Recipe for Wellness

PANORAMA OR STITCH-ASSIST MODE What it does Creates a panorama of a landscape out of a series of pictures. How After you take a photo of a scene, the image remains on your camera's LCD screen, enabling you to line up the next picture perfectly. Then, when you've taken all your shots and downloaded them to your computer, you can use an editing program like Photoshop Elements to "stitch" them all together. Tips Place your camera on a tripod to ensure that your photos are uniform. And avoid shooting scenes with moving objects. You don't want to see the same jogger running through different segments. FILL FLASH What it does Improves how subjects are lit in daytime photos. How A flash fills in the shadows that are created by bright, directional sunlight to give people and things a more natural, even appearance. The extra burst of light also makes colors look more vibrant. Tips There's a chance the flash could cause your pictures to come out overexposed. To counter that, some higher-end cameras have a soft-flash setting. Otherwise, hold a white tissue over the flash to lessen the light. LANDSCAPE MODE What it does Makes everything in a scenic photograph—from nearby trees to mountains in the distance—look equally sharp. How The size of the opening in the lens, known as the aperture, is reduced to let light into the camera from different distances. This creates an even focus across the entire image. Tips The setting is useful for more than just landscapes—you can also use it when photographing a large crowd of people. MACRO MODE What it does Focuses on smaller objects at an extremely close range. How In this mode, you can bring the camera to within inches of a flower, an insect, or a seashell and completely fill the frame with it. The camera then adjusts the focus to allow you to capture the fine details you can't normally get in automatic mode. Tips Make sure you set your camera on a pocket tripod or a flat surface—even slight hand movements will lead to blurry images. If you're shooting a flower or a leaf outside, do it on a day with little or no wind. HIGH ISO SETTING What it does Makes it possible to take well-focused pictures of fast-moving objects in dim lighting without using a flash. How Your camera selects the appropriate ISO setting in automatic mode. If you want to set it yourself, switch to manual mode and choose from an ISO range that usually runs from 100 to 1600. Higher ISO settings enable the camera to have a quicker shutter speed in low light, which increases the odds of getting a sharp image. Tips High ISO settings may cause your photographs to appear slightly grainy. It's best to start at an ISO of 400 and work your way up from there. LONG EXPOSURE What it does Enables you to take photos at night without a flash. How A long exposure keeps the shutter open for an extended period of time to let enough light into the camera to capture the image. If you can manually set the shutter speed, start with a speed of 1?30 of a second or slower, and then adjust the setting depending on how light or dark your shot comes out. Tips Leaving the shutter open allows for other cool effects. For example, if you're shooting moving objects, such as cars, you'll get light streaks across your picture. Whatever you photograph, you should also use a tripod, or your image is bound to be out of focus. SLOW-SYNC FLASH What it does Illuminates both foreground and background elements in low-light photos. How By combining a flash with a long exposure, this setting creates a fuller picture than when you use a flash alone. If you take a photo in dim light using just a flash, only your subject in the foreground is lit up—the background usually remains dark. But when you set your camera on slow-sync flash, the shutter stays open long enough to brighten the background, making everything behind your subject visible. Tips Again, using a tripod will help ensure that the background is as sharply focused as whatever is in the foreground. Slow sync is found in most cameras' flash menu options, indicated with a lightning bolt next to the word slow or the letter s.

Allow me to reintroduce myself. I worked at Budget Travel for about two years, two years ago. And after a detour into the land of luxury travel magazines, I'm thrilled to be back with the savviest travelers out there. You don't need me to tell you that Budget Travel is a special place. And the magazine's mission—making travel accessible to all—simply couldn't be more relevant right now. When the daily headlines blare bad news, finding a way to get out into the world and recharge is just plain vital. After a hectic summer of our own, my husband and I drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I've done the route countless times, but Highway 1 still wows me. Unlike a recent vacation we took to Vietnam, this adventure didn't require visas, immunizations, or phrase books—just a rental car and a couple hotel reservations. We tooled along, stopping for snacks, photo ops, and frequent bathroom breaks (yes, as you can tell in the photo, I'm pregnant). There was no rush; we just wanted to take in the beauty of the cliffs and the water—and eat at least two tacos a day. While Budget Travel will continue to point you toward just these kinds of sure-thing trips, we're also making some changes. But don't worry! We'll be keeping those sections you love, including your off-the-wall True Stories, your handy 20 Tips, and those useful 40 Best Deals. Starting in this issue, we're doing away with the This Just In columns in the front of the magazine. The fact is, our blog on BudgetTravel.com, also called This Just In, beats us to the punch, just as it should. One of the things I missed most about Budget Travel was the dialogue between you, the reader, and us, the editors. So please don't be shy; I can't wait to hear what you think!

