RideShare RoadTalk: Conversations In Motion
RideShare RoadTalk is an unscripted, organic rideshare podcast recorded in realtime that reveals the hidden side of everyday people we rarely get to hear — because no one has asked, or because we were all too busy to listen. You’re not just listening to rideshare stories. You’re listening to the world.
Each episode is captured on the road, where honest conversations unfold between driver and passengers. From late‑night confessions and raw personal stories to sharp takes on culture, work, relationships, and life, RideShare RoadTalk offers a front‑row seat to the voices most people never hear. These aren’t polished studio interviews — these are real people, in real time, discussing deep personal issues, triumphs, tragedy and everything that makes us human.
If you’re searching for a unique rideshare podcast that blends documentary‑style storytelling, candid interviews, and the unpredictable energy of the open road, you’re in the right place. RideShare RoadTalk is built for listeners who crave authenticity, curiosity, and human connection — commuters, creators, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants more than another generic talk show.
Hit play, ride along, and discover why the most unforgettable conversations often happen between Point A and Point B.
RideShare RoadTalk: Conversations In Motion
My Bourbon Swilling Lesbian Friend
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The ride begins with a clean car, an open window, and a quick laugh about the lingering scent of the passenger's last ride—then slowly opens into something deeper.
Some social chemistry can make the city feel alive. By the time we pull up, we’ve figured out a pretty solid way to move through the world—curious, kind, and open. If you’re into bourbon, DC restaurants, immigrant food stories, or the simple joy of a good conversation, this one’s for you. Tap follow, share, and drop a quick review!
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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video
Rolling Into DC And Vibes
SPEAKER_00Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk, Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talkspace that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, John Fondis, and we're cruising the streets of Washington, D.C. Buckle up. Let's drive. How are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm good, man.
SPEAKER_00Good, good, good. You know?
SPEAKER_02And it smells decent. Oh my god. Okay, the last car I had smelled like cigarettes. And you know when you leave clothes out too long? And it gets that moldy smell in the washer? You know what I'm talking about. People people have that odor. Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_00Well, I smell nice. That's good.
SPEAKER_02It's like so it smelled like mildew and cigarettes. And then he asked me, Do you want the windows in?
The Show Concept: Tourism Meets Talk Therapy
SPEAKER_01I was like, Yeah, just crack it, please. Just crack it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, you want the mic drop moment?
SPEAKER_01What's up?
SPEAKER_00I do this for a podcast.
SPEAKER_01You do this for a podcast? That's all I do.
SPEAKER_00I come down twice a week. I have this podcast. It's like a combination of DC tourism and talk-space therapy. It's the craziest thing I've ever done in my life.
SPEAKER_02Therapy. Oh man, are you an emotional fella?
SPEAKER_00I can be.
SPEAKER_02I feel it.
SPEAKER_00I make people cry.
SPEAKER_02I know. I feel it. Um I actually beard groomed. Just like how it's groomed, it's like, okay, if you had the connecting with the chops and the beard like separated, that's like tough guy energy.
SPEAKER_00Is this your husband or boyfriend?
SPEAKER_02No, no, no, no. It's a friend.
SPEAKER_00Okay, you're my spirit animal already. Just letting you know.
SPEAKER_02I have a lesson.
SPEAKER_00You and I are like, Well, perfect! Perfect.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, we could totally check out ladies together.
SPEAKER_00No, no pretense uh drink on me.
SPEAKER_02Oh, nice. I love it. That's excellent. Man, if we had an extra ticket, actually just a poetry reading, um, you would have been totally invited. I wish we were going to a club because I would kidnap you.
SPEAKER_00Want you to listen to the podcast at some point. I'll give you the name and all that. All right, my stay in touch. It is the most fascinating study in sociology. It trumps any master's level degree you could get.
SPEAKER_01It's I believe you can.
SPEAKER_00It's a good everyone's got a narrative.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's a good idea. And if I can coax it out of you. No, you don't ever coax anything.
SPEAKER_00Well, not you, but I mean, there are some introverted people in the world for sure. Wait, not you.
