Originally Posted by
ediemac1
India (Mumbai, specifically)
I was there 20 years ago. Got to the Ramada Hotel near the airport about 11:00 pm. After waiting in line for half an hour, no room available despite having a confirmed reservation. They said the guest refused to check out, so they were going to send me to their "sister concern". Put me in a taxi and told the driver where to take me. As soon as we got around the corner he stopped and demanded 350 rupees. I told him to take me back to the Ramada and they straightened him out, so off we go again. We ended up about an hour out of the city in a dark, unlit, narrow, broken down road in the middle of the jungle, and I was thinking, "Holy crap! This guy is going to knife me and leave me here in the bushes." Eventually we got to the sister hotel, which turned out to be not too bad, but I can say that in all my travels to over 40 countries it's the only time I have been really scared, not knowing where I was, and alone at the mercy of a taxi driver who was PO'd at me before we even left. In retrospect I should have paid the 350 rupees, which would have been <$20.