’t quote me on it, but I know it’s

something to do
with that, that it it’s supposed to help kids be better about like crossing the
street.

So they use a
person versus, just a regular circle, which I thought was interesting.

BHAVNEET: Oh,

that is really
interesting. I didn’t realize that. I know that when we went to Australia, they
also had, I think it was a person on their lights and it wasn’t actually like

circles.

MARIEL: Yeah. It’s like a little person walk in.
It looks like they’re like walking. I can’t explain it, but it’s cute.

BHAVNEET: That’s really interesting. What would
you say is another one of your craziest driving

stories?

MARIEL: My friends and I, we go to the Jersey
shore. If anyone knows the Jersey shore. Yes. It’s kind of like the show, but
not really. There’s a whole coastline of Jersey where it goes really from
Atlantic Highlands of Sandy hook.

All the way down
to Cape may and in between there’s tons of little beaches. And so the thing to
do in the summer as you go to the Jersey shore. And so I drove in the back
again, back in the car with two of my girlfriends and my girlfriend ended up
cutting through like part of the highway, like through one side of a major
highway to another side of a major highway.

Cause she almost
missed a stop and like cut through everything which is called the Jersey slide
for anyone curious where. In a perfect world, you’re on one side of the road.
And if there’s more than three lanes, you do the slide to go through the other
side. So she just went for it and like, I think ended up going on like a curb,
but it was so scary and I thought.

I can’t believe
you just did this, but we were all okay. And we got through and it saved us 20
minutes really of like, not going through a whole roundabout, which are
definitely things in Jersey too, but to go down the shore and to be able to do
that seamlessly and not get caught by the way, kudos to her.

It’s a little
scary, but kudos to her.

TARANJIT:  Sometimes I’m like, is it worth saving the
time for the safety? Like maybe not.

MARIEL: Yeah, I think it’s 50, 50. I think it
depends on your situation and like how quickly you need to go somewhere. Cause
some people feel this sense of rush that they have to go versus some people
being like, I can wait, I don’t need to be above the law in this situation. I
can chill for a minute.

BHAVNEET: The Jersey side. I’ve never heard of
that. Like I’ve heard of like the California roll. That’s a thing I’ve never
heard of the

Jersey slide.

MARIEL: Oh, it’s a thing in Jersey to go
through. And literally you see people do it on the highway too. They slide from
one side, which is the left lane, which is the fast lane. Then typically the
middle lane, which is again the middle. And then the right lane is the slower
lane where you go through and you just see people on the highway just gliding
through and getting through people in between to Jew this perfect Jersey slide.

So I guess that’s
a term, right? It’s very interesting, but I’ve never heard of the California
roll. That’s a new one.

TARANJIT:  Oh, really?

BHAVNEET: I I’ve. That’s like where they don’t
stop at stop signs. They just kind of roll right through them. Probably

that’s what thing?

MARIEL: I there’s different rules, different
areas. So it’s interesting.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. Next time we are in Jersey. We’re
going to have to look for that. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen people doing that. I
just never realized that that is a thing

that you do.

MARIEL: It’s definitely a weird thing. I never
thought of it like that until again, you start to see it and you think, oh, okay.
That’s just, they’re doing the Jersey slide. No big deal.

TARANJIT:  Speaking of New Jersey drivers and just types
of drivers in general. Have you noticed that there are specific types of
drivers in different areas? Have you noticed any differences?

MARIEL: Aggressive, very aggressive drivers
around here do not care. They will curse. They will get in your face and the
car, but if they want to get through. There is no like stopping that person.
They will get through. They’re very aggressive. They try to be quick. They try
to be slick. They try to get through whatever traffic they need to get through.

But when you think
of going outside of a big city, Even outside of the tri-state area to a certain
point, it gets a little bit better. People are a little bit slower, depending
where you are. It’s a little bit slower pace. It’s a little bit calmer. , when
I’ve been to Florence or Lisbon, it just felt a little bit easier.

You didn’t feel
all this like crazy rush, you know, New York is like, oh, it’s just, it’s a
crazy place. And it’s very noisy. It’s very gotta be here. Gotta be there. I
got to do this. Gotta do that. It’s always like this movement in Manhattan.
It’s just always this movement always gotta go, gotta be here.

