Here are a few hints, tricks and general suggestions about why taxis are a good way to travel, what it's like to take a taxi and how to prevent getting ripped off by sneaky cab drivers.
Finding a taxi
The first thing you should know the best way to do is locate a cab. Luckily, this practice is pretty similar in most parts of the planet, where you hail one on the street as well as can just stick your hand out. Most taxis have a light within their front windshields that suggests they are free to pick up new passengers. You might also notice some cabs slowing down or honking at pedestrians attempting to give you a face lift, which is another telltale sign that a cab is free.
Every area has an alternative style of hailing a cab. In a few places, the locals extremely wave their hands, others stick their arms straight up in the air and flap their hands down and up, and Executive Travel Little Hallingbury near your midsection to indicate a hail you simply hold your hand out in a number of places. Look for other people on the street who could be hailing taxis and replicate their technique.
Arriving to a new airport or station, look for hints that show a car or say "cab" to find the rank.
Understanding your way
Before you get in to taking a cab, the next trick is understanding your way. Perhaps this appears unreasonable; after all, you're spending the taxi driver to get you there safely. Nevertheless, it's ridiculous to blindly trust anyone in a strange city, even a taxi driver. Like with anything, there are incredibly fantastic and trustworthy taxi drivers out there, along with jerks only out to rip you off.
Prior to getting into your taxi, you need to have a couple bits of advice readily available. Firstly, what's your destination? And an actual street address, although I am not speaking an overall name of a business. You must also understand which neighborhood you're heading to and the general direction you are expecting to go or what area of town. To learn this, examine some maps. Whereabouts in the city is the destination located? What are the major landmarks, like skyscraper, a river, park or museum that you should pass on the road?
If you are feeling not extremely easy, possess a map of the city convenient in the taxi and follow your course to be sure you're heading the best way. This could be especially useful in cities where a language barrier keeps you from communicating well together with your taxi driver.
Meters, payment and tipping
Most registered, legal taxis run on a meter system which calculates the total owed automatically and monitors your mileage. Prevent taxis which don't run on meters and avert touts or salesmen in unknown stations or airports who attempt to lure you to their cabs - look for the official taxi rank instead.
In lots of spots, tipping a taxi driver is not necessary, as motorists are paid salary or a regular hourly wage and don't rely on tricks to earn their living. Read up in your destination beforehand if tipping is the standard to find out. Just pay the fare on the meter when in doubt and anticipate change that is full.
In the event you believe you are being driven off course or taken "to get a ride", look around within the taxi, as many cities and/or cab firms offer help lines for passengers that are being scammed or ripped off. In addition, the fares are usually sign posted around the windows of the taxi, so check to be sure that the meter fare fits the quoted fare on the window.
Communicating
The easiest place is in a strange city where you don't speak the language, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will be taken advantage of. Keep phone numbers available in the event you need a person to translate to get a taxi driver and also have a hotel receptionist or English -speaker write down your destination in the local language to show a taxi driver.
Most hotels and hostels also offer advice on what the typical fare ought to be to a destination. Likewise, it is possible to regularly find the general taxi fares to and in the city on most airport websites under "Ground Transport".
