Raise your hand if you’ve ever experienced an awkward silence! As driving with Bolt brings along a lot of chats with people you’ll be seeing for the first time, we decided to put together a small handbook of topics to talk about. You know, for those occasions where the sound of crickets just seems to get louder by the second!

What suits one, might not suit all. Which is exactly why this article is divided into five — each part containing 20 questions or topics to talk about to get the conversation juices flowing.

But before you start, here are some tips on how to be a nice person to talk to.

To keep the conversation going:

• Listen and follow up. Back and forth, back and forth, people. It goes two ways.
• Don’t go into the danger zone. Politics and religion. Safe to say that it’s better to keep away from those — haven’t we all been warned that playing with fire burns?
• Shut up if it feels weird. If the conversation you’re having feels more like you’re interrogating a perp, it’s about time to end it! As said before, it should always go in two ways.

So now that you have the how, it’s all about the what. Here goes!

Topics to talk about #1: get the conversation started

• The current day
  • All about the weather.
  • Driving Bolt — is it your first time?
  • If the passenger is going to or coming from some kind of an event, you can talk about that.
• Work
  • What do you do for a living?
  • Do you like your job?
  • How long have you worked there?
  • What’s your dream job?
  • Do you prefer remote work or working in the office?
• Not too distant future
  • Plans for the evening
  • Plans for the weekend
• Animals
  • Do you have any pets?
  • Did you have any pets growing up?
  • Cats or dogs?
  • What’s your favourite animal?
  • When was the last time you visited the zoo?
• Food
  • What’s your favourite food?
  • Do you know how to cook?
  • What’s your favourite restaurant?
  • Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks?
  • What’s your go-to cheat meal?

If any of these didn’t get the conversation going, free Bolt rides surely will. Throw in a recommendation to visit our blog, we’ve covered everything there is to know about passenger promo codes here.

Topics to talk about #2: get to know the person

• Places lived
  • Are you local?
  • Where are you from?
  • How long have you lived in this city?
  • Have you ever lived abroad?
  • Would you like to live abroad (again)?
• Family
  • Do you have any brothers or sisters?
  • Do you have any children?
  • What’s the best thing to do with your family?
  • Do you have any cool family traditions?
  • What’s the best advice you heard growing up?
• Education
  • Where did you go to school?
  • What’s the one thing you remember from school that you’ve actually never had to use in real life?
  • Are you in touch with your classmates?
  • What was your favourite subject at school?
  • What did you hate about school?
• Future plans
  • How long ahead do you plan your future? A day, month or 5 years?
  • Do you see yourself working at the same spot in 10 years?
  • Would you like to spend your retirement in your home country or move abroad?
  • Have you thought about going back to school?
  • What’s your biggest goal in life?

Topics to talk about #3: entertainment

• Movies
  • What was the last movie you saw?
  • What’s your favourite movie?
  • Do you have a favourite actor or actress?
  • Who’s your favourite director?
  • What’s the worst movie of all time?
• Series
  • Netflix or regular TV?
  • What’s your favourite TV-show?
  • Do you watch reality TV?
  • What was the show you grew up with?
  • What’s the worst series you’ve ever watched?
• Theatre
  • When was the last time you went to a theatre?
  • What’s your favourite play?
  • Do you have a favourite theatre?
  • Who’s your favourite actor or actress?
  • What’s the most boring thing you’ve seen in a theatre?
• Sports
  • Do you play any sports?
  • Do you watch any sports?
  • Who’s your favourite team?
  • What’s the most extreme sport you’ve ever tried?
  • Would you rather be a professional basketball or football player? Why?

Topics to talk about: #4: travelling

• Countries 
  • How many countries have you visited?
  • What’s on your to-visit list?
  • When was the last time you went on a vacation abroad and where was it?
  • Is there a place you would never want to visit?
  • TOP 5 places you’ve been
• Recommendations
  • Best hotels where you’ve been to
  • Best restaurants where you’ve been to
  • Best museums you’ve visited
  • The most interesting sights you’ve seen
  • Must see places that you’ll never forget

• Best and worst experiences
  • Best airline to travel with
  • Worst airline to travel with
  • Best travel agency to help you book your trip
  • Worst travel agency to help you book your trip
  • Best and worst food experiences when travelling
• Preferences
  • Do you like to travel alone or with someone to accompany you?
  • Do you usually travel with hand luggage only or not?
  • Do you prefer booking your trips by yourself or using a travel agency?
  • Do you normally use Airbnb or stay in hotels?
  • Do you like to travel to cold or warm countries?

Topics to talk about #5: completely random stuff

• Future
  • What will 2050 be like?
  • What will we use on a daily basis in 10 years that we don’t use now?
  • Will cars ever fly?
  • What will travelling abroad look like in 30 years?
  • Will people ever invent time travelling?
• Cars
  • What was your first car?
  • Favourite car models
  • Dream cars
  • Is it worth buying a 4×4 if you live in the city?
  • The stupidest things people do with their cars
• Space
  • The possibilities of space travel
  • When will we colonise Mars?
  • Do you think there’s somebody out there besides us?
  • What happens when you go into a black hole?
  • Do you think we can someday travel through different dimensions like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar?
• Technology
  • Will we still have smartphones in 10 years?
  • How will our home appliances evolve in 20 years?
  • Will AI take over?
  • Are robot armies a real thing in the future?
  • What will be the biggest technological invention of the next decade?

Question #101: Have you ever thought about becoming a Bolt driver?

Extra: what about music?

So, you went through the 101 topics to talk about and now the cricket situation is taking over. Luckily, there’s a solution for that. Music.

Why not ask your passenger what type of music they enjoy listening to?  Even better, offer to connect their phones to the system, turn the volume up and challenge to a sing-along, if you dare!

As you can see, driving with Bolt is far from boring – meeting new people and having great conversations with them is a daily thing. You can do that too, just fill in the driver sign-up form and get rolling! You’ll find all you need to know about the pay from here.