Gotta go there.
Gotta drive here. Gotta go this way. Got a rush here. It’s always this rush,
and this whole tri-state area, everybody feels rushed and so they will go
quick. They will get out of your way. They will do all these things to get to
wherever they need to go. , I talked to my girlfriend quite a bit. I’ll shout
her out. And she’ll call me on the phone when she’s driving. And it’s always
like this person here or this construction here or this person and let me
through, oh, it’s, it’s such a thing. She’s from Staten island. So she definitely
has, a way about her in a good way.

I will say that,
but she tells it like it is. So I appreciate that. And that’s a lot of people
in this area. You tell it like it is, you try to be respectful, but if you’ve
got to get somewhere, you’re going to do it. Probably go through the stoplight
a little bit. You may try to rush the yellow. You’re going to be a little
aggressive and that’s just, I don’t know.

It’s just kind of,
this area

TARANJIT:  yeah, I feel like it’s just a vibe of New
York. It’s just go, go, go, go, go. And when you’re there, you just feel like
the need to keep going. Like don’t stop.

MARIEL: It’s like, can’t stop. Won’t stop.

And you’re just
always on this time crunch, it’s, it’s pretty intense sometimes.

BHAVNEET: Yeah, I can imagine we’ve been there a
couple of times and every time it’s like,

I don’t want to
drive here.

MARIEL: No, most people don’t. I mean, if you
have a car, honestly, not like you’re considered rich, but you’re definitely
considered like, Ooh, you have a car. Like, what do you do? And it’s so rare to
see that in Manhattan because people typically will take an Uber, a taxi. Or
you get on a subway. That’s honestly the quickest way around Manhattan, in my
opinion,

BHAVNEET: Let’s switch

gears a little bit
and dive into you as a driver. Love it more. What would you say is your biggest
driving

TARANJIT:  pet peeve?

MARIEL: Oh, I can’t stand when people don’t put
their blinker on or when they’re going over to the left or going over to the
right and they just go in, . And it’s a two-fold of this. So the first one is
when people don’t put on a blinker and then want to get in front of you.

That drives me
nuts because I can’t tell that you need to go over. You just are just getting
in my way. So it’s Y then the flip side of it is I can’t stand when people do a
blinker and then don’t do anything. So you’re waiting for that person to go
over and they’re not going over, or you’re just thinking, Hmm, what’s going on?

And then you just
zip right past them because you think I’m not waiting forever. So I can’t stay
on either side of that with the blinker. It just drives me crazy. I can’t stand
it. I don’t like it. Just, if you’re going to use your blinker. Do what you’re
going to do.

 If you don’t put it on and you’re trying to
get over, it’s just rude. And likewise, if you put it on and you don’t do
anything, that’s also rude. So that drives me a little crazy.

TARANJIT:  Yeah. It’s like a very simple feature in the
car. It’s not complicated at all.

MARIEL: You would think so, and especially
people getting a license to, you know, I feel bad for, I’m going to say older,
older people, driving cars, maybe they forget, love my grandfather, , rest in
peace. But he would go through stop signs and not really use blinkers half the
time. , as he got older.

And you just think
grandpa, like, what are you doing? That’s not the way to drive. So I’m mindful
of that to a certain level. But if I go by and it’s someone my age, I think,
okay, no, can’t work like this can’t happen, but I’m a little bit better if
it’s like older people or even newer drivers.

Who really don’t
understand all the rules. You have to be mindful of that too, but otherwise,
anybody else it’s fair game.

TARANJIT:  That’s hilarious. Have you ever experienced
any road rage, whether it was you yourself was experiencing or somebody had it

MARIEL: Oh, yeah. first of all, if you live in
New Jersey, well, let me say this. You could take the girl at a Jersey, but you
can’t take the Jersey out of the girl. And my husband hates when I say that,
but it’s true because of course, people just drive like idiots, you know, they
don’t drive properly and they really.

