So you've finally landed at your destination, collected your bags, gotten out of the airport...now what?
Ideally, you've got a friend or family member coming to pick you up - but if not, something to look into before you make your journey (or even after you land) is: ground transit.
I've used everything from trains, trams, buses, coaches, Ubers/Lyfts, taxis or just walking. It all really depends on where you need to go, how much money you have, how much time you have and how much crap you're hauling around with you.
Before I travel I usually research what airports have for options immediately out the door - for example: Edinburgh, Scotland has a specialized bus service that will take travelers from the airport to Waverly train/bus station in downtown Edinburgh, which will then take you almost anywhere in the country from there - but the train doesn't actually go TO the airport. In Reykjavik, Iceland? Same thing. A specialized bus that does ONLY runs to and from the airport to the city center.
When the time came to pre-book a ride in a car from the airport? That's where Uber, Lyft or an international service like KiwiTaxi comes in. These ride-share/taxi services allow you to pre-book & pre-pay for a ride so you KNOW you'll have a way to get where you're going when you land. They're not cheap, but if you're landing at an odd hour or if you don't want to use public transit, I highly recommend doing this for yourself.
Not to mention, if you can pre-pay > you don't have to worry about watching that trip-meter ticking away while a taxi driver decides to take you the long way to your hotel.
Renting a car at the airport is also a viable option, but it is EXPENSIVE - not to mention, if you're traveling to a whole new country? I don't recommend it - especially if you've never driven there before. The learning curve is STEEP (have you ever driven a manual transmission for the first time and also on the opposite side of the road?), potentially dangerous - and honestly, I prefer relaxing instead of stressing about learning the rules of the road in a foreign place.
Before I head off somewhere new, I do my research on what they've got for ground transit options so I can get around - I usually first worry about getting from the airport to where I'm staying, then I worry about getting around whatever place I'm aiming to explore - it's easy nowadays to just put a specified taxi/bus/train app on your phone for a week or so, then delete it again - it's 100% worth it!
Check back for the next blog post on places to stay!