Just flew in from UK and boy are my arms tired

[berettafan]

But seriously folks here are some observations from the trip with a bit of a focus on my interests-

1-Uber is a horrible company squeezing ever more dollars from its drivers. I have several drivers as tax clients so this was interesting to me.
a-Spoke with several drivers in London and Edinburgh and the story was the same with all- They have no idea what fares are paying and Uber seems to have made it their job to find ways to pay even less.
b-Drivers in UK (Just England?) sued to become employees in order to get benefits/time off, etc. They won and since that time Uber has found new ways to pay less and in essence drivers are working harder for the same $$.
c-UK immigration policies bring new drivers in and create a race to the bottom (verbatim from my driver in Edinburgh) with new guys who don't realize how much was being paid before.
d-London grabs fees at every turn making it very expensive to operate.
e-My take is Uber created a smart business plan (essentially a software package) and paid fairly well to get themselves off the ground. Once established and controlling the market they've cut pay and enjoyed loose immigration policy to bring in dirt cheap labor and leave the folks that put them on the map in the dar.

2-Drivers in London and Edinburgh in incredibly polite with pedestrians. If you even glance towards a crossing that doesn't have a light they will stop and refuse to move until you cross. Minimal honking at each other as well. And next to no speeding.

3-Pedestrians in London are terrified of crossing anywhere but at a crosswalk and the vast majority of the time will wait till the light changes even if there isn't a car in sight.

4-Wrong side of the road driving (riding for me) is a friggin mind fark. Especially in roundabouts!

5-Lambos, Ferraris and Bentleys in west London are like Mustangs and Camaros here in the US. We quit counting Lambos a few hours after arriving in the city. Urus was particularly popular.

6-For watch people Bond St and the immediate area are not particularly fun to visit. Staff was very stuffy and inventory on display was minimal. Harrod's was a better place to see some nice stuff. By contrast a few shops near us in new town Edinburgh had all kinds of fun things to check out and try on. Looked at everything from Panerai to Blancpain to Rolex to GO to Omega. These few shops were much easier and relaxed to deal with. Can talk more if any watch nerds are bored. Exchange rate a killer though.

7-There is good food to be had in London.

8-UK is expensive as heck and as with other parts of Europe they have a religious conviction against ice and air conditioning. $500/night for a room for 4 was about going rate for a decent place in a nice neighborhood. Ouch!

9-Edinburgh was similarly priced but you got less for your $$. Uber driver told us about 2 years ago is when it got nuts on cost as the city forced out a lot of Air BnB operators and hotels made massive price hikes. He claimed double or so. We are seeing the same exact process here in Ocean City. Hotel owners control the council and get what they want.

10-Edinburgh old town (around the castle) is sadly populated by touristy junk shops and marginal, overrated restaurants. Apparently many are owned by the same group. Tripadvisor is not to be trusted here.

11-Shot a clays tournament in High Wycombe. Incredible facility and the kindest most helpful people staffing it. It's not a hot topic here so I'll spare you guys the details but for an avid clays shooter like myself it was borderline heaven. Traveling with my own gun was more or less easy.

12-Worker class in many London businesses (including our hotel) was Indian and incredibly hard working and polite to a fault. We might have paid $500 per night for our hotel but we got $2k per night service. Same goes for other businesses like coffee shops, McDonalds (yes we had to try it to see if it was different, sodas aside it really wasn't). Lazy, slow uninterested staff was the exception and not the rule there.

13-A touchy subject but IMO worth mentioning- London (and Edinburgh) do not seem to have a thug culture among minorities. It occurs to me being color blind is a function of how various groups behave. Did see a few groups of ME youths in the evenings but in a no gun culture it's hard to be worried when you are a big guy and have a strapping gym rat state champ wrestler son with you. We walked till late every day and never once felt even a hint of worry. To be fair we never went further east than Tower bridge or so but there is not that much acreage in any US city I've been to that feels so safe. There is a real immigration issue brewing there but not a topic for OT.

14-If you want the greatest mashed potatoes ever made on this earth go to London and visit Flatiron (multiple locations). I know that God exists because I am alive and have free will and because those mashed potatoes are not of earthly origin. Best we can tell the difference is bone marrow. We will be working with this at home in an attempt to duplicate. I **** you guys not they were stellar.

