Windows and Linux veterans migrating to Mac OS X can find it painful for one very simple reason. The Finder windows do not have an editable address bar showing you exactly where you are on the computer. You can’t see the path. You can’t copy/paste the path. You can’t quickly edit the path. There is no option to turn it on.
Fortunately, I found a (third party) solution!
If you haven’t already, start showing the full path in title bar by running these commands in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES
killall Finder
Then install FinderPath:
http://bahoom.com/finderpath/
After adding it to your Applications, run it once.
It should (transparently) start on system boot.
You just have to click on the path in the title bar, and it turns into an editable field with tab completion. Alternatively, you can press Command+G to activate it.
I have tested this successfully on Snow Leopard and Lion.