a cheerie hello for both sexes, a handshake in semi-formal situations if ive never met the man or woman before but otherwise its just 'hello!!'
i also find the kiss on the cheek thing awkward, and thankfully its only the european women who seem to be truly into it, if a friend introduces me to another friend in say a pub itd feel out of place to get up and kiss on the cheek rather than just putting a smile on my face and saying 'oh hi!'
My sister once introduced me to two of her friends, one was from southern italy and the other was english, the english one gave me a warm smile and a sweet 'hi' the italian charged over to me and stuck her face 3 inches from mine, quite appalled i reluctantly kissed one cheek and withdrew, her face was still 3 inches from mine but with what now appeared to be a demented grin, she arched her eyebrows and i got the message. One kiss on the other cheek later i was released and my personal space given back to me. It was just rude
Don't the weirdos on the continent go around kissing their family members on the lips and stuff??