SPEAKER_02I mean your average Joe. Not whatever ridiculousness I just felt so close to. It's a matter of two minutes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're my bourbon swelling lesbian friend.
SPEAKER_02I just had bourbon earlier.
SPEAKER_00Say? That's gonna be the title of this episode. We just had a big one. If you'd like to be on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, man.
SPEAKER_00What's uh what's your favorite uh bourbon? What do you like?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Like I can be anything. I know. It's not a quiz. I know, I know. Okay, the one that has like a deer.
SPEAKER_00Um, don't you dare say Breckenridge.
SPEAKER_02God damn it.
SPEAKER_00That would have been really creepy.
unknownMaybe.
SPEAKER_00However, Breckenridge is phenomenal.
Bourbon, Bars, And Sensing The Details
SPEAKER_02I think I just have to see the logo, my guy. Does it have a deer logo?
SPEAKER_00It might. Maybe it's a mountain. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02No, it's a deer.
SPEAKER_00It might be.
SPEAKER_02It's a good. They have like different classes and stuff.
SPEAKER_00What's your what's your friend's name?
SPEAKER_03George.
SPEAKER_00George. George, Google Breckinridge Bourbon. What's the what's the label?
SPEAKER_02No, I I didn't. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00See, George is feeling left out of the conversation. I feel guilty.
SPEAKER_02No, it's fine. I'm I'm the extrovert here. He's he's gonna be so entertained. We did this last week. I made friends with the DJ and the bartender, and then the next day he's like, I had a great time. And I'm like, you know what? Yeah, it was Tuesday night.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Um wait, Lincoln Theater. Who's there tonight?
SPEAKER_02Uh Jesse Reya. She is a songwriter, but then she also does spoken word. She wrote a poetry book. So we're just okay, okay, okay. I'm an old person. I don't know who that is. It's okay. I honestly I just go on random adventures.
SPEAKER_00I'm uh again, spirit animal. I love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_00I I'm trying to relearn that.
SPEAKER_02You're trying to relearn to be so open? You are open.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean, just to kind of try. The world is your stage and just.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, especially when you see there's a lot of under stuff that you're like, whoa, how did I end up here? And you're just just go with it, man.
SPEAKER_00You know where I went the other night for dinner, and I had probably the best old fashioned I've ever had in my life.
SPEAKER_02Oh man.
SPEAKER_00At uh Shoto.
unknownOh!
SPEAKER_02I know where that is! It does have a great old fashioned.
SPEAKER_00It was like it was, I guess their Japanese, whatever it was. But it was almost like the orange peel was frozen inside of the ice cube like like amber, like Jurassic Park.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_00So as it melted down, the aromatics of that would kind of dilute into the water. Sensitive? No, I'm just descriptive.
SPEAKER_02No, man, that takes sensitivity. What the heck are you talking about? Sensitivity doesn't mean you cry every time. Sensitivity just means that you are um sensitive and you're heavily impacted by slight things. That's sensitivity.
SPEAKER_00I like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, people always associate it with like the act of crying.
SPEAKER_00No, it's like a gluten intolerance. I'm just sensitive the other way.
SPEAKER_02You're just like you notice the small things, and that is sensitivity. That's important. Yeah, but not everybody. Like I I go outside and look, smells like winter. And then how do people live 30 years without like understanding there's like sense to different like um weather, like the seasons?
SPEAKER_00The precipitation and all that.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And all like you just not smell air.
SPEAKER_00Oh, hold on one second. Sorry.
SPEAKER_02Okay, who's bestie calling us?
SPEAKER_00Um, that's my son, Basil.
SPEAKER_02Oh, can we talk to your son?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02How old is your son?
SPEAKER_00He is 18, senior in high school.
SPEAKER_02Let's not do that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. We still gotta be strict. Okay. 21, you you can be like, what yeah, my other kid's 20.
SPEAKER_00He'll be 21.
SPEAKER_02No, no, no. 23, you could be yourself. But 21, you're like, you're creeping them into like, oh, this is how Pops really is.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they know, they know. They get like, they get like Yeah, they get like 50% like no peaks every now and then.
