I'm not sure where you're traveling to, then. Unless you're an Albino, you're not whiter than me. If I'm in the sun for more than 30 seconds, I turn red. :)

I regularly travel to a dozen or so countries, such as: Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand being the major ones. I can only think of a few isolated cases that I paid above an average place in these locations. Most of them have meters in the cars, except for Peru.

There are always airport touts who will try to lead you away from a cheaper option. I will often scan reports on FT for a new location that I'm not familiar with. I did this on my first trip to Cambodia a few years ago, and Vietnam last year, and saved at least 50% if I hadn't known.

It's much better to be forewarned.

Locations where I have been unable to secure "fair" pricing for taxis:

Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Turkey
Mozambique
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Thailand (actually hard to get taxis at all without going on gem scam tours)
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Armenia
India
Malaysia

I've been to Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Thailand, India and Malaysia on this list and found that I did not have the issues you noted w/ taxis. Sure they all tried to pull something, like the taxi in Thailand that told me the meter was not used for the airport, but as long as i was forceful with them, it was taken care of.

I've found that one of the best tricks to not getting screwed is to take advantage of the hotel bellmen. I know everyone has pointed out how they rip you off and you have to be wise to this. Make sure you ask them to hail a street metered taxi. Then have them make sure they have the meter on. I find in a foreign place this works best. There's plenty of times they try to get you their sedan or precontracted taxis, but if you're forceful enough with them you generally end up with the non-rip off ones.

The one place none of this worked for me was Athens. My friends and I, coming in from a cruise (and we're pretty experienced travelers) could not get a taxi to barter with us, turn on a meter, or charge the pre-arranged rate at the pier. Then, after we took a picture of the taxi driver and taxi license plate that was trying to rip us off, we couldn't even get a taxi to stop for us (clearly someone radioed to others about us). We ended up taking mass transit which saved a ton of money and sent the complaint in to the taxi bureau through a friend of ours in AThens. I'm sure it went no where, but it made me feel better.

I certainly agree with your post. Taxi drivers will try to scam you the world over. Unless you know how the system works, and are prepared to stand up to their BS, you will only be taken advantage of.

I've taken taxis in Malaysia, and they abhor the meter, certainly. I'll generally have a hotel call a taxi, and specify that I want a metered one, and never have a problem.

Much of the world has a bartering mentality. They see rich tourist, and think that what is $50 to them, instead of the $5 ride it's supposed to be. I know a taxi driver in Costa Rica, that I've known since he was 3 years old. He's told me that if a foreign customer gets in, and doesn't ask for the meter to be turned on, of course he's going to get 3 or 5 times more than normal.

Europe has some of the highest metered taxi fares. I paid almost $20 for a 1 mile ride in London (I had a bunch of bags, otherwise, I'd never have paid it). So much of the world's rip off taxi prices are still way cheaper! :)

Indeed - that was my original tip.

I have had some fair price taxis in the places I mentioned, but I have also met other taxi drivers who absolutely wouldn't play ball. Thailand was the hardest. If you had a Thai arrange the taxi, t would all be fair and metered. Without that intervention, no meter and in Chaing Mai, no taxi at all without stopping at three temples on the way. I walked in Chaing Mai.

Counterfiet antique coins
 

A friend visiting China found some antique US coins in a market. A collector, but not an expert he bought. Vendors came out of the woodwork with more antique US coins. He bought and snuck them home. Assayed be a real numismatist, they were of course counterfiet.

Some time later, another friend began bragging about the great deal he'd gotten on the web from a Chinese vendor on antique American coins. I sain, "Friend, I have a sad tale for you..."

When in Vegas, avoid anyone dressed like hotel staff who approaches you..it's a time share sale or some kind of bothersome pitch for something in town.

One scam in NY is a guy approaching people in the banking districts, during after office hours, either downtown or midtown (usually 6Ave/50s) with a sob story that he is a visiting foreign professor doing a day trip in the city and had his heavy bag stolen and that he only has $10 in his pocket but needs an additional $20 to make it back to a university in CT (where he is a visiting lecturer). The university changes but these con men actually do their homework and can rattle of correct names of members of the faculty of whatever department they claim to be visiting. As there are many people who actually went to those universities working in the banking industry in NY, they probably give these guys a buck or two. If the market did well that day, I see him getting 20s. Usually it's a guy fluent in a foreign language picking out people speaking their own language for extra sympathy. In my co-worker's case it was a Korean man approaching him in Korean with the sob story. The really sad part of this scam is the amount of detail these con men have because everything does check out without actually calling that particular university to see if Professor ConMan actually exists. Plus being after office hours, there is no one to talk to if you do actually call.

