Courtesy of Jason Busch I saw this Forbes Traveler listing of the world's worst taxi cities - Jakarta, Bangkok, Athens, New York City among them.
I cannot say I have been blatantly ripped off (not that I know off anyways) but I have had some interesting taxi moments in my travels
- First trip to Rome, it was middle of summer and the city was deserted and I was convinced the driver had taken me for a ride to some obscure suburb.
- Athens, told the driver to take me to the Hilton and he kept saying Chilton. I was convinced we were going to the wrong place till I saw a Chuck Norris movie poster, and his name was spelled Huck...and I breathed easier that Chilton was the same as Hilton.
- In Cairo, the guy stopped the car and asked me to take my seat belt off - "don't trust my driving?"
- In Tokyo, the cabs are immaculate and the drivers wear spotless white gloves. But in the taxi stand outside the Intercontinental, the cab in line would not drive up when my turn came. A local lady stepped out of line and the cab picked her. I turned to the Australian in line behind me and asked if it was the color of my skin. He said he would have been similarly ignored. Some taxis refuse to deal with any "gaijin".
Tough to rip off a foreign visitor if you don't even get them in your cab :)