I can’t explain
it, but they just don’t care and they don’t think about anybody else but
themselves. So it’s very frustrating when you’re trying to drive or get a
parking spot and they take forever to get out of the spot or they’re not
driving fast enough and you want them to drive quicker or you want them to
drive slower and they’re driving so much faster.

So it’s just in
general, I get irritated with people and how they drive. Or a lot of times, I
don’t know, I can’t speak for anywhere else, but if there’s an accident, ,
there’s pile up traffic. And then all of a sudden you.

just see what’s
going on and it’s not a big deal, but the traffic and the holdup of it is
insane to just watch something that happened, whether it was an accident or
someone getting pulled over.

 It’s just so unnecessary, like construction. I
get to a point, but I get irritated if I’m sitting in traffic and I can’t do
anything about it. That drives me nuts

TARANJIT:  Yeah, the whole, if there’s an accident thing
is a very big problem here, too. It is not just like. The row that the accents
on the other side of the roads, like, oh, I gotta slow down and look too. So
now both sides are slowed down. You’re like, that makes no sense. Like, just
keep going.

MARIEL: Yeah, I don’t, it, it blows my mind. I
don’t understand why people need to stop and see it. , I just want to keep
going.

BHAVNEET: this is kind of random, but speaking of
Jersey, I know that in Jersey, it’s a law that you can’t pump your own gas.
When you go to different places and you had to pump your own gas, how is that?
Do you prefer to pump

your own gas?

MARIEL: no, absolutely not. And I’ll tell you a
funny story the first time it happened. So I remember I drove to New York,
actually. I had a friend of mine who lived upstate new. And she goes, I’ll meet
you at a gas station and I’m thinking, great. So I’m thinking, oh, I need gas.
You know, this is really good.

Stop. Some sitting
in the car, my girlfriend gets out, she pumps her gas and I’m sitting there and
I’m thinking, this is weird. No, one’s coming. She goes, hello. You have to
pump your gas. I’m like, what do you mean? I have to pump my gas, like who does
this? Luckily it was summer, but I did get out of. gas?

and I hated it.
Didn’t like it. Even my mom, I live in Connecticut now and she’s from
Connecticut. She would drive farther to a gas station that pumped her gas
versus actually going to a gas station closer because she had to pump it. It’s
just very funny. Like people don’t like to pump their gas in New Jersey.

, we joke we pump
our fists, not our gas. That’s like a really popular quote. I can’t stand it. I
don’t want to get out in 10 degree weather and pump my gas, who like, who does
that? I, I don’t like it. So the fact that I’ll probably have to do that
someday.

Ooh. , I guess I’m
spoiled. Does that mean I’m spoiled? I guess so.

BHAVNEET: I don’t know, I

guess, growing up
because of Maryland, you pump your own gas. When we first went to New Jersey
and then you’re sitting in line, I was like, why is everyone taking forever?
And you’re like watching this dude go from one pump to the next pump and like
pumping everyone’s gas. And I’m like, oh my God, I could be done

by now.

MARIEL: Oh, I, I understand it can be quicker,
but in Jersey you wait, you don’t get out of your car. You don’t want to deal
with it. I love that I can pop it on the side for the gas. Someone says, what
would you like regular? Please fill up. They fill it up. They take your car.
They do everything back and they say have a nice day.

There’s something
really nice about that. I guess I’m really spoiled a little bit.

I don’t mind
waiting an extra five minutes, but I don’t like to wait in traffic. So maybe my
priorities are not all there.

TARANJIT:  Prioritize some things over others.

MARIEL: Yes, a hundred percent.

BHAVNEET: switching gears to your driving first,
how would you describe your first time driving experience and your driving

test experience?

MARIEL: I will tell you both because they both
happened within probably two days. So my driving test is on my birthday and in
New Jersey, the way it works, I think this is still the case. You get your
permit at 16 and you get your license at 17. You have to do some driving
lessons. I think it’s about six hours you have to pay for.

And you also take
a test where you get an 80 or above. So on the day of the test, you can get it
on your birthday is like the earliest day. So of course I was getting it right
away. I was so excited and I remember the guy. Older guy who the test isn’t
super hard. You go down a little bit of a windy road.