Another scam in NY that I have personally been a victim of is "sorry you gave me the wrong bill" scam, but not in the usual sense. When alone we can always call the cops on the spot in the cab and enough people do that so that particular scenario doesn't really happen much. What does happen now is that they so the same thing with the $1 and $10 bills when you have clients or visitors that are loudly rattling on about their evening. "OMG! Is that the Empire State building? I've always wanted to visit Times Square!" Rather than call and wait for the cops to show up and ruin the evening, most people just let it go. After all what is $10 compared to your friend or client having a good impression & memories of NY?

Cancun..any restraunt..if your bill should be 20 dollars, they charge 40. Point it out, they fix it..no apologies.

tcl #188: whenever I hand over a banknote, I always say "this note is $20" (or whatever value it is) to avoid the 'different banknote' scam.

I was warned about even the metered taxis in Southeast Asia--according to some travel sites, the meters are fixed to run fast. One in Vietnam that I persuaded to turn the meter on (it was a bit too easy to persuade him, I think in hindsight) seemed to run a bit on the fast side. I never could get taxis in KL or Bangkok to turn their meters on, even when walking away from the taxi and approaching another one (once I tried three cabs in succession, and after turning away the third one in disgust, I just walked).

Having to always be on guard for scams (from taxi meters all the way up to buying precious items) was one of the big downers for me of traveling in Southeast Asia. It was wearying--so much so that despite all of the positives of travel in that region, I was fed up with it after three weeks (with a fourth week looming ahead), ready to return to Western culture, and not really looking forward to going back. (Fortunately, after a few weeks in Australia, my attitude was softened, and I look forward to returning someday!)

Nothing beats the taxi I took in Hanoi last year. The meter started spinning like crazy and in the time it took my brain to instruct my mouth to say "STOP" it racked up about $9 - for a two-block ride!

I do that now :) but back then I was rather new to the whole corporate thing and certainly didn't expect it in my own city. It was also the first company I worked for that didn't have a car company on contract and so had no access to cars waiting.

Well travel sites may warn about stuff, but having your own personal experience is something entirely different.

In Bangkok, I never will take a taxi that is just sitting there waiting for you, unless it's actually at a 4 or 5 star hotel. On a recent visit a couple of weeks ago, one that was parked near the end of a soi wanted 200 baht for a 50 baht ride. I just laughed at him, and walked another 50 feet, and flagged a taxi going down the road.

Buenos Aires is a town that has some ripoff taxi's certainly. We were coming out of Cabana Las Lilas in Puerto Madero, and grabbed a waiting taxi. (Mistake #1). I take taxi's often, and know how much it should cost. It wasn't a long trip, and I think the fare should have been 6 pesos. Instead, it was almost double that, 11 pesos. I knew he was ripping me off, but gave him the look, and paid it anyway. He then tried the, "Oh sir, you gave me the wrong bill". I laughed at him, and walked away. He sheepishly grinned, and drove away.

In the end, knowing what a ride should cost is a good thing. On a trip a few months back in China, I was leaving a train station. I had read warnings about the taxi drivers there, and made sure to tell the driver to use the meter. It was my first overnight visit to this city, so I was a bit distracted, looking at the city. I did see the meter going, so though everything was fine.

The distance was short, and the ride should have been 8 Yuan. When I get to the hotel, the driver says it's 30 Yuan. I look at the meter, and something is weird with it, it shows the distance I've traveled (2.6k), but not the fare.

I hand the driver 10 Yuan, but he refuses. I point to the meter, and the markings on the taxi which show the rate (2.4 or 2.8 Y per kilometer). I get the hotel staff involved, get my luggage into the hotel, and walk inside. The taxi driver isn't happy, and starts to drive off. He then parks, comes inside, and says 20 Yuan. Then 15. I give him the 10 Yuan, and with some choice Chinese, he takes it an leaves.

Now many of you will say that it's stupid to argue over what is basically a couple of dollars. However, to me, it's basically saying that it's okay to rip people off. I know that in any transaction that involves a taxi driver I might get taken a little. However, when it's a 300% or more inflation, I'm not going to stand for it.

Now, I had been to this town before, for a day meeting, and had done the exact same thing (but didn't have luggage), and encountered no problem at all. My next trip after this, I just walked to the curb, and got a taxi that was dropping someone off.

I’m so pleased that some people never get ripped off by taxis, wherever they are in the world. They always seem to know the right price, the right method to hail a taxi, the right language, etc. They never seem to get flustered by arguments, or tired of arguments, or just want to get somewhere for a mutually agreeable price as quickly and easily as possible. Gosh, I even remember a poster on another thread explaining that he had travelled the length and breadth of Egypt and only ever paid local prices and how easy it was.

I wish I could be more like these people.