Betty and Bob Matas have retired and are moving to Arizona, but like many New Yorkers they don’t drive, and they don’t want their cats to travel all that way in an airliner cargo hold. Their solution: “Hey, cabbie.”

They met taxi driver Douglas Guldeniz when they hailed his cab after a shopping trip several weeks ago.

They got to talking about their upcoming move, and “we said ‘Do you want to come?”‘ said Bob Matas, 72, a former audio and video engineer for advertising agencies. “And he said ‘Sure.’ “

They plan to leave Tuesday on the 2,400-mile trip to Sedona, Arizona., with Guldeniz driving his yellow SUV cab 10 hours a day for a flat fee of $3,000, plus gas, meals and lodging.

Just one more problem that can be solved by a NYC cab driver.



  1. Higghawker says:

    Freedom, Aint it great!

  2. tallwookie says:

    They should make a Roadtrip movie out of it, ala baby-boomer-esque generation style (you know, complete with complaining about how this country is going down the tubes, and how children arent respectful enough and use too much foul language)

    I’d be a hoot!!

  3. timw077 says:

    Hmmm, for $1200, the two of them could have taken Amtrak and been much more comfortable in a “Roomette.”

    Of course, I’m just cheap. 🙂

  4. DaveW says:

    Let’s see….they don’t drive yet they are moving to Sedona? I guess the don’t ever plan to leave the house once they get there.

    Oh, and Tim, while I’m a train lover, and I agree it would be a great trip, I don’t think Amtrack allows cats.

  5. bhk says:

    Does he have a license to act as a hired car for all those states that he’ll be driving through? It’ll be interesting to see a followup to this story.

    #4 – you’re right, Amtrak doesn’t allow any pets.

  6. estacado says:

    New Yorkers don’t drive? Never got that impression from watching CSI:NY.

  7. Angel H. Wong says:

    And ppl wonder why New Yorkers are getting so fat…


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