It’s a stop sign.
So you’re supposed to like look both ways, right? And B you have to be like
very exaggerated. Then you have to like loop around and then you parallel park.
Now I’m terrible. At parallel parking. I practiced it with my dad who was an
expert, but I’m not very good at it. . I literally was probably off by like an
inch, inch and a half.

And the guy said,
you’re really lucky. I passed you cause It’s your birthday. So I was just
really lucky. I’ll be very honest because I’m not sure if I would have passed
the first time, but I was really glad to not go back and ever do it again.

TARANJIT:  It’s interesting that you mentioned the
parallel parking being the hard part of the test and you were able to pass just
because it was your birthday. I feel like that’s what, that’s what I struggled
with too. And I had to take it in a van, the test and

yeah. Then I go so
well,

MARIEL: Yeah, I did like a regular car , and the
spot was like pretty decent sized and I just did It So I don’t know how you did
a van. I give you a lot of credit.

TARANJIT:  now they took it off the test. So now I’m just
like, that’s not fair.

MARIEL: We did.

TARANJIT:  Yeah. Well, here in Maryland, they took it off
a driver’s test. So it’s really easy.

MARIEL: Darn.

BHAVNEET: Which I don’t think was a smart idea,

TARANJIT:  but,

MARIEL: Probably not, but I wish that was for
me, but now we know,

how to parallel
park, right. Even though actually I still have people parallel park for me. My
husband is like the best. He knows how to parallel park. He always backs in our
spot. So I live in an apartment building. And you have a designated spot. He
knows how to back up perfectly in line every single time.

 And I’ve never learned how to do that ever. I
always go straight into a parking spot and then I have to turn around. And when
I want to get out, I back up

TARANJIT:  that’s interesting. Our dad, the first thing
he taught us was reverse park. That’s why I, I feel like I struggle with Ford
parking because all I practiced was reverse park. So I reverse park everywhere.

MARIEL: That’s so funny. Yeah, I’ve never done
it. I’ve always done forward parking. Or I would try to do the slip through and
a parking lot where if there was two spots, it always just pull through. So I
could be the first spot so I can get out. So I did have to do the reverse and I
can still get out easily. So that was my little triangle, like trick, but I’ve
no idea how to reverse park.

It just sounds so
scary and so complicated. And I just I’m getting old. I don’t really have the
patience.

BHAVNEET: Pull throughs or the best, what really
baffled. Like in a parking lot where you see someone and there is a pull
through there’s two empty spots and they just go into the first one and stop.
And I was like, but it’s empty. You can just keep driving forward.

TARANJIT:  You go out

MARIEL: I, I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I
think it’s like the best trick to just pull through and the fact that people
don’t pull through. I don’t know. It’s very strange. Like, what’s your emo, do
You think it’s easy to get out Do you think that spot will in front of you will
be available?

I don’t chance
things like that. I just do it.

TARANJIT:  Maybe they just like to reverse out when
they’re leaving.

MARIEL: Maybe.

TARANJIT:  so early, I know you mentioned that you’ve
gotten several tickets yourself. any of those, memorable experiences, I guess
not in a good way.

MARIEL: Well, I wouldn’t say memorable, but I
actually ended up getting three parking tickets within probably six to eight
weeks. And the only reason I got parking tickets is because it was, I was 18.
We graduated high school. All my friends were college. So naturally you want to
go visit your friends in college, . And I remember trying to find parking in
these places, you go to these college campuses and. It’s so hard to find
parking so I’m just parking anywhere, somewhere. And every time I would get a
parking ticket where it’d say you can’t park here, the amount is this much. You
have to pay for it. And I thought, oh, this is so frustrating. , you don’t know
right. At 18, you have maybe a year, year and a half of driving experience,
which to me doesn’t feel like a lot.

 Especially if you don’t drive to different
places are no rules. It’s hard. Like I’ve always just driven in the same place.
So driving somewhere different, it was like, oh, what do I do? I didn’t really
read the rules. . I just kind of parked somewhere that no one’s going to catch
me.

I’ll be fine. And
I ended up getting three in a month and a half. Not the best thing to do.

