It’s strange. Of all the posts I’ve added recently, pretty much the only topic that has really provoked people to comment (offline) is my comment about taxi drivers. So everyone has been asking “what’s with you and taxi drivers?” or possibly more accurately; “what’s with taxi drivers and you?”.
The truth is, the best cabbies in the world are in London. They really know their stuff, they know the roads, the routes, the hotels. It pretty much spoils you for them the rest of the word over.
In Italy, it was always a case of “OK so I might be foreign but I can still count. Now please give me the rest of my change….” Usually followed by a sheepish look or shoulder shrug from the driver.
In Amsterdam I’ve been driven around for an hour then randomly dropped off at a cab rank when the driver couldn’t find where we were going.
In Egypt I’ve been driven around at night in a taxi with its headlights off – apparently to save electricity. (sadly true)
In China, it’s the fact that they are blatently trying to rip you off. All those stories about it being a longer route on the way back, the heavy traffic means you need to come off the meter or the dodginess when they surrepticiously remove their signs and pop the meter on a higher rate.
But it isn’t just me. Here’s the evidence. When you take a cab back to the hotel in Beijing, the meeters/ greeters/ porters hand you a card like the below. Clearly there’s a problem.
