Travel Tips: Planned Pickups

A quick travel tip for those planning a round-the-world adventure like us.

One of the things I find most stressful about travel in the second and third world is simply getting around. Taxis are often not fitted with meters, and operated by people who sadly, are really out to scam you of as much money as possible. A typical scene so far (judging from my experiences in India, Thailand, Egypt, and, Tanzania) is exiting an airport or bus station into a hoarde of yelling people trying to get your money. In almost all of these occasions I've found the only normal/nice people are set back from the crowd, waiting patiently with their vehicle (note, these are usually the people who don't speak any English). Fine to head off through the crowd when only got a small bag, but when you are trying to keep the masses from hassling your wife and hauling 70-80 pounds of luggage between you, this is a tall order.

So to avoid all this nonsense I've tried to pre-arrange transport for our arrivals into less than desirable transport terminals. This typical means the magic person waiting with your name on a card. In America I'd imagine this costs a fortune, but the places we've been I figure you are paying double the normal rate for this service. What you are getting is (hopefully) a nice driver who speaks some English and works for a company that is not run by a bunch of thieves.

So far, this really has been a wonderful idea. We had this setup on our arrival and departure in Cairo, Dar es Salaam (both airport and ferry terminal), Zanzibar, and Cape Town. And I'm going to figure out who to do this in Mumbai if at all possible. We've either made these bookings with our local travel agent or the hotel where are are staying first.