I stayed in London for a few days on my way back to Salzburg. I took in some of the sights with a classmate from Wofford College. The photo album link above shows some of the places we went. Blake knew a family in the city, so we stayed with them each night. They live south of the city center and my BIG challenge was arranging transportation to Stansted airport (NW of the city) for a 7:50am flight. We searched bus, train and subway sites to discover that the ONLY way to get there by 6:50am would be a taxi.
Well I have been living and traveling a bit around Europe over the last 4 years and I'm fairly good at maneuvering via public transportation, but taxis are another subject. I've never seen one in Athens, Alabama, and anywhere else I've traveled in the US I either had my car or someone else did. In Europe I'm far too cheap to use a taxi unless I absolutely have to.
One time I used a taxi in Salzburg to get to a friend's house at 1am. This was the nicest cab driver I have ever met who helped me when I was loaded down with baggage (a common occurrence) and unable to contact my friend via phone when she was also not answering her doorbell. So I shouldn't have been worried about a London taxi.
The family assured me that using an airport taxi would be cost efficient and I could just sleep on the ride to the airport. Once I found 2 cab companies' numbers, I had the address where I was staying and some specific details of the house so the driver wouldn't go to an apartment building with the exact same address (really! why?). Well I called both companies and because it was the night before my departure, they were already booked for that time.
OOPS!
TIP #1 When reserving a taxi, call 48 hours in advance to ensure availability.
I asked the 2nd company if they could recommend another taxi. Finally the 4th call produced a reservation. I was to be picked up at 5:15am, my arrival at the airport would be 6:15am with time to spare before my check in desk closes at 7:10am. I wake up at 4:45am and receive a phone call confirming the taxi. I confirm and they say the taxi is leaving now and will be there in 25 minutes or so. I think to myself, they probably should have already left but oh well.
I wait outside with Blake and my luggage in tow. There was plenty of traffic on this road at 5am but it seemed the taxi would never show. The taxi however did arrive at about 5:45 and off I went. He proceeds to talk nearly the entire ride, well more like complaining. He said that even after I booked the taxi, the company expected me to call about an hour before to confirm that I still wanted it.
HMM?! And why would I change my mind about something this important?
TIP #2 Confirm your taxi reservation an hour ahead. This lets the company know that you haven't booked with another company since the original call.
He then told me that after they called me early that morning, he immediately left and started speeding to reach me. He was about 20km from my address and he said that maybe a dozen other taxi companies are closer to me than he is.
Oohh (light bulb).
TIP#3 When the cheaper fare airport taxis are booked, start by calling local taxi companies rather than ones at random. Or ask the ones at random how to find the cab company nearest to your address.
I apparently called one at random which really should have been okay except it made him drive out of his way and maybe put additional cost on my fare. Then he said over and over how bad the traffic is compared to what it would have been just 10-20 minutes ago. (If you recall what time I had the reservation for and add up the time wasted under Tip 4 and 5, the morning would have gone so much differently but I concede messing up on Tip 2)
TIP#4 If you are a cab driver, don't tell your customer that on the way to pick you up you were stopped by the police and given a warning for reckless or speedy driving.
TIP#5 If you are a cab driver, at the end of each working day fill your car up completely with gas so that you don't have to do this with a nervous customer in the car waiting to get to the airport.
TIP#6 If you are a cab driver, do as mine did and politely ask permission to smoke in your own car. I don't know what customer would refuse you in this kind of stressful situation.
TIP#7 Accept the fact that no matter how much you would like to be in control of the situation, if a taxi cab and big city traffic are involved everything is out of your hands. Just enjoy the scenery and tell yourself that next time sleeping in the airport the night before still wouldn't have been the best solution.
By the way the scenery of London's outskirts and countryside was really nice. I would prefer to see more outside of the city next time I'm there (Summer Olympics 2012 anyone?) I made it to the check in desk with a few minutes to spare but then it was close getting through security all the way to my gate. Once at my gate the line for boarding was long at which time I enjoyed eating 2 Krispy Kreme donuts before my last plane to Krispy Kreme donut-less Austria.
