50 All-Star Family Camps

We always e-mail our itinerary--including flights, hotels, and confirmation numbers--to ourselves and to family members. If our luggage is lost or our wallets are stolen, all of this essential information is just an Internet café and a few quick clicks away.

Finding the bathroom in the middle of the night in a strange hotel room or cruise-ship cabin can be a challenge. Leaving the bathroom light on seems wasteful and makes the room too bright for sleeping. My husband and I used to travel with a night-light, but we couldn't always find a convenient place to plug it in. We've recently discovered a better solution: plastic light sticks. They come in several glow-in-the- dark colors and are activated by bending the tube into a circle and connecting the ends. Each evening, we hook one of the loops over the bathroom-door handle, where it provides a gentle glow through the night.

Just before I go through airport security, to save time and to avoid leaving something important behind, I collect all loose items--change, money clip, belt buckle, pens--in a large Ziploc bag. I send the bag through the X-ray machine with the rest of my luggage. After picking it up at the other end, I put the things back in place and either toss the bag or keep it for the return trip.

If your vacation spot is a major port of call for cruise ships, plan excursions for the days that the ships aren't docked. Tours will be less crowded, and you'll get to see and do a lot more.

A shoe organizer hung over the bathroom door is my solution for hotel-room clutter. The compartments are perfect for stashing everything from room keys and travel documents to toiletries and, of course, shoes. The extra storage space came in especially handy on a recent cruise, when we needed all the room we could get in our tiny cabin.

If you plan to travel to a less-developed country, pack an extra suitcase with hand-me-downs of all sizes. Housekeepers and other resort workers make so little money that the clothes are greatly appreciated. On your way home, you can use that empty suitcase for souvenirs.

I bought several items while in London and noticed when I returned home that my credit card number was printed in full on each sales slip. (In the United States, usually only the last four digits of the number are visible.) Travelers should be careful when using their credit cards overseas--don't leave the sales slips lying around.

Disposable-camera lenses scratch just like any other lens would. Place a small piece of painter's tape (or another kind that won't stick too much) over the lens to protect it from contact with other items in your purse or backpack during travel.

In Europe, my husband and I like to use public transportation. As a result, we frequently find ourselves studying itineraries displayed on train station walls, trying to read schedules posted at bus stops, or staring at kiosk-size town maps. On our last trip, my husband snapped digital photographs of those things. We were able to take the map or itinerary with us and could refer to it as needed by using the zoom feature.

With two of our last three car rentals, the local branch wanted documentation beyond the standard insurance card issued by our insurance company. In San Juan, we were delayed a half hour while the agent made phone calls to verify that our liability insurance was good in Puerto Rico. In Miami, if we hadn't provided proof that our insurance covered rental cars, we would've been charged a daily collision insurance fee. Fortunately, we knew ahead of time and took a copy of the pertinent section of our policy. Our credit card included car rental insurance, but proof of that coverage was also required.

Deli counters in grocery stores are great mealtime alternatives to restaurants or fast-food fare when you're exploring the United States. The food is fresh, there's a big variety (hot and cold), and economically, it's a great break. I recently had a complete hot meal, including beverage, for $3 from a grocery-store deli.

Sign up for guest programs at every hotel chain that offers one, even if you haven't stayed at that hotel before or think you may not travel enough to reap benefits from multiple stays. Some programs send coupons for discounted rooms or complimentary room upgrades just for being a member. After signing up for the Omni Hotels Select Guest program, I received a coupon that I was able to redeem for a room in Chicago for $80 per night.

We've noticed that when booking a flight for our family under one reservation, some airlines will only credit the 1,500 bonus miles (500 for booking online, 500 each way for printing boarding passes) to the person whose name the reservation is under. This is regardless of whether the other family members have mileage accounts. To avoid this, make a separate reservation for each of your family members and then pick seats together.

Bring your own linens. They're useful in a million different ways. Obviously a soft cotton pillowcase makes those scratchy airplane pillows bearable, but it can also be used to gather loose items when deplaning. A nice sheet will cover up an ugly bedspread or sofa, and makes a great tablecloth or picnic blanket.

