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Becky
Beached limos
by Becky - July 26, 2007 - 11:14 PM

sdflkjIt’s with a fair amount of chagrin that I admit I’ve never been inside a limo. I’ve loitered on the hood of one, briefly, for reasons completely devoid of interesting subtext, and I’ve stopped next to one at a red light, been simultaneously harassed and cajoled by the passengers teeming out of the sunroof. But when I read reports of limos being beached, I’m a) amused, saddened, and, as a fellow driver, empathetic b) plagued with the urge to ride in one already! I missed the boat at my prom–I sailed in on my Buick Regal. And, well, I guess every other occasion limos could ever be summoned. What are all the occasions, anyway? Weddings and formals, any red carpet hoe-down, I get. But what others? Kids I knew who grew up in NYC used to save up (okay, or not) and rent them just to have a place to hang out away from their parents’ pads. Am I in the minority for never having been on one of these joy rides?

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Comments (17)

  1. no, you’re not.

    posted by katie on 7-27-2007 at 7:17 am

  2. A previous employer would pay for transportation to the airport for business trips and had a deal with a limo company. ( times out of 10 when I was travelling I was picked up in a stretch an rode by myself in the back, The first time I was kind of impressed, the second time I felt kind of silly and everytime after that I felt like an idiot. What a supreme waste! My current company has a car service and we ride to the airport in….cars.

    posted by JaneM on 7-27-2007 at 7:23 am

  3. The only time I was ever in a limo was when I went to Indianapolis for a game convention. It turned out that limo service to and from the airport was cheaper than taking a cab.

    I think it was like $15 to get where I was going in the limo, and the cab would have cost about $20. How crazy is that?

    posted by Mary on 7-27-2007 at 7:34 am

  4. I’ve only been in a limo once and I must have been 10 at the time. One of my friends rented one for her birthday. It was actually really fun; we rode around in it to different places around town.

    posted by Sally on 7-27-2007 at 8:46 am

  5. I’ve taken limos to airports several times, because yes, it’s cheaper than a cab. But those are mostly not “stretch” limos, just nice hired cars.

    Then I’ve ridden in stretch limos for radio station promotions and parades. It’s really nothing to write home about. The bill is the most amazing part.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 7-27-2007 at 8:49 am

  6. Same as above, Airport Limo company ran out of Lincolns and sent a strech. Also was on a business trip, and the vendor entertaining us picked up a bunch of us in a stretch.

    posted by Stew on 7-27-2007 at 9:01 am

  7. Tonight my broker is holding her cliffside land listings open for other realtors to enjoy the awesome view. People park at the bottom of the mountain, and are ferried up in a stretch Hummer, where food and fun await.

    posted by Johnny Cat on 7-27-2007 at 11:32 am

  8. Stretch Hummer! Amazing. And yeah, I had no idea limos could be cheaper. I have an attachment to Super Shuttle, but perhaps it’s time to be swayed. I’ve suffered through obsessions with dachshunds, and Falcor, so a limos phase makes sense…

    posted by Becky on 7-27-2007 at 3:30 pm

  9. Stretch Hummer! Amazing. And yeah, I had no idea limos could be cheaper. I have an attachment to Super Shuttle, but perhaps it’s time to be swayed. I’ve suffered through obsessions with dachshunds, and Falcor, so a limos phase makes sense…

    posted by Becky on 7-27-2007 at 3:30 pm

  10. I’ve been in a limo twice.
    Once when I was six, and I was the flower girl in my aunt’s (and now uncle’s) wedding, the bridesmaids, bride, my brother (the ring bearer), and my aunt and I rode to the wedding in a limo.

    Then in tenth grade, my friend’s parents had to go to some fancy event in a stretch Explorer (not as nice as a hummer, but still pretty cool) and some of my friends and I went got to ride around in it.

    posted by Shannon on 7-27-2007 at 4:39 pm

  11. I’m a florist who specializes in weddings. We refer to stretch Hummers as “Bridal Assault Vehicles”
    Honestly, let’s take a design from the military, and stretch it out into a luxury rental! For my wedding, I’m looking to rent a stretch tank. Complete with gun turrets to shoot Jordan Almonds.

    posted by Maggie on 7-27-2007 at 5:33 pm

  12. I can tell you that you’re not missing out on anything.

    For some reason my family started using limo services when I was about 10 years old. Whenever we went on vacation we always had a limo to take us to the airport and pick us up. In a way it is very convenient when you have a big family that packs everything plus the kitchen sink. You can save time by not parking in the large shuttle lots that are miles away–causing you to haul your luggage from your car to a shuttle bus.

    Other than that I don’t find them to be extremely flattering once you’re inside. I’ve taken almost every kind of limo: stretched white cars, stretched black cars, stretched Lincoln navigators, stretched Escalades, stretched Hummers, etc. The bigger the limo most likely the nastier its going to be inside. From my experiences, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Washington D.C., New York City, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles–all of the limos have the same stale atmosphere inside. The reason being those big vehicles hold 20+ passengers and 8/10 they are stuffed full of people.

    Instead of fine leather and upholstery inside you would see faded seats and worn floors. You immediately start to wonder if you should be wearing another layer of clothing to protect yourself from those seats.

    posted by Michael on 7-28-2007 at 10:47 am

  13. I just rented a stretch to pick my wife and her buddies up for her 60th birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

    posted by GoingLikeSixty on 7-28-2007 at 2:04 pm

  14. When my family and I visited Washington D.C. we went visit some CEO guy of BET (who’s apparently my relative). He was having a huge dinner party and we rode there in a limo with him.
    Another time was for one of my friends sweet 16. Her parents rented her a limo.

    posted by Rachel on 7-28-2007 at 8:45 pm

  15. I was thinking that the stretched Hummers were made as sort-of a joke, like the the stretch Cooper Mini that I saw.

    posted by Tdave on 7-28-2007 at 9:03 pm

  16. I rode in a limo to my junior prom, and it was certainly nothing fantastic. It was with 17 people I barely knew. Unfortunately, I was seated right next to the radio controls, so several warring factions were constantly leaning over me in the battle to change the radio station to the loudest and most obnoxious hip-hop music possible. Needless to say, I opted out of my senior prom this June and saved myself probably $400 and a good deal of frustration. Being cheap is so cool…

    posted by Sandy on 7-29-2007 at 3:43 pm

  17. @Maggie…

    Your idea on a tank limo for your wedding is really cool and very unique. Was curious of how the tank limo looks so I searched then I found some pics and an article. (placed the link under website since no links allowed on the message) I know you’ll surely find the article interesting.

    Surely you all will have fun.

    posted by shauna on 4-10-2008 at 2:47 am

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