15-St Andrews (above Edinburgh) is worth the visit. Son and I played the Eden course while wife and daughter toured the town. All were thrilled with our time there and capped it off with a way better than it should be Italian dinner at a place simply called 'Little Italy'. Local staff there with phenomenal service. And the Scottish accent is just pleasant to hear. The golf courses there are actually public properties and you can see people taking walks, with their dogs even, all around even crossing the famous 18th hole on the Old Course. Links golf very different from what I'm used to here and I loved it. Different set of challenges.

16-Trains are such a great way to travel and the London tube was excellent. Cabs are a waste of time and money in London as are Ubers. Just tube it and get there quicker and cheaper.

17-Small cars everywhere. Nothing old at all and per an uber driver this is because UK makes it incredibly expensive and difficult to own anything older than about 2012. Mostly nondescript ****boxes and frequently manuals. As a GTI owner I was pleased to see many a Golf.

18-As tacky touristy as Edinburgh's old town was Piccadilly Circus has it matched or beat. Cross it off your list.

19-Harrod's food market area is way cool and a fun browse.

20-You can still read a book outside in Edinburgh at 11pm. Crazy!

Definitely recommend the trip and find the social contrasts fascinating. It felt very safe (again we stayed west-ish) at all times and aside from being expensive is a fun way to spend some time. Will probably visit again with a focus on historical tours and spending some time outside of the city in small towns. Must go back list for us includes Burough Market, Flatiron restaurant and for me EJ Churchill shooting grounds and St Andrews for golf.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by berettafan

But seriously folks here are some observations from the trip with a bit of a focus on my interests-

1-Uber is a horrible company squeezing ever more dollars from its drivers. I have several drivers as tax clients so this was interesting to me.
a-Spoke with several drivers in London and Edinburgh and the story was the same with all- They have no idea what fares are paying and Uber seems to have made it their job to find ways to pay even less.
b-Drivers in UK (Just England?) sued to become employees in order to get benefits/time off, etc. They won and since that time Uber has found new ways to pay less and in essence drivers are working harder for the same $$.
c-UK immigration policies bring new drivers in and create a race to the bottom (verbatim from my driver in Edinburgh) with new guys who don't realize how much was being paid before.
d-London grabs fees at every turn making it very expensive to operate.
e-My take is Uber created a smart business plan (essentially a software package) and paid fairly well to get themselves off the ground. Once established and controlling the market they've cut pay and enjoyed loose immigration policy to bring in dirt cheap labor and leave the folks that put them on the map in the dar.


8-UK is expensive as heck and as with other parts of Europe they have a religious conviction against ice and air conditioning. $500/night for a room for 4 was about going rate for a decent place in a nice neighborhood. Ouch!

9-Edinburgh was similarly priced but you got less for your $$. Uber driver told us about 2 years ago is when it got nuts on cost as the city forced out a lot of Air BnB operators and hotels made massive price hikes. He claimed double or so. We are seeing the same exact process here in Ocean City. Hotel owners control the council and get what they want.


13-A touchy subject but IMO worth mentioning- London (and Edinburgh) do not seem to have a thug culture among minorities. It occurs to me being color blind is a function of how various groups behave. Did see a few groups of ME youths in the evenings but in a no gun culture it's hard to be worried when you are a big guy and have a strapping gym rat state champ wrestler son with you. We walked till late every day and never once felt even a hint of worry. To be fair we never went further east than Tower bridge or so but there is not that much acreage in any US city I've been to that feels so safe. There is a real immigration issue brewing there but not a topic for OT.

Isn't the whole reason that Uber is a thing is because the drivers are NOT employees, but are essentially independent contractors, so they get paid and Uber takes a cut? So when the UK drivers sued to become employees, they radically changed the business model and shot themselves in the foot.

I haven't spent much time in cabs in NYC, but I know that TV and movies makes it seem like those folks are all immigrants, so this just seems like the natural way of things.

And it would be no surprise if at first Uber paid well and was cheap, but that as it grew, and grew a larger client base, they would start charging more (I don't use them much, but I know that they charge dynamically based on demand here in the US), and once they are big enough that they have lots of folks wanting to drive, they can pay less because there's always someone willing to work for less behind someone that quits because they aren't making what they once were.

I know that London is trying to make it as hard as possible to drive private vehicles in the city. I think they charge outlandish fees to drive a private vehicle into the city.

[pwd72s]

Thanks for the report...a fun read.

[Bill Douglas]

That was a good write up. Half a lifetime since I was in those places, so fun to read.