TARANJIT:  Yeah. I mean, when you are a new driver,
there’s so many things that you’re still learning and you still have the,
excitement of you’re driving. So like you’re not really paying attention to
everything else.

MARIEL: Oh, yeah. You’re just so excited to
like, see a friend. You’re like, that’s the only thing you think about. But you
don’t think about the parking and the other logistics you just think, oh, all
right, I’ll just park wherever it’s a free world.

 I could do whatever I want and I’ve learned
the hard way. That’s not the case.

TARANJIT:  Yep. Until you get parking tickets, then
you’re like, oh,

MARIEL: Yeah, so read signs

oh, this was an
interesting story. So my husband, I went to Columbia. And he’s got a friend
down there, very successful guy, and he was dating this girl. She was pretty
much a celebrity. I mean her Instagram followers, probably 3 million. Now she’s
like Insta verified. She’s like a model actress. All these different things.

 My husband, I run the back. She was in the
passenger seat and he was driving and then Columbia, they can just stop you on
the, like at any point. And it doesn’t matter, which is kind scary. , the rules
are very different down there than they are in America. So when he was getting
pulled over, they wanted to see information, but the, , Officer saw her, this
girl.

And I guess she
kind of sweet. I don’t speak Spanish, but almost seemed like she sweet talked
her way out of it. He ended up just being like, have a good day, like, oh, I
recognize you. But if it wasn’t for her, who knows what really happened. , but
it definitely seems like the rules are a lot stricter in Columbia, which I
don’t know all the rules, but it definitely seems like if you got into some
trouble, it wouldn’t be a good sign for.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. And I feel like in those, a lot of
like Latin American countries, Southeast Asian countries, the rules are more
loose in terms of officer can just pull you over for whatever they

feel like

MARIEL: It was very weird. He almost just was in
the middle of the road and was just trying to pull people over. There was no
rhyme or reason to it. It’s just, they picked a car and they said pull over.

BHAVNEET: And you

got really lucky
that you had a celebrity in your car

to take care of.

MARIEL: Yes, very lucky. I think that’s like a
one in a million chance, but it just worked out.

TARANJIT:  switching gears a little bit, let’s talk a
little bit about the future of driving. But the possibility of self-driving
cars becoming a thing. What are your thoughts on this? Is this something that
you would get into?

MARIEL: Yes and no. I think there needs to be
more prototypes. There needs to be more testing done. I don’t think we’re there
yet. we’re in a good place and we have good bones, but I don’t think it’s ready
for the world to really do it. Like I’m kind of for it. Listen, I love it.
Personally. I hate driving at night and I get really tired.

So to have a car
drive me where I need to go, especially like, right, you think of it as a night
of drinking. You want to drive because you don’t want to spend the money on
Uber, but you want to enjoy yourself. So having that car could be. But how much
testing is there to know if it’s really knowing the roads, understanding the
new construction, understanding just the people around and understanding how
other people drive.

So I’m cautiously
skeptical. I think there’s a possibility. But I think there needs to be more
testing done there needs to be a lot more work. I don’t know if we’ll see it in
our lifetime to see it to the full capacity, but I do see it being a thing. I think
there’s too many investors and too many people into this game for it to not
happen.

I just think for
it to be deemed safe, there needs to be a lot more testing and prototype.

BHAVNEET: I agree with you. The reliability.
Because it’s like How well does it know the road? Like you said, cause things
like, I dunno, Google maps and stuff, they aren’t always accurate anyways and
not always update. Like there could be new construction then all of a sudden
there’s a roundabout or like the road ended and it’s not updated.

So how well does
the car know that

there’s a change?

MARIEL: I think that’s a big issue too, to your
point, because a lot of times, if there is new construction or there are new
roads or a road being closed, so how, like who was updating these. 24 7, 365,
like who was on the road, checking for this.

And if there’s an
accident, will the car know to stop and wait, if they can go faster, would they
know to go faster? If there’s a lot of cars, can they get around those cars? Do
they know the exit? Do they know if the exit change?

There’s so much of
that, that I just don’t think in our lifetime, it’ll be ready, ready to what we
want, but I do think it will happen.

