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If you don't want to do it, pay for her parking reservation, hands it to her and say something came up. I'd rather kick in $20 towards parking than drive 4hrs.
This is interesting. You're living with people you don't know, and you have several friends all living with people they don't know. Why don't you and your friends get a place together? Did you and your friends all sign leases before becoming friends?
Typically, people live with people they don't know because they don't know anyone in the area.
Or because they want to REMAIN friends, lol. I have three friends I'd consider my "best friends" - and only one of them would make for a tolerable roommate. I lived with that one for almost four years, and we got along famously because our lifestyles & habits are similar. The other two?? Love them dearly, but we'd kill each other if we had to live under the same roof! Just traveling and sharing a hotel room with one of them almost ended our friendship forever.
In other words, good friends do not always make for good roommates.
I sort of feel like this - if you've got the money to travel, surely you've got the money to get TO the airport.
You can "feel like this," but that doesn't necessarily make it true. Most of my traveling isn't really by choice, like to a family event or job interview (when I was trying to relocate) - and often I BARELY have enough to cover the travel itself, let alone an extra $100+ for transportation to/from the airport. Not every trip is for pleasure, and lots of folks live on a very tight budget.
That's why if I'm going somewhere within ~500 miles I'll drive instead of flying, and stay at the cheapest place I can find & tolerate (or with friends/family). But for long-distance trips, I need to worry even more about saving where I can.
But for college students like the OP and his roommate, that's not always the case, especially if mom and dad aren't footing the bill.
And sometimes mom & dad are footing the bill, but only for the big stuff like plane tickets and hotel rooms. That used to happen to me sometimes, and I'd feel awkward about asking for anything extra to cover stuff like food & transportation - especially since this happened more so in my 30's than any other age. I was pretty broke during that decade, as it took a while to get solid footing in my career. So glad I'm not that broke anymore!
I'm still curious to know if there's a shuttle to the airport. Isn't that the normal thing to do--take the shuttle, if there is one?
Depending on where you live, and how far you are from the airport, it can be either a great or lousy deal. When I fly in & out of San Jose, the SuperShuttle is fairly inexpensive - but it's also about the same as Lyft or Uber, unless I'm going at a "peak time" (when those services charge extra). Going to SFO from my house, on the other hand, is REALLY expensive on a shuttle! I priced it out for my last trip, and both self-parking and Uber/Lyft were less pricey options. I went with the latter, mostly because I knew somebody could drive me back home.
OP....The one thing that you'll need to take away from this situation, regardless if you give her the promised ride or not....is you need to learn to say No.
If you can't get the no out, at least learn to defer.....adapt a standard response...."let me check my calendar and get back to you". This will come in handy for the rest of your life.
So roomie asked me to drive her to airport and pick her up which is a hour away then she asked me if I mind and I was like no I don't. It was on the spot. I didn't really think it through, but the whole trip will take 4 hours and 30 minutes that is counting from getting there dropping her off and picking her up and driving back. That is a lot of gas and wear/tear on the car. I feel like I am a push over sometimes and don't like tension. It is easier to say yes then say no and look like a mean person. I don't have anything to do since it is break for both of us, so I don't have a good excuse. Then another part of me is thinking just be nice and do it but then she can't ask me for anything anymore. I hope she asked all her friends before she asked me because its not like we are very close or hang out with each other. What do you think?
I would tell the roomie that you’ve kept thinking about that and it’s making you uncomfortable so you’re sorry but will not be able to help her out. She had no problem asking you for this huge favor even though you’re not close, and you should not feel pushed doing something which requires so much of your time.
I would just do it; it's really not a big deal. If gas money is an issue, then certainly ask for her to chip in. I don't think that two 2-hour round-trips is much "wear and tear" on a car.
But if you don't want to do it, then better tell her asap so she can make other arrangements. If she doesn't want to pay for airport parking, there are usually parking lots at hotels and things that will charge $5-6/day to park there. At least, all of the airports around here do that. Just google "parking near XXX airport" and the ads will pop up.
I think its okay to do it, using her car. Most of your regrets about saying you would do it revolve around the use of your gas and car.
Tell her your car hasn't been running right lately, and you are concerned about a break down. You would be glad to drive her car home from the airport for her, and bring it to pick her up when she returns.
If she doesn't like the idea, you are off the hook.
What if you have an accident in your car on the way back from the airport? If you have an accident in your car while she is a passenger in it, you are now an open target for a medical based law suit. What do you need it for?
While it is true that most car accidents happen close to home, its still a risk being taken just to seem like a nice guy to someone you don't seem to particularly like.
Honestly, something came up seems like the best bet. Sick grandma, camping trip with good friend, working overtime, whatever...
If you know you will be backing out altogether, tell her now so she has time to make other plans.
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