Originally Posted by GUWonder
... and there's that first trip from the airport to the hotel that makes for some interesting tales too.
When I travel alone to China, i.e. without my Chinese-speaking wife, I email the hotel and ask them to send me the name of the hotel and directions from the airport in characters. I print it out (you have to install Asian Language Support in Windows for this to work), take it with me, and just show it to the taxi driver when I arrive. I've never had a problem.