 Which again, it’s why humans exist. You want a
human to, to take over these things and to know and be aware. As humans, we
have control of that. And for these robots, it’s, it’s hard to say, like, I
think of robots doing good for like warehousing and manufacturing and those
type of industries.

But when you think
of a car and you think of being something on the road, there’s so many
variables to it and reliability to your point that. I’m hesitant. I’m hesitant
to really be like, Yeah, like we’re ready.

TARANJIT:  it might have to be either just self-driving
cars on the road or just people driving cars instead of like a mix. I feel like
mixing the two might cause more problems.

MARIEL: You’re probably right. And I don’t, I
don’t think we’ll get there. I really don’t because you think of the class in
America, you think of upper-class middle-class and lower-class and the classes
in between. Sure. The upper-class and maybe some upper middle class can afford
these cars. But when you go to trickle down to middle and middle lower and
lower, that’s a big expense.

And unless
somebody’s paying for people to really flip every single car to be self, I just
don’t see that happening.

TARANJIT:  Who knows. It might be able to self pump,

MARIEL: That would be a miracle if they can
figure that out, someone’s a genius.

TARANJIT:  oh, solve all your problems. You don’t have to
pump ever again.

MARIEL: That is like the dream.

TARANJIT:  Do you have any final thoughts or any tips
that you would like to give other.

MARIEL: Definitely. I really think understanding
your rules for your stay. , every state’s really different, so it’s hard for me
to say like what rules are better in other states or other.

countries, but I
think it’s really understanding. The rules and just abiding by them and seeing
what other drivers do.

 And really understanding signs. I think that’s
a really big thing. Cause certain signs means certain things. It’s understanding
like it’s own facility, but like a construction sign or understanding, you
know, exit 13 goes to this place and how to get off, a ramp and how to get onto
a road. It’s it’s silly, things like that, that I think make you a better
driver and.

Practice makes
perfect. The more you practice driving, the better you’ll get. I wasn’t the
best driver starting out. Anybody will tell you my family is so embarrassed how
I used to be, but with more practice and more driving and starting really
small, like go a back road, go col-de-sac then try one street, try five
streets, try a mean.

Then try a
highway. If you do it in steps and baby steps to what you feel comfortable
with, you will get better in time as a driver, but you have to be okay to do
the steps and to do the work.

TARANJIT:  I
agree with that. And like with the highway, I feel like if you go on a weekend
or when it’s less busy, it will be a better chance to get a set, like a few.
And before you jumped right in when it’s like rush hour. Cause that’s when everyone
goes crazy.

MARIEL: Oh, yeah. If you can go at like a later
at night or early in the morning, or even like middle of the week, like mid
day, I think any of those off, I say off times off times would be better to
drive and make you feel comfortable because driving through rush hour, if
that’s the first time you drive, I don’t blame you for never wanting to drive
again.

That’s scary. As a
first time driver. I wouldn’t want to do it,

BHAVNEET: Bonus question time.

Are

MARIEL: Oh, yes.

BHAVNEET: If you can make one new driving law,

what would it be?

MARIEL: I want to say something along with like
blinking. I feel like that’s not the best one. I don’t know a good driving rule
that I think needs to be implemented. Maybe just people not being so mean. Like
if that could be a rule or people not being so aggressive and trying to like
cut people, I would love if everybody just stayed in their lane and not tried
to cut or also be rude to people like I’ve seen people be?

really rude and
honk the horn a crazy amount.

Like we don’t need
to do that. It’s very unnecessary. So if there was a way to like cut aggression
or cut people being rude, I would love that. I don’t think that will happen,
but in a perfect world, I’d love to see that.

BHAVNEET: I agree, I guess no more Jersey slides.
Let’s

not do that.

MARIEL: probably not. Unless you did it in the
right way,

TARANJIT:  that’s interesting. You mentioned the
aggressive hockey. We did have a guest, I think a season or two back whose
driving law would be a happy honk. So like for every angry honk, you would have
to like let out a happy honk or something like, or a celebratory honk. He said
only honk for celebrations instead of anger.

So it’s kind of in
line with what you’re thinking.

