Take a Tour by Taxi

If you don't like standard bus tours, or if you are too exhausted from travel to venture far on your own, you can always opt for a tour by taxi in an unfanmiliar city. Even if you just have a couple of hours, a taxi tour will let you see the highlights, accompanied by the individual perspoective of your driver.

There are a number of organized taxi tour companies listed on the Web for cities such as London and New York, and some others. But virtually anywhere, if you check with taxi drivers waiting in front of big hotels, you can find someone who speaks English and will be happy to drive you around for a while. If you are a little adventurous, ask the driver to show you his or her favourite spots, not necessarily the best-known landmarks. Just be sure to agree on a price and a time in advance.

Taxi tours work especially well for groups, where the cost can be shared. I once joined with some other journalists while we were on a press trip of Northern Ireland to see the major trouble spots of Belfast, something our hosts certainly were not going to show us.

My dad, who never liked regular tours, would hire cab drivers outside his hotel to tour places such as Mexico City or Quebec City during business travels. He always enjoyed talking with the drivers and discovering something about their lives, a trait I picked up. Not all taxi drivers are chatty, but many are and they can be a great source of information. They often feature in news reports from abroad as "informed sources."

So even if your time in a place is limited, there is no excuse for not seeing something of the sights.