It doesn’t happen often, but when I’m the only passenger on the bus I like to pretend I’m riding in a really big but really cheap limousine. I’m returning from a bookstore where I had people laughing so hard they wet themselves and then when I was done there were so many lined up I sat signing copies of my book for seven straight hours. And the limo driver is a nice guy who’s new to the area so he doesn’t exactly know his way around and I’m afraid he’ll get lost if he has to go down all those side streets to my house. So I wait until we get sort of close and tell him, “Thanks, this is good enough.”
Reality bursts this little fantasy bubble when the driver looks at me funny for trying to give him a tip.
This is a trolley you can catch in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida.
If Raphael is your driver ask him about his dog.
Wow, the interior of that bus/trolley is gorgeous! I think it has more hardwood in it than in my entire house. I’ve flown into Tampa the past two summers but haven’t visited any of the city. We spent all our time exclusively on Clearwater Beach. I’ll have to remember this trolley if we ever do any city sightseeing.
The trolley is in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, which is an old Cuban neighborhood. My parents took me there when I was a kid and we watched really old people roll cigars by hand. It’s also near the Tampa Bay Aquarium, which is a fun place in itself. I’ve never been to Clearwater Beach–I always wanted to go because I assumed the water there was clear and I’d be able to see cool stuff when I went swimming. It was always kind of disappointing that swimming in the ocean off of Treasure Island looked nothing like a Jacques Cousteau special.