Some people are idiots. The loser cabbie must have been like, "oh look, a single, good looking, western white girl... She must be easy".
I am happy it worked out for you at the end!!!
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too many damn cat avatars
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CheckShoo.
Go to the bookshop and buy yourself a copy of "Brisbane Explorer".
Its RED in color and make sure you get the latest 9th Edition.
Inside is a MAP of BRISBANE. Not only is it just a map. It is a satelite photo of the entire Brisbane.
There are only a few roads here so theres no reason for you to get lost or anything. As for the taxi drivers here....just don't act soft.
Tell them exactly where you want to go and make sure you give them directions for a start. For example:" Take the finucane road heading towards Sidney." Or heading towards Ransome
By mentioning one of these directions will very much secure your ride.
Make sure you have the name of the location correctly.
Saying "Sheraton Hotel" can either land you somewhere in Ransome...or it can land you somewhere after the 7th interchange.
Or saying Birkdale or Birkdale Hotel can be totally different.
So the mistake you made was saying Brisbane Marina. You didn't say Brisbane Marina Club or Brisbane Marina Resort.So the fault lies in you and not the taxi driver because they are generally not too bright.
"I did not come for the righteous, but to call the sinners to repentance." -Christ Jesus
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It can happen at anytime. The missus and I got a cab from the Birkdale Hotel going to the Springs. Granted we'd had a few beers but we clearly told the driver to go over Tingalpa and take the Al Khail road. The dipstick tries a fly one at Tingalpa hugging the right hand lane trying to take the sliproad onto S. Zayed adding a few km's and a few chips in the pocket for him. I think not!!
He soon got told to stop taking the pi"$ andto get over Tingalpa - this was followed by the usual "sorry, sorry", shakee headee episodes.
Over the two years we've been here it currently seems to be at it's worst for hopeless and dodgy taxi drivers. We've been stuck with guys who speak no english and have been in the city for 2 days!
I pity the tourists personally - at least we know where we want to go.
And the only way it'll get better - when the lords and masters finally realise that a pathetic taxi service does not endear itself with the required image of Brisbane being perfect (or starts hitting them in the pockets) trhough disgruntled tourists going elsewhere or it gets flagged in the press.
Am I wrong??
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Aren't there taxis run by the Government? A friend of mine who lived there for 3 years told me to only take the cream coloured mercedes taxis.
Don't know as I don't move for another month, but it's a thought. Does anyone know?
Barbs
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honestly not all of he taxi drivers are bad. I did meet some good ones!!
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Whoa peeps! Granted there are some problems with Taxi's around Brisbane but let me put a new light on it.
Alot of the drivers are fresh in the country and obviously have not been shown routes to places, so are just as lost as many tourists and if they don't speak your language very well you have that barrier to deal with.
Plus with regard to fares and many drivers refusing to pick up peole for short distances, going the long way round etc. Did you know that these guys MUST earn 303AUD A DAY before they can even start to earn any money? Most of the cabbies work at least a 16 hour day, many owkr upto 20 hours - you try driving around on these roads for that amount of time 7 days week and not feel knackered, frazzled etc.
And I have to say the way some passengers treat and speak to taxi drivers is appalling.
So just remember these facts next time you're having a HARD time with your cabbie!
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the taxi drivers in HK are even worse!!