I don’t trust a lot of my friends to drive me around, yet I willingly put my life (and stomach) into the hands of a stranger if they’re in a yellow car. However scary this notion is, cabs are necessary in NYC. They are best when caught in the rain, after a long night out or when you’re just too tired to venture down into the booming hell that is the subway. These are also coincidentally the hardest times to hail one.

When taking a NYC taxi you pay a price, and I’m not talking about the fare. It’s the imminent and unshakeable nausea and headache that comes with a driver that has no regard for you or the laws of traffic. NYC cab sickness is hard to beat. I’ve heard of people overcoming it but I am still very much cabintolerant.

Cab sickness is triggered by the smells, the blaring of the TV and the whipping around by your driver as if he’s trying to take a lead on Yoshi. I’ve tried various focal points to distract from the ride but nothing works. Partaking in a quick round of Jeopardy really upsets your head, but its impossible to not play along with Mr. Trebek. The absolute worst recipe for nausea is trying to follow a map on your phone or texting someone that you’re gonna be late because of “ugh, traffic”.

Feeling like you may lose your black and white cookies does distract from the horrendous ride. I recently endured my scariest cab ride to date as the cabbie drove up an on-ramp to escape the gridlock we found ourselves in at 4am. As we accelerated toward oncoming headlights, I dug my nails into Mike and Kris and screamed, “Excuse me sir!” Luckily we survived and after the fact we even thanked him for saving us some wee hours. It’s nice to know I remain polite in life threatening situations.

Despite the nausea, danger and the little time they actually save you, cabs still feel like a luxury. Cabs remain at the top of the list for NYC public transportation, while the subway is far, far below (literally). I’ll take on cab sickness over the subparway any day.