SPEAKER_0223, you get to be yourself. And then when you're like yourself, well, I'm 31 now. I feel like you're 12.
SPEAKER_00What are you talking about? You're 35.
SPEAKER_02I'm Asian, Asian no raisin. It's okay. Until we hit a certain age, and then that's so funny. Then it was just downhill.
SPEAKER_00It's all the omega 3 and 6. It just is.
SPEAKER_02It is. I but I think Asian people just live. I don't know. Maybe it's the rice cooker, giving those extra energy.
SPEAKER_00Maybe um, I try to really, I don't preach, but I try to just lay it out for my kids, like the simple pleasures of life. It's so easy to go through with this wide.
Parenting, Age, And Simple Pleasures
SPEAKER_02Like 21, I'd be like, shut up, man.
SPEAKER_00From like old guy perspective, right? I just turned 57. And so when I mean simple pleasure, I mean like playing golf with a caddy, a walk unobstructed.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Or a hot razor shave, like old school, where you think you might get whacked, but you know, with the actual straight razor shave.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, simple satisfactions over life.
SPEAKER_00Little tiny simple pleasures like that. That's because we're you know, a sip of a bourbon and a good conversation.
SPEAKER_02100%, just meeting good people.
SPEAKER_00I don't need the dun dun dun dun dun again.
SPEAKER_02I just saw your car and I was like, you're here?
SPEAKER_01We didn't have to walk. You know how excited I was? Talk about simple pleasures of life.
SPEAKER_00There was a magnetism. I was being drawn in to that radiant wherever that cul de sac was. It was a little sketchy for about a half second time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was gonna jump you.
SPEAKER_00I was like, eh.
SPEAKER_02You were like, I can handle message.
SPEAKER_00If I was if I was writing the script, this is where I would wake up missing a kidney, would be in that kind of an environment.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It had nothing to do with your race, by the way, George. No, no.
SPEAKER_00That was just the general how long have you guys lived in the city here? Or do you?
SPEAKER_02Uh I live near Dulles Airport. Oh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we can't be friends. You're in Virginia.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know. It's a terrible thing. I'm very not Northern Virginia. I've got Northern Virginia taste, but like people say my personality is vile.
SPEAKER_00Uh, it's not Nova, I know that.
SPEAKER_02I know, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00It's not that.
SPEAKER_02I know. But I do have pretentious days. I'm just like, mmm.
SPEAKER_00I'm picking up like San Francisco.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, people think I'm a beach kid a lot.
SPEAKER_00San Francisco, but like a Vegas transplant thing.
SPEAKER_02Like you're ready to roll. I like it. I like what you smell in there. Where are you originally from?
SPEAKER_00Here.
SPEAKER_02DC.
SPEAKER_00Born in DC, grew up part of DC. Grew up in like Rockville, Bethesda area. Went to school in Florida, came back, never left.
SPEAKER_02We got the Florida and beard.
SPEAKER_00The what?
SPEAKER_02The Floriden beard.
SPEAKER_00This? No, no, no. This just breaks up the monotony of my face.
SPEAKER_02You didn't get that from Florida? You didn't get inspired by Floridians?
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. When I was in Florida, all I did was to do drugs and not study. That's all I did.
SPEAKER_02What undergrad? Did you go to undergrad there?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, it was Lynn University. Um, which I mean it's like between West Palm and Lauderdale, mile from the beach. There was nothing happening there.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_00Education-wise. Who was at the Warner tonight?
SPEAKER_02Is that why you're very your brain is very open because of the drug?
SPEAKER_00I don't think so. I don't think so. I just think it's my curious nature.
SPEAKER_02I'm just I'm just asking. Maybe you had a spiritual awakening, you know. They used to do that in the old days, is they get plastered with drugs to have a spiritual awakening.
SPEAKER_00Full disclosure, someone tried to convert me like two rides ago to being a born-again. Oh I was like, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02Were you conveyed? Were you persuaded?
