That's a rather low standard for 'saving your ass'. I travel abroad frequently and I don't recall
ever having had trouble to find a taxi except for Colombia, where you have to arrange one in advance (or rather, had, no idea how it is today there).
Really, of all the hard things one could attempt to do while abroad getting a taxi isn't one of them.
Some simple rules:
- don't accept anybody's offer of a ride
- look for relatively uniformly colored vehicles in a row
- observe whether or not the drivers are asleep or awake
- approach the first one that looks awake
- ask if they are free
- if so enter the vehicle and state destination
- optional: if all you have is a credit card make sure you ask up front if it will be accepted, otherwise ask to stop at a local ATM to pick up some currency
Using taxis was a solved problem long before Uber and the like arrived. Just like there is more food than McDonalds that is perfectly safe to eat when abroad.
Really, of all the hard things one could attempt to do while abroad getting a taxi isn't one of them.
Some simple rules:
- don't accept anybody's offer of a ride
- look for relatively uniformly colored vehicles in a row
- observe whether or not the drivers are asleep or awake
- approach the first one that looks awake
- ask if they are free
- if so enter the vehicle and state destination
- optional: if all you have is a credit card make sure you ask up front if it will be accepted, otherwise ask to stop at a local ATM to pick up some currency
Using taxis was a solved problem long before Uber and the like arrived. Just like there is more food than McDonalds that is perfectly safe to eat when abroad.