True Stories Guidelines

I agree that the anti-seasickness medication for cruises, Bonine, is excellent and effective; but there is a budget way to buy it. The primary ingredient in Bonine is meclizine (25 mg). While a package of eight Bonine tablets costs just over $4 at a drugstore, you can buy a bottle of 100 generic meclizine (25 mg) for about the same price. This is an over-the-counter (no prescription needed) item, but you usually have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter.

I always pack several tea lights, a small vial of essential oils, and matches. Tea lights, when placed in a water glass for extra safety, banish stale or unpleasant smells in hotel rooms. The essential oils work wonders when a drop is placed on a warm lightbulb.

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.

I've discovered a wonderful way to enjoy massages at a fraction of the usual cost. Some massage-training schools provide superb service in a spa-type environment. Do a Google search to see if there are training programs near your next vacation destination.

If you start to feel a painful blister coming on, put some lip balm or Vaseline on the hot spot--it'll help stop the rubbing.

Before you leave the United States, photocopy receipts for any expensive items you're taking with you. This way, you won't have to argue with customs on the way home about declaring items you didn't buy abroad. (I'm a photographer, and I always bring expensive cameras on vacations.)

Remember to check the hours of operation for your hotel's airport shuttle. In Rome,we were surprised to learn that our hotel--which touted its shuttle--only offered the service a few hours a day.

If you plan to buy crafts in a country where bargaining is expected, use the time it takes for luggage to be unloaded to scope out the airport stores. Jot down items you like and their retail prices. If you find a similar item while touring the country, you have a top-end bargaining point. If you don't find the object at a better price, you can always pick it up at the airport while you're waiting for your flight home.

The couple of hangers provided on cruise ships aren't enough for weeklong trips. So I save wire hangers from the dry cleaner and slip a few into our suitcases while packing. I then leave them behind for the next passenger.

Tell me I'm not alone: Almost every time I park my car at the airport, I have trouble finding it when I return. (I even reported my car stolen once after searching for hours, only to discover I was in the wrong lot!) I now use my cell phone to leave myself a message as to where I've parked my car.

For long overnight flights, pack a dry washcloth in a Ziploc bag in your carry-on. Before landing, ask the flight attendant for a cup of hot (not boiling) water. Carefully pour the water into the Ziploc bag and then wipe your face and hands with the steaming cloth. It's like a portable sauna!

If you're traveling with a companion, pack half of your belongings in his or her suitcase and vice versa. This way, if one piece of luggage gets lost, you'll each still have some clothing.

It can be difficult for parents to find a place to bathe their infant while on vacation. Showers obviously won't work, and the miniscule sinks generally found in hotel bathrooms aren't appropriate either. On our last cruise, we eliminated the whole problem by packing a small, inexpensive inflatable bathtub. (Ours cost only $7.99.) When we arrived, we blew it up and placed it in the bottom of the shower for an instant, safe baby bath.

Try getting a discount on your hotel room by offering to pay in cash. A hotel reservationist suggested this approach when I phoned to reserve at a hotel in London. I asked if the hotel could grant a discount based on my AARP or AAA membership, as many hotels do in the United States. Her response was that the only discount she was able to offer was 10 percent if I paid in cash.

If you're looking for authentic street food--whether you're in New York or Bangkok--don't buy from the pitifully lonely vendor who has no customers. Head to the cart with the longest line of hungry people in front of it. Locals know which vendors serve the best (and safest) food. Even if you have to wait, your stomach will thank you.

Pack a glue stick for journaling. Rather than bringing home an envelope full of ticket stubs and mementos, you can glue them into your journal as you're traveling. You'll have a better chance of remembering what the ticket was for if you label it right away.

I unpacked a pair of black slacks recently to find them covered with white fuzz. I didn't have a lint brush handy, so I used the luggage sticker from my bag--the gummy side took the lint right off.

My hearing loss once made it impossible to hear any alarm clock. Then I found the Shake Awake, an alarm clock that vibrates. I no longer stare at the ceiling all night prior to an early flight in fear of oversleeping. I clip Shake Awake to my pillow or place it on a hard surface near my bed, where its rattling definitely gets my attention.

Tired of catching colds while traveling? Take along a travel-size package of Clorox wipes. Disinfect the tray table and armrests on the airplane, and the telephone and TV remote in your hotel room.

Before booking your next ski trip or reserving a table for dinner, find out what your credit card company has to offer. American Express sometimes has discounts on lift tickets; MasterCard has offered buy-one-get-one-free at local restaurants; and Discover Card has access to deals to Universal Studios. Check out americanexpress.com/offerzone, mastercard.com (be sure to click on Promotions), and discovercard.com.

Pack a travel-size shampoo container refilled with detergent and a one-gallon Ziploc bag for when you need to wash hosiery, bras, and other delicate undergarments. Put a few drops of detergent into the bag and fill it part way with water. Place the garment in the bag, close it up, and shake it around for a few minutes. Instant washing machine! For larger pieces of clothing, I've used the plastic laundry bags supplied at most hotels. Just hold on to the open end tightly.

On the final day of a recent Caribbean vacation, I tried to arrange for a late checkout, but was told it wasn't possible. The hotel offered me the use of a day room; it would have been perfect, but it was being used by other guests, and there was a very long wait for the shower. I went back upstairs and saw that someone was just about to clean my room. I told the housekeeper that I understood she had to do her job, but I wondered if I could I take a quick shower first. She offered to clean next door while I took my shower. I tipped her $10 and then left for the airport.

Put an address label on your one-time-use camera. At a Final Four game in Indianapolis, we exchanged identical Kodak Fun Savers with another traveler so that we could take souvenir photos of each other with our respective cameras. But afterward, we couldn't tell whose camera was whose. Luckily, I remembered how many exposures remained on mine, so we got ours back. Next time, I'll just label it.

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.

When planning a vacation, we send away for brochures from major tour operators. They provide hotel and restaurant recommendations and sightseeing itineraries, which we then duplicate on our own. Use this trick to mimic the vacation packages of high-end tour operators for what can turn out to be a fraction of the cost.

Bungee cords make versatile travel accessories. They come in handy at the airport for lashing a duffel bag to a wheeled suitcase. They can be hooked together and used as a clothesline for swimsuits, towels, etc. On skiing trips, hook them onto ski boots to create carrying handles. While camping, use them to secure tarps, to suspend a lantern from a nearby tree limb, or to secure items in a canoe. They even hold your pants up if you misplace your belt.

I find that hotel bathrooms rarely have enough hangers and hooks for clothes and wet towels, so I always bring a few snap-lock suction hooks. (They function better than regular suction hooks because they're more secure and are therefore able to hold heavier items.) It's always nice to have a place to hang a bathrobe.

My husband and I travel to out-of-the-way towns where rural roads can be hard to navigate. We use a handheld GPS (Global Positioning System) to mark the spot where we're staying, the main highway turnoffs, and, most important, the turns to unmarked side roads. When we're back-tracking and arrive again at confusing intersections, we whip out our GPS and immediately know which route to take home.

When my husband and I travel, we take at least three different credit cards. I carry one he doesn't have, he carries one I don't have, and we both bring our primary card. If one of us has our wallet stolen, we can cancel two cards and still have one to use. We each have different ATM cards, too--useful if a machine doesn't honor one of the cards, or if we need more cash than our daily limit allows.

If you take an overnight flight to Europe and early check-in at your hotel isn't an option, ask the concierge if you can store your luggage until later in the day and use the hotel gym's shower. You'll be refreshed and ready for sightseeing. Pack toiletries and a change of clothes in your carry-on.