Train ticket $11 Service from Bangkok's Hua Lamphong Railway Station to Hua Hin costs about 382 baht ($11) for a plush, air-conditioned car (011-66/2222-0175, railway.co.th). The four-hour ride passes rice paddies and ornate yellow-and-red Buddhist temples before dropping you off at Hua Hin's 1920s art deco train station. Beach hotel $21 The four-story Patchara House is only a minute's walk from the surf, at the end of a quiet, residential lane. The larger rooms on the top floor—up a very narrow staircase—have panoramic views of the town, and the in-room kitchenettes are stocked with complimentary coconut juice (011-66/3251-1787). Horse tour $7 Jet Skis and speedboats aren't a common sight in the calm waters around Hua Hin, but you'll see plenty of horses on the three-mile-long beach. You can hire a horse and a guide at the entrance to the beach for $7 per half hour; more experienced riders can ask to be taken on a gallop in the surf. Spicy fish $7 Around lunchtime, stroll to the end of the pier and watch the fishermen unload the day's catch and deliver it by creaky cart to Hua Hin's dockside restaurants. Ketsarin serves a delicious fillet of grouper cooked in a fiery sauce of chili, lemongrass, and galanga, a pungent Asian ginger (011-66/3251-1339). Beach free The ultrafine, cream-colored sand feels like powdered sugar. Even the waves are pretty sweet, rarely exceeding two feet, which is perfect for bodysurfing. But be careful of the boulders (hin means "rock") that jut out of the water just off shore. Tuk-tuk ride $6 Hail a tuk-tuk, a rickshaw with a plastic roof, to take you to Khao Takiap (Chopstick Hill) at the southern tip of the beach. The Wat Khao Takiap temple, also known as Monkey Mountain, has views of the coast and a resident group of wily macaques that hang out along the paths. Vendors sell bags of chunk pineapple and mango, which the monkeys love to snatch from tourists. Satay stick 7¢ Hua Hin's night market, a two-block stretch of food stalls and purveyors of various Thai handicrafts, opens around dusk and closes at midnight. You can buy fresh grilled fish, satay skewers, and pad thai with a made-to-order level of spiciness.

$24 Necklace The shell of the local abalone, paua, is swirled with dark opalescent bands. This pendant's fishhook shape pays homage to the strong ties that the indigenous Maori have to the sea. Jade Factory, 22 Beach St., 011-64/3-442-8688. $17 Socks There's plenty of fine merino wool produced in the country, but a less expected luxury fiber comes from the brushtail possum. Kiwi South Knitwear sells socks, hats, and gloves made from the brushtail's downy fur. 38 The Mall, 011-64/3-442-7887. $3 Fishing lure Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, which is fed by glacial rivers and teeming with trout and salmon. The vibrant, metallic spinners in stock at Outside Sports are popular with local anglers. 36-38 Shotover St., 011-64/3-441-0074, outsidesports.co.nz. $20 Wine Henry van Asch, who cofounded the Kiwi sport of bungee jumping, also owns Freefall Wine Company. One of his vineyards overlooks Kawarau Gorge, where thousands take the plunge each year. 011-64/3-442-7310, freefallwines.com. $6 Skin cream Fact: Sheep farmers have soft hands. The secret is the nourishing lanolin in the sheep's wool—a key ingredient in the High Country Lanolin Intensive Cream sold at Mary's Sheep. 27 Beach St., 011-64/3-441-2989. $6 Lollipops Bees that buzz around native manuka plants make honey with antibacterial benefits. These lollipops have a UMF (unique manuka factor) of 10, so they work wonders for a sore throat. Queenstown Health & Sport Nutrition, 18 Camp St., 011-64/3-409-2974. $7 Salad tongs For the Maori, the hei-tiki is a symbol of good luck, and objects bearing the glyph are traditionally carved from vibrant greenstone. In the Pink sells kitschy plastic salad servers adorned with the motif. 31 Camp St., 011-64/3-441-1525, inthepink.co.nz.