Hollywood and the Uber Hero
How many heroes can you say you have ever met?
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We took our three kids on a grand vacation to the USA in September last year.
We live in Australia, so for most Australians, traveling to the USA is something only some families get to do.
I have spent a lot of time in the USA. I enjoy it, but taking three children on a fourteen-hour flight isn’t fun for anyone, so when I planned the itinerary, I thought it best to keep to the West Coast and let them live out all their theme park fantasies.
We don’t rent cars when we travel
One reason is that driving on the opposite side of the car and on the road confuses me.
Another reason is that I can’t deal with the stress of planning where to park in places I don’t live. Also, given my lack of motivation to do any paperwork, I’ll never get around to dealing with the travel insurance claims if we crash or damage the car.
I digress.
I spent months planning our ultimate family trip
The plan was five days in LA, where the kids could enjoy seeing the sights, and a day at Universal Studios before heading to the Gates of Hell, known as Anaheim, for four torturous days at the happiest place on earth.
(If it were such a happy place, there would be free booze for the parents of the screaming children who don’t want to wait in long lines.)
The plan was to drive to San Diego, then onto Palm Springs for Mom’s rest and recuperation, ending up in Las Vegas, Mom’s happiest place on earth!
We started our Lampoon family vacation in Los Angeles, one of my favorite cities.
I realize many people do not love LA, but for me, it’s not just the gateway into the USA from home; it’s also where my stepbrother lives, and I’ve spent enough time there to know the layout of the land.
When most Aussies travel to Los Angeles, they tend to stay in the Hollywood area.
That’s not for me. I prefer to stay in Beverly Hills, as the streets are clean, and I know where every Starbucks is.
It doesn’t matter where you stay in LA because, unless you get a car, you will be spending a small fortune on Uber to get around.
And a small fortune we did spend.
The weather was hot the few days we were there in September, so we used Uber to drive us everywhere, even to places we would normally have walked.
Our most expensive Uber ride was also our most memorable.
It was the morning we were heading to Universal Studios
We all got up early to arrive before the mass crowds, and my son could enter the Super Nintendo World district.
Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios in Hollywood is the newest land to open in the theme park. It officially opened in February 2023, as it tends to be the first area visitors visit once the park opens.
For an extra USD 25 per person, we could purchase an early access ticket that gets you into Super Nintendo World an hour before the rest of the park opens.
Being the generous mother I am (and thinking, if we go early, we can be out there before 4 p.m.), I arranged the early entry tickets.
As mentioned, we stayed in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Hilton, which I highly recommend if you visit LA with kids!
Universal Studios is in Hollywood, but deep in Hollywood, as in behind the Hollywood Hills, roughly a 50-minute drive from our hotel.
My family has five people, so we always had to order the UBER XL to fit. In other words, it was a damn expensive Uber drive to get to Universal Studios.
Our driver arrived perfectly on time in his extra-large, black SUV
The car was spotless, and he generously brought us water bottles for the ride.
Each family member has their own preferred spot to sit in the car.
All their preferences were disregarded entirely while we were on holiday, so we stuck my two teenage daughters in the furthest back seats, where they bitched about each other’s music choices amongst each other.
In the middle seats were me and my son, who gets car sick occasionally. Hence, he needed immediate access to escape from puking, and in the front seats were the driver and my husband, who likes to pretend he can’t hear anything happening behind him.
Although my husband speaks a few words, he loves chatting with drivers. He does that to show the driver that he is a lovely man, despite the behavior of the people he has brought along with him!
However, this Uber driver was different. He was one of the most interesting people we had ever met.
My husband started the conversation by casually asking him how long he had been driving Ubers’
The driver explained that he had recently been discharged from the army.
His name was Fernando, and he told us he had served the last thirteen years on active duty, having been stationed in the Middle East. During this time, he missed the birth of his daughter and had only met her for the first time a few weeks ago.
Fernando had retired, having received an honorable discharge after serving thirteen years, having had fourteen surgeries and multiple deployments, and having lost two toes in battle!
His story was enthralling. Even my children were glued to every detail.
As a mother, I couldn’t imagine giving birth without my husband next to me, let alone in the country. I couldn’t imagine how overwhelming it must have been for him to arrive home after so long and finally meet your child.
He said it was the most significant moment of his life.
It wasn’t just how he spoke of the experience of coming home that was incredible; it was how he spoke of his wife.
He talked about her with pride and amazement. He was infallibly grateful for her support throughout his army career. He was in awe of her strength, love, and resilience in being pregnant, birthing, and raising his baby daughter while he was far from home.
As Australians, we had never met anyone who had served in the US Army
My kids and I had never met anyone we knew who served in any army!
Australia has an army, of course, but for some reason, military sociology in Australia is pretty nonexistent.
We don’t hear much about our service members; when we do, it’s always around Anzac Day.
Being in the presence of a man who spoke openly about his experiences was exciting and humbling.
Fernando told us that, although he could no longer serve on active duty, he was excited to start a new position in the army as a recruiter. He would go into high schools to facilitate discussion with many kids who may not have been able to envisage a successful future and show them that joining the army could be an option.
He also volunteered to assist others facing questions or issues when transitioning out of the army.
Fernando was a man who was a hero, and he wanted to inspire others to find a way to contribute positively to the world.
With a few minutes left before we were due to arrive at Universal Studios, Fernando told us we were really close to the Hollywood sign.
The kids became very excited and almost dislocated their necks to look out the window to glimpse the sign when Fernando asked us if we wanted to see it up close.
He told us he knew of a small dog park that was a few minutes detour from where we were driving; that is only known by the residents that live close by. However, it was so close to the Hollywood sign that you could almost touch it.
Tourists used to be able to go and touch the Hollywood sign and take photos; however, now, it is a restricted area, and touching it is prohibited.
We were running early for the early entry arrival, and we had some time to spare, so we took him up on his offer and asked him to head to the park.
It couldn’t have been more perfect.
The park was high up in the hills, at the end of some very long, winding roads. Luckily, my son didn’t hurl up his breakfast on the way there!
When we arrived, we jumped out and ran into the park, where we had the clearest view of the Hollywood sign possible!
I’ve traveled often to LA but have never been so close to the Hollywood Sign. For my children, this was an LA dream.
Fernando offered to take photos of our family in front of the sign
Then he asked if he could take a selfie with all of us to remember this whole experience.
Some friendly people walking their dogs that morning in the park stopped and offered to take pictures of all of us with Fernando in the shots with us.
My son told them, “This man is a hero; he fought the wars.”
The friendly dog walkers started shaking his hands and thanking him for his service.
We had never seen such patriotism, and I felt so much pride in seeing that my TikTok-obsessed children looked up to Fernando with such honor.
We made it to Universal Studios on time for the gates to open and said goodbye to Fernando
Before he left, we exchanged emails so we could keep in touch.
The experience of meeting Fernando was one of the highlights of our entire trip. I am grateful that my children have seen that there are people in the world who work hard to help others and sacrifice their own important moments and joyful times to keep others safe.
And my son still tells people about the “army man” we met, how nice he was, and how much of a hero he is, even without two toes!