SPEAKER_00No, I mean the lady, she was very nice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, she worked at the World Bank, she was from West Africa, I think Ghana, I think.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Schooled in the UK.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Very intelligent. Great conversation.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And then she just asked about me and my background, and I don't know. All of a sudden she thought it was okay to bring me in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, yeah, I don't think it works that way. In their tree.
SPEAKER_02In their perspective, that was love.
SPEAKER_00I guess.
SPEAKER_02I know. I know. Well, coming from immigrant parents, they display love terribly. Um, but we're here. We're alive.
SPEAKER_00My my immigrant parents uh spell love F-O-O-D.
SPEAKER_02Oh, same. Food. Yeah, they don't apologize, they cut you up through.
unknownGot you.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know what it is? I mean, I mean, and uh see honestly, it my families are from Greece and from Italy.
SPEAKER_02And they each say apologize in food all day.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I had no chance of being skinny. That's one of the episode names of one of the recent episodes. Yeah. Oh my god. Um I can cook too.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, you have to! Yeah, otherwise it's an insult.
SPEAKER_00Correct, right.
SPEAKER_01Um it doesn't even matter if you're a man in those two cultures. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I couldn't all I grew up just hanging out with my mom in the kitchen, just bullshitting. Um, but like the hold on one second. We're getting lost in the conversation.
SPEAKER_02Not in translation, but he said we are getting lost, or you are getting lost.
Roots, Food, And Why We Overfeed
SPEAKER_00Um that mentality, like both were occupied during World War II. They fled those countries to come seek a better life.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So the the the grand women, the the mothers and the grandparents, when they came here and assimilated, they never forgot what they went through. And so they realized that every day isn't promised, tomorrow can be taken away. And so, in the moments where you have, you give, and you eat, and you celebrate life because the next day isn't promised. And that's why stereotypically Italians overfeed their families or Greeks. That's the that's the core essence of it.
SPEAKER_02And like on top of that, I somebody asked me.
SPEAKER_00I feel like I'm going up a wrong way street here, but I'm gonna go with it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Someone asked me like why I love to cook so much, and I feel like cooking, especially like my cultural food, so I'm Filipino. Like, I feel like closer with the ancestors. Like, as crazy as that sounds, there's something ancestral, like on the act of cooking.
SPEAKER_00You're second Filipino this evening, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Who?
SPEAKER_00You're the second Filipino in the car this evening.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're everywhere. We like to populate. We travel in packs.
SPEAKER_00That's true.
SPEAKER_02You see a group of Asians all the time, like we travel in pack. Okay.
SPEAKER_00But here's the question the other person couldn't answer. What makes Filipino cuisine Filipino? Is it is it is it a certain protein? Is it an aromatic? What makes it Filipino by by definition? Compared to say Korean or Japanese? What's the what's the core ingredient that makes it such?
SPEAKER_02It's like sweet and savory. It's like found a lot throughout the Filipino, like cuisine that's native. And like like the sour and peanut butter, but I do notice like a lot of it is in terms of like preservatives, because not a lot of people have refrigerators, so they'll dry their fish often. Like the things that we cook in and like vinegar is things that can be stable outside the fridge, too.
SPEAKER_00Good point. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So like a lot of the cuisine some people think that like it's not really fresh, and I'm like, yes, like yes, our fish could be fresh if you like live through it, but like a lot of things like trans like grasses into like how the the livelihood could it be outside of a fridge.
SPEAKER_00Right. Now see, I I find that fascinating. Because certain cultures are like that, absolutely. Yeah, you don't have an ice box where you're gonna learn how to preserve your food.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. So, like, some of it's like soury taste because it's like vinegar and sweet because of this, like, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Sweet savory, sour is like the most flavored product.
SPEAKER_00Do you have family back in the Philippines?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Do you go back often?
SPEAKER_02Um, last time I was 16, so it's been 15 years.
SPEAKER_00That's a brutal plane ride. It has to be.
SPEAKER_02It is. Um, but I went to Spain um earlier this year. Okay. Sorry, I'm traveling. I just haven't been to uh the motherlands in a while.
SPEAKER_00Spain seems like a cakewalk compared to being on a plane to the Philippines. Oh, yeah, it was great.
