50 All-Star Family Camps: The 2005 List

When traveling in the developing world, I always bring several packets of stickers to give to children. They're wonderful icebreakers.

Try to book the first flight out in the morning, because those planes often arrive at the airport the evening before. You won't have to rely on an incoming plane, which could be delayed or canceled due to bad weather elsewhere, resulting in your own flight being delayed or canceled.

I travel with two cameras: a digital SLR for the majority of my shots, and a small disposable camera for when I ask strangers to take pictures of me. As much as I tend to trust other people, I'm not ready to hand over my $1,000 camera to someone I don't know at all.

Priceline was a total pig in a poke for me, so I never used the web site, until I found out about biddingfortravel.com. This helpful Web site gives potential bidders an idea of prices that are being accepted (and declined) on priceline.com for particular dates and properties (or airfares or car rentals). I got the Hyatt Regency Miami for $35 per night because of this!

Everyone knows that duct tape is great for helping out in travel emergencies, but no one wants to lug around a bulky roll of the stuff. By wrapping a few feet onto a pencil or ballpoint pen, you'll get a miniature roll that does not take up much in the way of additional space.

Paper place mats can be useful anywhere there's an outdoor shower. By stepping onto a place mat after a bush shower in Botswana, I managed to keep my feet clean and avoided getting dirt in my clothes.

Certified scuba divers who take prescription medications should keep a doctor's permission-to-dive statement with their certification cards. On a recent trip to Jamaica, I truthfully completed a lengthy questionnaire about my health, revealing that I have medically controlled high blood pressure and cholesterol. I was told I could not dive without a doctor's OK, even though I exercise regularly, am very fit, and have no other health issues. I now carry a letter from my doctor attesting to my fitness for scuba diving.

Check out grocery stores in Europe for bargains on wine. On our last trip to Italy, I found a 1993 Banfi Brunello in a small market for $16. If I could find it at all in my local wine shop, that same bottle would cost more than $100. I only wish I had listened to my husband and bought all three of the bottles the store had.

If you're on a road trip with young children and you're looking for a place to let them blow off some steam, check out the playgrounds at local elementary schools. They almost always have equipment that your children will love to explore. It will also give everyone in the family a welcome chance to stretch their legs.

My husband and I keep the stretchy slipper-socks that some airlines provide. (We've gotten them on Virgin Atlantic in economy class and on almost all airlines in business class.) They're great to use when packing shoes: Just slip each shoe into a sock, and you'll prevent clothes from getting marked up by the soles. As a bonus, you'll have slippers to wear when you're away from home. The socks are machine-washable and can last for many years.

To save space, pack items for travel that you can use in at least two ways. In a pinch, shampoo can double for detergent when washing your clothes (carry the bottle in a Ziploc bag in your suitcase); sandals or flip-flops also function as slippers; and a swimsuit cover-up can serve as a bathrobe.

If your tablecloth is wet at dinner, you should prepare for rough seas. Restaurant staffers have been known to slightly dampen the tablecloth to keep plates and glasses from sliding.

Frequent fliers should consider noise-cancellation headphones. They have a built-in device that "hears" low-frequency sound just before you do and generates a sound wave that cancels it out. Several manufacturers make them, ranging in price from $40 to $300 or so.

Turn off your fridge's icemaker before you leave home. And remember to empty the ice cube bin. The power was out for several days while I was away recently. When I got back, the melted ice had refrozen throughout the freezer compartment. It took forever to clean up.

If you're traveling overseas, be sure to check the fine print concerning passports (go online or call the country's embassy). I had three months before my passport expired and found out at the last minute that I needed six months' leeway to enter Tahiti. Luckily, I was able to get a new passport just in time for my vacation.

If you've accumulated more souvenirs on your trip than you can carry, drive your rental car up to curbside check-in, then return the vehicle and come back on the shuttle bus with only your carry-on. This only works if there's no check-in line, but can save dragging your luggage onto the shuttle bus, across parking lots, etc.

Before traveling by taxi in foreign (or even domestic) locations, ask a local (perhaps stopping in shops to question the sales staff) what the approximate taxi fare would be to a particular location. They've always been pleased to help me. In this manner, I can avoid paying the inflated tourist rates!

Carry a Polaroid camera when traveling to developing countries. In Cambodia, several village children gathered around us, posed enthusiastically for pictures, and were fascinated by their images in our digital camera. We wanted to send them the pictures, but they were unable to tell us their address. Polaroids would have solved the problem!

Ask your flight attendants for dining, lodging, shopping, and sightseeing advice. Most crews have up to the minute information gleaned from layovers, which they're more than happy to share with passengers. You can count on flight attendants to seek out budget treasures. I know—I've been married to one for more than 21 years!

Instead of bringing one of those bungee cables to hang-dry my delicates and socks, I pack a couple of mini plastic hangers--the ones that bras and panties come on when you buy them. They take up very little room in my luggage and can be thrown away at the end of the trip.

An extra contact lens case holds enough toiletries for a short trip. Squeeze a few dabs of toothpaste into one side and perhaps some facial cleanser or moisturizer in the other side. Just the right amount of each will fit for your overnights or weekends away.

If you make a hotel reservation online and then cancel online, print out and save the cancellation confirmation for at least two billing cycles past your trip. After our vacation, I found a "no-show" charge on my credit card for a room that I'd canceled well in advance. Without the confirmation, I had no way to contest the bill.

If you can't sleep due to the heat in your non-air-conditioned hotel room, take a cold bottle of water and place it on your pillow, in the crook of your neck. It will cool your whole body down.

If you go directly from the air-conditioned ship out onto the open-air deck (which is usually warmer and more humid in most cruise destinations), your camera's lens is likely to fog up. Warm the camera with your cabin's hairdryer on a low setting or briefly leave it out on your balcony so it can acclimate to the weather.

Avoid spills in your Dopp kit. Cut up plastic grocery bags into little squares and place them under the tops of toiletries to prevent leaks. Discard the squares upon arrival, but bring extras for the trip back.

Every summer, we drive out West from Pennsylvania with our two kids. To avoid that infamous road trip question ("Are we there yet?"), I give each child a map with our route highlighted on it. Along the way, they can match up the town names with road signs we pass, and that way, they always know exactly where we are and how much farther we have to go until we'll get there.

Check fares periodically after booking your airfare. The airline may have a sale, and buying new tickets could save you money, even after you pay the change penalty. My wife and I used Travelocity's Fare Finder to pocket $187 each on a recent trip from Seattle to New York City, simply by re-ticketing.

When I'm on a cruise with my wife's family and we're in a foreign city for the day, I get off the boat as soon as we dock and hail a taxi. I ask the driver to call his dispatcher and find me a van with an English-speaking driver. Then I negotiate an hourly rate and a pickup time at the dock. The family tours together for a few hours, and then each couple either gets dropped off where they want to spend extra time or returns to the boat (this is great for my elderly in-laws). We get a tailor-made city tour for a much cheaper rate than if we had booked through the cruise line.

My husband and I befriended some locals in Provence by joining them in a game of petanque. It was such a memorable experience that now we brush up on local games each time we plan to travel abroad. We've played dominoes in Spain and bocce in Italy.

Before leaving on a trip, I print the names and addresses of my friends and family onto clear mailing labels. (All standard word-processing programs have preset templates for creating address labels.) Then, I take the address-label sheets with me on vacation. Since the addresses are already saved in my computer and the mailing labels are adhesive, addressing postcards has become really easy.