South Dakota: Where Presidents Compete with Tumbleweeds and Brontoburgers

Ever since my children were small, I've carried recent, wallet-size pictures of them when we all go on vacation, in case we get separated. Now that they are teenagers and traveling with friends' families, too, I send pictures for the other family to bring along with them. I also write my telephone numbers on the back of the pictures so they know where to reach me in an emergency.

Booking condos last minute can yield incredible bargains, and there's a way to maximize savings while minimizing the risk that you won't find a room at all. ("Last minute" generally means a month or less before your stay; seven-day deals usually start on a Saturday.) Buy your plane ticket and book a refundable hotel room you can use in case you can't find that bargain condo. Then, a month or so before your trip, start looking at last-minute sites—lastminutetravel.com, site59.com, etc. If you find a deal, simply get a refund on the hotel room and pay the cancellation fee, if there happens to be one. Using this technique, I found a great beachfront, one-bedroom condo on Maui—and I saved about $300.

Even if you're not hungry when the flight attendant comes around with the snack service, take it for later. Although peanuts may not look appetizing at 7 a.m., they will look good later if you have nothing better to eat. And it saves you from picking up something at expensive airport shops.

I've found that by wedging a bath mat under my hotel-room door, I can reduce any light or noise coming from the hallway—ensuring that I'll sleep better.

In order to provide any reimbursement for a lost suitcase, most airlines and insurance companies require an itemized list of exactly what was inside it. Unfortunately, remembering everything you packed after the fact is virtually impossible. To avoid the headache, take pictures of the items you're going to put in your suitcase with your digital camera or cell phone. The photos will make creating the list a breeze, and, in the event of a dispute with the airline or insurance agent, you have some visual evidence of ownership.

I always try to work out before heading to the airport. It usually gets me tuckered out enough that I can relax and sleep on the plane. If I don't have time for pre-travel exercise, I take a brisk walk through the terminal before boarding or find a quiet spot in an empty gate for a little yoga.

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.

A padlocked zipper tells thieves there's something in your bag worth stealing, but a key ring is much less obvious. Just use it to latch together the zippers. Best of all, you'll never have to worry about forgetting your combination.

To find a reasonably priced villa or apartment to rent, try going directly to the owner through a site such as abritel.fr. (Click on the British flag for English.) I arranged to spend two weeks in an apartment in Brittany and one week in an apartment in the Loire Valley, all for a total of $800.

Always carry peanut butter. A plastic jar is easy to pack, doesn't need refrigeration, is a great source of protein, and makes a quick, cheap meal when coupled with local bread. (But don't forget to pack a plastic knife for spreading it.)

Read the fine print on your rail pass. You can often use it to save money on other modes of public transportation. With a Scandinavian rail pass, for example, you'll pay less to ride the ferries. In Switzerland, a rail pass can get you free bus rides, as well as complimentary entrance to museums and discounts on funiculars and hotel accommodations.

Use the shoeshine mitt often found in hotel bath- rooms to store your sunglasses. They fit nicely inside the pouch, and when you take them out, you have a soft material to clean them with. For extra protection while traveling, I store my sunglasses inside the shoe-shine mitt, fold the end closed, and then place it in my glasses case.

Quotetravelinsurance.com gives you comparable details on more than one hundred travel-insurance plans, enabling you to make the best buy. It relies on ratings from insurance industry overseers such as A.M. Best and state insurance commissioners before allowing an insurance company into its extensive lineup.

When I travel with friends, we decide ahead of time who's going to bring what. If we're sharing a suite or have adjoining rooms, we don't need multiple hair dryers and umpteen bottles of shampoo. With the weight limits on baggage, we'll need the extra space in our suitcases for souvenirs!

Going to a place where you don't speak the language? Take along a picture booklet filled with examples of common food items (chicken, cow, rice, bottled water, coffee, wine, etc.) and use it to find dishes you like—you only have to point to the picture of what you want. We did this during a recent trip to Asia and always had wonderful meals.

A beach ball can replace many expensive in-flight gadgets. Depending on how much you inflate it, the ball can function as a very comfortable footrest, a back support, or a lap pillow to support your book.

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.

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 you plan to leave a gratuity for hotel staff, follow our friend Phil's good advice: Give it at the beginning of your vacation, not at the end. He introduces himself to the housekeepers early in the trip and hands them a nice tip. Guess who always has plenty of coffee and fresh towels?

If you're traveling solo and want some company for dinner, try the sushi bar at a Japanese restaurant. It's a great place to meet locals. Plus, you'll receive extra attention and special recommendations from the chef.

Destinationcoupons.com supplies free discount coupons for cities all over the United States and the world. Print them out on your home computer and save on hotels, shows, rental cars, restaurants, and many other activities.

I try to avoid checking any luggage, but the airlines are getting stricter every day about the size and weight of carry-ons. So when I pack, I put any important stuff in a plastic bag and place it in a front pocket. If I'm told to check my carry-on when I get to the gate, I can just pull out the smaller bag and board.

If you visit a country where you don't speak the language, pick up a book of your hotel's matches or one of its business cards; they usually have the hotel's name and address printed on them. Then when you're out sightseeing and want to return to your hotel, show the matchbook or card to the cabdriver if he doesn't speak English.

If you're packing a lunch to eat later in the day, freeze a 16-ounce water bottle and pack it, along with yogurt, cottage cheese, a ham sandwich, or whatever in a light- weight, insulated bag. Your snacks will remain cold, and you can drink the water.

To feed a family of four in a very expensive tropical location like Anguilla or Bermuda (or most other Caribbean locations, for that matter), check to see if your hotel has phone books and look up the local pizza place. Nine times out of ten the pizza purveyors will deliver for free. You'll end up spending no more than $20 on pizza, bread sticks, and soda.

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.

Don't put your magnetic sunglass clip-ons in the same pocket as your mass transit fare cards or hotel key cards. I managed to erase both my subway pass and my hotel key on a recent trip.

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.

Before using frequent-flier miles, investigate how much the flight actually costs. For example, it takes at least 25,000 miles per person to travel from Boston to Alaska. The same flight cost us $288. After paying for our tickets, we received enough additional miles to travel for free to Sweden instead of Alaska!

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!