"tile" <supertile@libero.it> wrote in message
news:6VZYg.5951$uv5.47859@twister1.libero.it...
I had a bad experience with a taxi from the Rome airport. A few years ago,
I took a taxi from the airport to the city centre. Our hotel was a good
distance from Termini station, so with bags etc, we figured a taxi would be
definitely more convenient. I might be rusty with the numbers, but the fare
came to 38 Euro, and I gave him 45 -- which I thought was generous. He
complained about the bags(3), and his "supposedly poor english" (which
sounded fine to me) he was trying to indicate I owed him more, and he
basically demanded another 10 Euro. Note the taxi stand (or perhaps the
side of the car) spelled out extra charges for bags, etc, which I had
factored in.

It was basically a shake-down, and after a transatlantic flight and no
sleep, with no working knowledge of Italian, I basically paid it.

A couple taxi drivers in Brussels were shady too. One taxi driver tried
charging me something like 19 Euro for a 5 minute? cab ride. The meter was
zeroed-out when I got in the car, and said 19.00 when I left, but it was
obviously crooked.

Another lazy Brussels taxi driver didn't want to put two small suitcases
into the back of the cab, and motioned for me to do it. I just looked at
him like he was on drugs, and he got the picture. Same guy that got shitty
with me when he pretended not to know where the hotel was even though I gave
him the name, the address, and eventually the step by step directions. It
was 5 minutes from the station.

There was a post about London cabs not long ago. I've found the taxi's
there to be generally pretty good, reliable, knowledgable about the city,
etc. They are easily available everywhere but that's their downfall --- it
can be expensive. The tube is pretty straightforward though, and the
all-day or multi-day passes make it an easy way for tourists to get around.

<diatribe off>

Keith
Pittsburgh