through a very quiet, very dark neighbourhood. Our fears that we risked being
mugged or worse were quickly confirmed when everyone that we spoke to the
next day agreed that it was an area to avoid.
In terms of other forms of public transport we took taxis only about three
times, rode on four planes and tried various tourist toy-trains. We would have
gone in taxis more had we been richer, although they are really more risky
than riding on a bus or train as there is no-one else there to witness/protect
you from dodgy drivers. The very first taxi we took, from Newark airport to our
hotel, was the only real time we got fleeced during our travels. Or at least
fleeced so badly that we noticed it. We ended up paying more than we had
budgeted for both this journey and the return trip we would need to make at
the end of the week. We spent the rest of the day convinced that we would
therefore go heavily over budget by the end of 13 weeks and were fairly
depressed by this prospect - not surprisingly. But then we discovered the
Super Shuttle (!), referred to in an information leaflet with prices quoted at less
than half what we had paid for the first taxi. We were quickly convinced.
As it turned out our ‘shuttle’ was actually a minibus, stuffed full of
passengers - hence the lower prices - and driven with such snail-like pace
and so many stops that we began to think that the two hours we had left for
getting to the airport would be cutting it fine. There was nothing either super or
shuttle-like about the journey, though the driver did seem convinced he could
get us into orbit if he approached every bump in the road with the correct
speed and reckless abandon. The driving was so jerky and erratic in fact that
one US passenger dryly remarked that it was a 'contact sport'. As it happened