First impressions, they say, are the best - and last impressions last.

Let's start with the last and get back to the first.

Beijing International Airport is the first and last place impressions are made on foreigners, both visiting and resident. I suspect the impressions are no different to those formed in other major cities across the nation.

You are in a rush to get to the airport, taxi meandering because of what seems to be traffic increasing by the hour, and you have to fill in a customs form declaring the value of the items you are taking out of the country. Not many countries do this - it is usually done on arrival. Worse still, the officer collecting the form seems uninterested in the exercise. Unless my form were checked against my passport to see the details tally, this, surely, serves no purpose.

Immigration is no fun, in most countries in the world. In these dangerous times, we are resigned to that, but surely flexible staffing arrangements during busy periods - especially during the holidays when the whole country seems to be on the move - would help.

Why not introduce downloadable forms for both Immigration and Customs that you can fill in from the comfort of your home or office? If no one else is doing it, why not be a trail-blazer?

Anyone who has travelled in economy class on a long flight and likes a drink will sympathize. You get your first beer - or scotch, my poison - about 40 minutes after take-off or 20 minutes after the captain has switched off the seat belt signs. The cart always seems to start from the far end, wherever you sit. Next thing you know, they are trying to press dinner on you and frown as if they were in the Temperance movement should you dare to ask for another drink.

Anyway, I once tried carrying on a miniature bottle and Security promptly seized it, pointing to a sign saying no booze was allowed. Only a few metres away, I bought a whole pack in Duty Free and imbibed more than I should have. So what damage could my original little bottle have done, especially when duty on it went straight to the State coffers?

The solution to this problem comes with a caveat - you have to think you are richer than you really are. Faced with the daunting prospect of a long, tedious journey via another country to my hometown in India, I bought a business class ticket for the National Day holiday and found it pays.

Quick check-in, free drinks in the airport lounge, a drink before takeoff, more drinks of your choice in the air and more.

The ideal solution is of course to fly first class. As a software company's slogan goes: Imagine it. Done.

To come back to earth - and my down-to-earth profession - journalism. Some would say we are pedantic, but as I travel around China, I often have the urge to tell people, or businesses or hotels or restaurants, to get their names, labels, menus, brochures and billboards right.

Some months ago, I saw a sign in Beijing airport which roughly read: "Airport under reform, please bear with the inconvenience" (my little understanding of Chinese tells me that reconstruction or renovation could mean the same in Chinese) and noticed foreigners walking by sniggering.

I will volunteer, for a fee, of course, to go around the airport changing the signs so that they make sense to English-speaking foreigners.

Last - and as they say, not least - my biggest bugbear as a jet-lagged traveller, the seemingly-official signs that proclaim "Beijing International Airport Taxi Co Ltd" and look inviting, while the taxi queue is elephantine.

The first time I tried to circumvent the taxi line, it would have cost me 200 yuan (US$25) but should have been no more than about 80 yuan (US$10), airport expressway toll included. When I reached home, I called up my colleague Xiao Ma and he brokered a compromise with the cabby - a premium of 20 yuan or US$2.50 to make up for the difference in perceptions.

Next time was fun. I fell for the same trick, except this time the guy promised a ride on a meter rate. Tired, and tempted, I accepted. The bill: 288 yuan (US$36). This time, I was sanguine; and did not feel the need to call Ma. At the door of my serviced-apartment block, I called up the front-office assistant, threatened to call the police and the matter was settled amicably.

Beijing police would surely have no problem getting rid of these touts who disgrace the city. Let first impressions be the best; and last.

Email: ravichina@gmail.com

(China Daily 10/17/2005 page4)