The Caribbean Quickie

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.

Internet phone services like Vonage can be programmed to send transcribed voice mails to your email in-box. That way, you can check your home answering machine quickly at an Internet cafe without paying insane roaming fees on your cell. The transcriptions won't always be perfect, but you'll get the gist.

Know your PINs! My husband and I left home with very little cash on us, and instead of stopping to get money at the airport, my husband--ever the procrastinator--decided to wait until we got to Cancún to use his ATM card. Guess what? It didn't work in any of the machines. And although he had several credit cards for cash advances, he didn't know the PINs off the top of his head. We charged everything we could during our stay, but most of the markets don't take credit cards. Needless to say, I didn't come home with a lot of souvenirs.

When traveling with my kids, I bring a Ziploc bag that includes four things: Benadryl, children's ibuprofen, one of those little medicine cups, and a thermometer. This all-purpose kit will help with minor ailments, or treat a more serious flu until you can get to a doctor. Best of all, it saves Dad from driving around at 2 a.m. looking for an all-night pharmacy.

Put your perfume and cologne bottles inside pairs of rolled-up socks to keep them cushioned during your journey.

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.

I use an inexpensive, thumb-size USB flash drive to store medical and insurance contacts, confirmation codes, credit card numbers, addresses, and phone numbers. It fits in a secure zip pocket in my travel purse. If I don't have my laptop, I can insert the flash drive in most hotel or Internet café computers. Some USB flash drives password-protect your data, or you can download a free encryption program.

Attach a few carabiners--the kind of clips rock climbers use--to the top of your wheeled suitcase. Purses, cameras, and shopping bags can be clipped to your suitcase, giving your hands and shoulders a rest while you're walking around the airport.

Before you buy expensive bottled water from your hotel room minibar, head to the fitness center. You'll be able to fill up an empty bottle at the gym's water cooler or fountain for free, and you don't need to break a sweat.

Lightweight, washable, and multifunctional, a cotton sarong is an easy and practical addition to every traveler's don't-leave-home-without-it bag! I've used mine as a swimsuit cover-up, as a picnic blanket on the grounds of a château in the Loire Valley, as a temporary skirt (over my shorts) in a Bangkok temple, and as an extra pillow while hiking the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's also handy as an airplane blanket, emergency towel, or tablecloth.

Put a few plastic trash bags in the outer pockets of your suitcases and carry-ons. If you arrive at your destination and it's raining, you can cover your luggage with the bags while you make your way to your hotel. Just cut a slit for handles or straps.

Before exchanging foreign currency at the airport, find out if there's a departure tax. At the Bangkok airport, we were very upset- as were travelers around us- to find we had to pay a fee before continuing to our gate. Unfortunately, by that point everyone had cashed in their baht, so the options were a conveniently located ATM, a credit card, or an exchange booth with notably poor rates. When we described this incident to friends, they told us of a similar experience when trying to leave the Dominican Republic.

If you're stranded overnight at an airport and receive a "distress rate" voucher, call the hotel of your choice before blindly following the airline's suggestion. You may find that for that discounted rate (or a few bucks more) you can stay in a hotel with a lot more amenities than the one the airline would put you in. After a long, mishap-filled trip, anyone can appreciate a really good mattress, a top-notch restaurant, and an indoor swimming pool.

It helps to have a calculator if you plan to do a lot of shopping in foreign markets. When you find something you like, hand the seller the calculator and ask him to enter his best price. It's easy to convert the response into dollars so you know what you're spending. If necessary, the calculator can be used to haggle, especially if you don't speak the language.

The middle seat isn't always awful. On a recent trip overseas, I called too late to confirm an aisle or window seat. After explaining the plane's AB-CDEFG-HI configuration, the customer service agent urged me to take the very middle seat, E, because D and F have less foot room. (In some rows, there are metal boxes underneath the seats in front of you that house wiring for onboard electronics.) I went along with her advice somewhat skeptically, but I ended up with plenty of room. The people on either side of me weren't so lucky.

When renting a car, photograph any damage the car may have before leaving the rental agency; a digital camera records the date and time of each picture. On a recent trip to Argentina, I rented a car with extensive paint damage. When I returned the car, the agency attempted to blame me for the scratches. I showed them my photographs, and they rescinded their accusations.

Paramedics now look for emergency contact information in victims' mobile phones. Store the word "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) in your address book, along with the name and number of the person you'd like emergency personnel to call on your behalf. (For more than one entry, use ICE1, ICE2, etc.) Tell your friends or family members that you've chosen them as your contacts and make sure they're aware of any medical conditions or allergies that could affect your treatment.

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.

My husband cut an old contact lens case in two and uses the halves to carry his medication when we're traveling. He prefers them to regular pillboxes because lens cases are watertight and compact enough to carry inside a shirt pocket.

Pack a couple of mountaineering carabiners. Clip one through the handle or strap of your bag and secure it to something solid wherever you may be (to a bench in the park or in a train station, to the railing of an overhead compartment on a bus, etc.).The carabiner adds a bit of security, especially if you're snoozing.

Even if you're staying at a standard resort hotel, take advantage of the day passes sold by many all-inclusive resorts (i.e., the right to use their facilities--such as swimming pools and beach chairs--and enjoy their meals for a day). The passes are primarily designed for cruise passengers on day trips but can be obtained by anyone for very little money. For persons staying in a less-expensive, no-frills hotel, it can give you the experience of a larger, more extensive resort for a day or two.

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.

If you're a woman traveling alone, or your accommodations don't inspire confidence, simply wedge a small rubber doorstop at the base of the door when you're inside the room. It'll be virtually impossible to open the door from the outside.

For the most comprehensive information regarding travel by train or by ship, check out seat61.com. I've found that the site has all sorts of helpful advice for Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Whenever I'm in a country where drinking or brushing my teeth with the tap water is a risk, I cover the faucet handles in my hotel bathroom with a towel. As a result, I never accidentally turn on the faucet when I'm half asleep.

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.

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!

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.

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.

When I called to book a hotel room in Budapest, I was offered a rate of $75 per night. After I told the concierge that I was looking for a room in the $35 range, he agreed to the lower price without much fuss. It sometimes pays to barter.