NAIL THE LANDING
The first test on many international adventures takes place before you leave the airport
Just past the customs kiosk, you'll often find a mob of drivers, porters, and other assorted "helpers." The right move depends on the context. If you're heading someplace especially disorienting, like Indonesia or even some parts of Mexico, book your first night's accommodations from home, then ask the hotel to send a driver to meet you bearing a sign with your name on it. (Hotels used to catering to Westerners, and particularily those in developing countries, do this all the time.) It might cost a bit more, but it's worth it. "While it sounds very bourgeois," says Robert Young Pelton, author of The World's Most Dangerous Places, "it won't be any more expensive than a normal taxi."
If you've landed someplace mellower, like the Philippines or Kenya, and now you've got a scrum of young men buzzing around your huge pile of gear, the first thing you need to do is slow down and shop around. Trust your instincts and be wary of the most aggressive hawkers; you want the confident guy hanging back. Then hire someone. "Don't be the Westerner who's so afraid of being ripped off that he refuses to spend any money or who believes in the dogma of self-sufficiency," says author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger. "You'll just look like a jerk."
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Taxi - When you leave the terminal and get hit with the mob of taxi drivers, just walk quickly through them, then when the crowd clears and you can take a breath, pick the oldest-looking taxi driver around. You don't want young ones, especially two of them together.
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