MARIEL: That would be lovely. I don’t know if
there’s a happy way to do it, maybe like a happy birthday or happy dance or a
happy cheer music. I don’t know, because a honking, but happy chant would be
like, hello. Like, I don’t know what that would sound like, but that would be
lovely.

TARANJIT:  Yeah, I feel like it will lighten people’s
moods to.

MARIEL: A hundred percent and people wouldn’t be
as aggressive. I think people would be a little bit happier and have a smile on
their.

BHAVNEET: Well, thank you so much for coming on
today. Before we let you go. Where can our listeners find you if they want to connect
with.

MARIEL: Amazing. So you can connect with.

me through pretty
much all the major platforms. Facebook, Instagram, I just joined TOK. And
Twitter, but I have a website travel experiences. Re-imagined dot com. I have
my own. So I elevate and share the stories of people in the tourism industry.
So whether you’re a tour guide, a tour operator or a host of an experience, I
interview you and I do a whole format to get to know you a little bit better.

And for the
listeners to learn more about a city, what you offer as a tour guide, and just
to know a bit more of your backstory, I think everyone has a story to share,
and I’m really excited to share that on my podcast.

BHAVNEET: Awesome. Well, thank you again so much
for coming out and it was really great

talking to you.

MARIEL: Likewise. It was wonderful to talk to
the two of you. as well.

 (transition music)

TARANJIT:  I
learned a new term from Merial today. That Jersey slide. Yeah.

BHAVNEET: I’ve heard of the California roll, but
the Jersey slide,

TARANJIT:  we live so close to New Jersey and I’ve never
once ever heard that. And we live on the opposite side of the country from
California. We’ve heard about the California role and we’ve

BHAVNEET: been to New Jersey.

I mean, I’m pretty
sure we’ve seen it. Just never realized that there was an actual term for it.
Would you like you crazy person? You just cut all the way across. What’s wrong
with.

TARANJIT:  I
think it’s because we’ve only taken I 95 versus driving other percentages.
Yeah. I feel like we’ve been to like the tourist parts. So maybe we see tourist
as opposed to local. So we don’t see the New Jersey site or like encounter
people who mentioned the New Jersey slide.

But when we were
recently up there, Last summer and we went into one of the Walmarts and the guy
was like, immediate. Like you’re not from

BHAVNEET: here. Are you like, where are you from?
Just because,

TARANJIT:  thank you because we said, please, and thank
you.

And he was like,
you’re not from here. So, if we did venture out more into New Jersey, we
probably would have witnessed us more. I’m glad we

BHAVNEET: did it. Yeah, I’m good. No Jersey slides
for me. Thanks.

For this. Are you
listening? Have you ever witnessed the Jersey slide or have you ever
participated in the Jersey slide

Share your stories
with us on Instagram at drive with us podcast.

TARANJIT:  We are very curious to hear how common this
is, not just in New Jersey, but if other states have something along the same
lines,

BHAVNEET: does every state have their own little,
like, what would Maryland’s be

TARANJIT:  Maryland is we are weavers.

 The Maryland we’ve well, not us personally,
but I’ve witnessed so many people who like to weave in and out of life,
especially 6 95. So I feel like we are the weavers. So the Maryland.

BHAVNEET: The California roll the Jersey slide.
Now we gotta figure out what the rest of the 47 states. What do you all do?

TARANJIT:  We’ll have to find more people to come on and let
us know. Yeah.

BHAVNEET: Stay tuned until the end of this
episode, to hear a sneak peek of next week’s episode with David Bossert from
Californ.

TARANJIT:  He shared with us about the time he drove his
dad’s car, without him knowing, and the time he flew up a hill in his friend’s
car.

BHAVNEET: If you enjoyed this podcast, you can
help support the show by sharing it with your friends or leaving us a review.

It truly does help
us get

TARANJIT:  discovered. Thank you for choosing to drive
with us and we’ll see you all next week.

(outro music)

 DAVID: I was out on the east end of long island with a friend of mine. And, , we got off of the road onto a, dirt fire road , and we literally shot off the top of a hill.

, we were literally airborne and as the car was coming down, I remember standing on the glove box, looking down.