Taking an Uber after a long-haul flight can feel like the final push—exhausting but rewarding. But for one woman, that final push combined with sleep deprivation resulted in a costly mistake.
Maddi Lou (@maddikoch), a TikToker who primarily creates movie-related content, posted a video that received more than 200,000 views.
In it, she explained how she accidentally put the wrong address in while taking an Uber ride. That led her to make a 3-hour detour to the seaside in England, rather than to her London hotel.
What happened with her Uber ride?
Lou said she called an Uber while running on “zero hours of sleep” after a flight to London. Exhausted, she got into an Uber for the last leg of her journey—a quick trip to the hotel. She wrote down the hotel’s name for the driver, confirmed the details, and went to sleep.
When she woke up, however, she heard the sound of seagulls in the distance. She was right by the beach, and reportedly, she could see the ocean.
According to her, the Uber driver took her to a similarly named hotel—the Langham Hotel in Eastbourne. Subsequently, the content creator had to take a three-hour Uber back to her original destination.
“ My best advice is to get sleep, drink coffee, don’t fall asleep in Ubers, and confirm where you’re going,” she said. “’Cause if you don’t, you will hear seagulls when you are not supposed to hear seagulls.”
People feel for her
A few viewers asked how the content creator didn’t notice a price discrepancy between the place she thought that she was going—her hotel—and the hotel that was three hours away.
But others had a quick and fitting explanation. “Sleep deprivation is no joke; you can miss the most obvious of flags very, very easily,” a commenter said.
Others commented on how much she spent on her collective Uber rides.
“Just the Uber rides alone probably cost you the same amount as your plane ticket,” a viewer said.
Uber doesn’t offer customers reimbursement or refunds for trips the rider incorrectly books, which meant that the content creator was out of a chunk of change.
Wait, Why Didn’t She Just Take the Train Back?
Another group of commenters wondered why the content creator was taking an Uber back to her London hotel in the first place. They mentioned that London has good public transit, with multiple direct routes to most major cities.
“[Girl] there’s literally a train from Brighton to London, and it costs like £10,” one commenter said.
Another viewer added, “Why are you Ubering everywhere in England? The train is right there.”
Most insiders say that taking the “tube” or the train in London can actually be quicker than taking an Uber or Taxi. A train from Eastbourne to London takes around an hour and 30 minutes. The train itself costs $11.50 USD.
But for some, the convenience and familiarity of platforms such as Uber are more appealing in a foreign country.
@maddikoch shocking: there’s no ocean in the middle of London #london #travel #uber #langhamhotel #england ♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono – moshimo sound design
Subplot News reached out to Lou and Uber via email for comment.
