Mr. & Mrs. Globetrotter

Gayle Forman traveled around the world for a year with her husband, Nick, and wrote about the trip in You Can't Get There From Here, which comes out next month. But she saved her best tips for us.

Take time off from your companion(s)

It's better to go to separate corners before a fight happens. Even if you simply adore the person you're traveling with--be it your spouse, lover, or auntie Mame--give yourselves some breaks. Long breaks, if necessary. After a quarrelsome period in East Africa, Nick and I parted ways for a month while he explored Zambia and Botswana and I wandered through South Africa. When we reunited, we no longer wanted to strangle each other.

Trust Third World doctors

Your first visit to a local clinic can be nerve-racking, what with your mysterious malady and the doctor's oldfangled equipment. But local medics know a lot about native diseases (the majority of U.S. practitioners, after all, don't have much experience treating malaria, dengue fever, and other exotic ailments). When a worm took up residence in his big toe, Nick visited a doctor in rural Malawi who gave him medication that killed and dissolved the interloper. The visit and drugs cost all of a buck.

Skip the taxis

Hiring a cab is fine for jaunts around town, but employing a driver for long-distance trips often results in disaster. In the mountains of Yunnan Province, China, our driver crashed into a horse cart and we wound up in the local police station for the day. En route to Almaty, Kazakhstan, our crazy hack, Murat, almost ran out of gas--twice--and took several hours-long breaks, turning a 12-hour drive into a 22-hour ordeal. For long hauls, stick to public transport.

Don't stress over a quarter

In India, I would often get completely inflamed when negotiating with rickshaw drivers because I knew those rascals were overcharging. Just as I was about to pop, Nick would remind me that I was freaking out over a quarter. Bargaining is a fact of life in much of the world, and, as a foreigner, you will be a rip-off target. Haggle smart, but keep your perspective.

Give money, not cigarettes

Marlboros cost less on the streets of Beijing and Moscow than at the duty-free, so attempts to grease palms with smokes will not be well received. When a border guard in Kazakhstan solicited a "gift" from Nick and me, I offered up a pack of Reds, and we wound up detained for a few hours. Had I ponied up the cash he was looking for, we would've saved ourselves so much trouble.

Just eat it