Stealth Taxi
We made it all the way from the California to Schiphol airport to Eindhoven train station with out nine pieces of luggage without getting into a single taxi. We could see our destination, the Holiday Inn, across the street from the train station, but it didn't look like there was a way to cross the multi-lane streets. So we got into our first taxi for the 5 minute ride to the hotel.
I was at first skeptical that we were getting into a taxi, since there were no markings at all that this was a taxi. It just looked like a regular car, driven by a businessman in a suit. The situation reminded me of getting into unmarked cars in mainland China, where private drivers want to make a quick buck off of unsuspecting tourists by driving them around. But our driver reassured us that as long as the car has the blue license plate, it's a taxi. And you know, if I bought a brand new Audi A6 to use as a taxi, I also wouldn't want to put any rooftop signs or stickers or meters to mar its beauty.
So where's the taxi meter? Click on the picture to enlarge, and you can see the red LED lights coming through the one-way mirror. When it's off, it looks like a regular rearview mirror. On, it's in a very apparent place for driver and passenger alike (no leaning forward and peering to see how much you're about to pay). Stealthy indeed.