SPEAKER_02I was just chatting up um with my like the person who sat next to me. And apparently me and her were talking so much. Her husband moved seats. Her husband requested to move seats because we're chatting too much.
SPEAKER_00That's the best.
SPEAKER_02Um, and then I don't know why. Like the the lady.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I know why.
What Makes Filipino Cuisine Filipino
SPEAKER_02No, the Air France. Okay, we only get one little bottle of like Chardonnay, okay? The Air France is like included. But she was just like, the lady's like, hell have another one. And it just like was free. They were just still giving us and we're still chatting up. Um, but yeah, man. I think the best compliment I got from an Uber driver was it's like, you have this weird like gift that you feel like talking to an old friend.
SPEAKER_00And I'm like, Yeah, that's a life skill.
SPEAKER_01That's the sweetest thing we've ever heard of. That is life. George Hyundai's so sweet.
SPEAKER_00See, George is the one I'm I'm interested in. George has nothing to say, but he's got everything to say. No, there's a story there. There's a story there, George.
SPEAKER_02I will say that, George.
SPEAKER_00See?
SPEAKER_02So if I feel like you end up in adventures because you don't mind getting dragged into nonsense. But like it's not just me. It's like different people too. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you both compliment each other, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02I like how you said we are getting lost here.
SPEAKER_00Well, we are together for this short time, so you know.
SPEAKER_01I'm not the pilots here.
SPEAKER_00Start I know it's either Howard or Lincoln where they're doing some like jazz thing now. Like a jazz club. Something.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but they've been doing that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's in um it's at a restaurant and it's the downstairs speakeasy thing. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a lot of places in DC are like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, we gotta eat separately.
SPEAKER_00Well, here's a I like doing this, I call them like Uber dates, where you get downtown somewhere, I'll park the car, and then we just do like some Uber blacks to a place for appetizers. Like Shoto, go sit at the bar and have like the little the taco, the sushi tacos are fucking nuts, by the way. They could be$50 a piece and I'd still pay for them. Um and then bust out of there like rock stars, have a drink, and then go to like some other place for an entree, and then go to some other place for dessert, and then another place for a nightcap or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_02When we hung out last week, I was.
SPEAKER_00You're moving.
SPEAKER_02You're so cool.
SPEAKER_01You're like me.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm just saying, I don't need one giant meal at one place.
SPEAKER_01I want to go around and just No, but we make the most interesting people. People love us, man. Because we notice spots, we take them to kidnap, and then they just have the small time.
SPEAKER_00Have you been to Balos?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00I fucking love that place. Those are my people, man. That's as close to actual, like real, authentic Greek food as I would send anyone.
SPEAKER_02Okay, now I know I'm eating the good stuff. I haven't had someone vet it yet. I just love it. I just haven't had the second dairy, like, hey, I know Greek food.
SPEAKER_00Octopus is spot on. And the chocolate cake. Weird combo. Just roll with it.
SPEAKER_02Hey, okay, hey, I'm down.
SPEAKER_00Let me do a quick little U-turn.
SPEAKER_02Man, the princess treatment is so strange.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. Man, if I actually did this to do it, I'd be like, yeah, you're just get out of here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. A lot of people just do it to do, and that's okay. They're just living life.
SPEAKER_00No, they're not. They're just making honest money.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it's honest money, man.
SPEAKER_00Hello, sir. We're coming in.
SPEAKER_02Don't you know we're in DC? He don't care. Look at him, throw his hands up.
SPEAKER_00Alright.
SPEAKER_02Alright, thank you.
SPEAKER_00Cool. It was great chatting with you. You have the name of the podcast?
SPEAKER_02Alright. So I got up until and then I tried to look for it. I couldn't find it. So I'm on Spotify.
SPEAKER_00But if you go to my website, there's a link for the podcast.
SPEAKER_02I'm still gonna stalk you later. Please do.
SPEAKER_00George. Good talking to you.
SPEAKER_02Good talking to you. George, release me.
SPEAKER_00Stick your hand in there. There you go. Cool. Have a great time, guys. All right, thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you for listening to this episode of RodChair Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive.