Arriving in a Foreign City

Imagine:
You step off the plane. The first thing that catches your attention is the musty smell of your exotic foreign destination. For the next 20 minutes you have no choice; turn left, turn right, walk 100 feet, collect your bags, walk 20 feet to the exit. Then as the doors open to city itself, you suddenly realize: It’s 2:00am and you have no place to stay.

The musty fragance turns bitter in your nostrols. Other passengers hurry off to homes and hotels. You on the otherhand are lost and alone.
Where do you find a hostel at 2am. You cannot afford a hotel and you don’t know anyone to ask, even if you could speak the language.
This is my nightmare.
I always, always plan my first night abroad in advance. First, I always make sure I have enough cash for atleast the first couple of days, being cash-less means being helpless. Second, I always book my hostel in advance and make sure they are open at whatever time I arrive. Third, I always make sure to have the address of the hostel for the taxi driver.
Wikitravel.org has an excellent article on arriving in a foreign city:
Arriving in a new city
From Wikitravel, the free travel guide.
Arrival can be the hardest part of a trip. It’s late, you’re jet lagged or road-weary, and everything is new and strange. You need an affordable place to sleep, something to eat and drink, and probably a way to get around. Whether it’s the first stop on a trip or the fifth city in as many days, every traveller feels a little overwhelmed stepping onto a new street in a new city. The sense of excitement and potential for discovery ends up in the shadow of practical matters. It’s enough to make you wish you were back in your home town. But having a good checklist of arrival essentials lets you head out into the unknown free to focus on the real adventure.
Avoid arriving in the middle of the night. Get informed about the timetable of your means of transport, and avoid arriving in a foreign city in the middle of the night. Obvious? Yes, but when you get there at 2 AM, it’s too late, you can’t do anything. You will have to choose between spending the night in the train/bus station or at the airport, or searching for a hypothetical hotel open at this late hour.
Cash for two days. No matter what city in the world you are arriving in, you won’t get too far on an empty wallet. A good rule of thumb is four times your hotel cost for one night. Know in advance how hard it is going to be to get cash. Sure, the guidebook may claim there is an ATM, but is it on the other side of town? (Not a problem in New York City, Bucharest or Barcelona, but potentially a tricky question in Cairo. Or Vernazza.) Can hotels change travelers checks and will they change yours even if you’re not staying there? Also be aware that it is possible to have too much money– a stack of 100 bills won’t help you buy a bottle of water that costs 3 coins. Public transportation or even small guest-houses often won’t have, or won’t give you, change for large bills. Make sure to ask for some small denominations at the exchange counter or break large bills at the airport.
A good map. Don’t count on an open tourist office, if there is one at all. Try to have a map or at least a rough idea of the city layout. Virtually any city in the world will have some sort of map available somewhere on the Internet (try starting at your favorite search engine). Make sure the map is detailed enough for the part of town you will be in. Often ‘Old Towns’ or pedestrian areas are just a mess of squiggly lines on a city-wide map. If traveling in a country with a different alphabet, a bilingual map is invaluable– it will also help any locals trying to help you.
A plan for getting to your hotel. Know how much a taxi, bus, or train would cost, how long it should take (sure a bus is half the price, but does it add two more hours to your travel time?). If you are traveling alone or at night, find out about any safety issue for that town– is the subway patrolled by security officers? Is a cultural issue for a woman to ride alone in a bus or taxi? If you have a reservation at a hotel or guest-house (see below), ask if they offer an airport or train station shuttle. Even if they don’t, they may be able to send someone to meet you. This can turn the chore of getting to town into a guided tour.
A reservation. If you are arriving after dark or after noon during the high season, having a hotel reservation for the first night can save a lot of running around. Remember, you can always go somewhere else in the morning. Try to confirm your reservation a few days in advance and ask about transportation options– maybe the hotel has a shuttle. Be sure to inform them of your arrival time in case there are any special instructions; in many countries the front desk is not staffed 24 hours a day. Having a reservation doesn’t require staying in a ritzy hotel. All over the world local guest-houses, hostels, and even alternative accommodations such as working farms are part of on-line reservation systems. Always print out a copy of your reservation, and make sure you have the name and address of the hotel in the native language and script.
Three words. If you are arriving in a country where you don’t know the language and they don’t know yours (presumably English if you’re reading this), learn three words – “Hello”, “Please” and “Thank you”. Next numbers, and after that, get yourself a good language CD for the flight in.