If I plan to travel to several countries that use different currencies, I pack a few cloth change purses: U.S. dollars go into one, British pounds in another, euros in a third, etc. When I'm sightseeing, I carry only the money I need; the purses that I'm not using are locked away in the hotel safe. I avoid fumbling around in shops and mixing up coins that look alike. Plus,I always know exactly how much cash I have.

Though they're often the best deals around, don't assume that packaged vacations always offer the biggest bang for your buck. My wife and I were ready to book an air/hotel package to Maui when we noticed a sale on Aloha Airlines ($280 round trip from Oakland). I added up the total cost of the trip if purchased separately and saved $400 over comparable packages from various tour operators. We used the extra money to stay in a nicer hotel and to rent a convertible!

Whenever I know I'll be renting a car, I pack a couple of folded paper towels and two small spray bottles--one filled with window cleaner and the other with Rain-X, a product that repels raindrops. It's hard enough driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar location. At least with a clean windshield I'm able to see properly, no matter the weather.

On my first trip to Cancun, I noticed that my hotel room had a damp, musty odor. The next time I went, I brought two plug-in air fresheners: one for the bedroom and one for the bathroom. This helped tremendously. It was a pleasure to walk in and have a fresh-smelling room. Just make sure you have an adapter, if you need one.

While traveling, I love to send postcards to friends--and also to myself. I get the best photo postcard of the place I visited and write down what I did there as a reminder. When I get home, I tape them in my travel journals so I can flip back and forth between the photo and the reverie.

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.

We like to buy shipboard souvenirs, so we try to choose a ship that's completing its run of an area--that's when merchandise is generally put on sale. Last year, for example, on a sailing in South America, all of the T-shirts, glassware, and rain jackets were 75 percent off.

Dry-cleaning bags stop clothes from wrinkling. Slide each garment into its own bag (leave the hanger at home) and place them flat on your bed, one on top of another. Then carefully fold the entire stack to fit it in your suitcase. Once you get to your hotel, hang everything up as soon as you can. You'll never unpack a suitcase of wrinkled clothes again.

If your travels take you to U.S. cities large enough to have museums, zoos, and/or botanical gardens, consider buying a membership in your home city's counterpart. Many have reciprocal privileges with institutions elsewhere. A membership at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, for example, lets you see the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and zoos in Los Angeles, Des Moines, and Jackson, Mississippi, at no charge.

I've created files--some general (Southeast Asia), some specific (Hawaii)--for articles and clippings about places I'd like to visit in the future. I don't want all the good tips, restaurant recommendations, and out-of-the-ordinary itineraries to go to waste just because I'm not planning an immediate trip. The files don't have to be super organized--just throw in the clippings, and you can weed through them later. You'll be glad you have the information when you do get a chance to go away.

Take along an extra duffel bag for your laundry. As your vacation progresses, throw dirty clothes into the duffel, keeping your suitcase for fresh clothes. At the end of the trip, put a tag on the bag and check it at the airport. This will also give you space in your luggage to bring home souvenirs or new clothes.

Anyone traveling with multiple electronic devices (laptops, PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players) can easily confuse all the accessories that come with them. To keep all battery chargers, USB cables, media cards, and owner's manuals safe, dry, and organized, place them in individual Ziploc bags. You can put a label inside the bag to identify the contents, and one label wrapped around each cable to identify it.

Carry the exact change for public transportation. In Venice, we were annoyed when a vaporetto (water taxi) ticket-taker refused to give us our change. Later, we discovered that if you don't have the exact fare, ticket agents make no promises about giving change.

Before traveling to any city, do a search on the Internet of the city name and the word "coupon" ("New Orleans coupon"). You will find many sites offering two-for-one, percentage-off, and dollar-off discounts. On a recent trip to St.Louis, we saved $100 at restaurants and attractions.

When looking for the lowest airfare, I've found that in some cases the best rates pop up when searching for one traveler instead of two. Recently, I wanted to buy one-way tickets from New York to Orlando for two people and came up with $87 per person. But when I selected one traveler, the fare dropped to $72.

I live in coastal Florida, where the electricity sometimes goes out during violent storms. Before a trip, I place a few ice cubes in a plastic bag and put the bag in the freezer. If the ice has melted and refrozen by the time I get home, I'll know we've had a power outage and that any food left in the refrigerator may be unsafe to consume.