3 Great, Affordable Services for International Calls

What happens when your travel company happens to have the same name as one of the world's largest clothing retailers? Well, in the case of Gap Adventures versus Gap Inc., Gap Adventures ended up changing its name to G Adventures after losing a legal battle against the apparel giant and deciding to put an end to the courtroom warfare. Following a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Gap Inc. in which it was ruled that Gap Adventures had to change its name, Bruce Poon Tip, founder of Toronto-based Gap Adventures, said he just didn't have the energy to keep fighting Gap Inc. anymore. "We could have gone into 20 years of appeals if we wanted to. And we could have stayed Gap Adventures," Poon Tip said. "I just decided to stop fighting." In a June 24 decision in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled in favor of Gap Inc. on trademark infringement, noting that "Gap Adventures has used similar marks in commerce such that there is likelihood of confusion." Four days after the ruling, Poon Tip called the decision "unfounded," and said he would appeal. On Wednesday, he said the decision is still in the appeal process, but that the company decided to change its name anyways to put an end to legal proceedings that have cost more than $5 million. "They spent four times that. They didn’t beat us, they out-spent us," said Poon Tip, referring to Gap Inc. Once the decision was made to find a new name, Poon Tip said that the company invested heavily in brand research, but that "ultimately, we decided against all the names that we had tested … it was more of an emotional and internal decision in the end." Poon Tip said that the company looked at examples like the W hotels. "We wanted to do something innovative. We didn't want to be another travel name. It was a very tough and bold decision in the name. We wanted to own a space," he said. Regardless of what happens with the appeal, Poon Tip said he's sticking with the decision to be G Adventures, a name that will be implemented globally on Oct. 1. Poon Tip founded Gap Adventures in 1990, and the company has grown to more than 1,300 employees since. Its new website is Gadventures.com. More from Budget Travel: Green Day Incident Spurs Question: Should Airlines Enforce Dress Codes? Your Take: The Most Important Historic Places of the New Millennium Has Your Trip Ever been Saved by a Stranger?

When you’re shopping for the perfect point-and-shoot, don’t be fooled by flashy specs. In some cases, all you’re paying for is a number. Here are three key features to reconsider. DON’T MAX OUT ON MEGAPIXELS Even blown up to poster size, a 5 MP shot and its 16 MP counterpart can’t be distinguished by the human eye. Not only that, higher megapixel counts can actually work against you; they fill up your memory card faster, leaving you with fewer chances to frame just the right family portrait. A 5 MP to 8 MP model should suit average shutterbugs. FOCUS ON OPTICAL ZOOM Sure, the phrase digital zoom sounds high-tech, but it’s the optical zoom—a measure of how far the lens physically moves toward the subject—that determines the quality of an image. Always favor a more robust optical zoom (at least 3X) if you hope to land, say, sharp wildlife shots from the safety of your Jeep. INVEST IN ISO (WITHIN REASON) Candlelit restaurants and shadowy cathedrals pose challenges for point-and-shoot cameras. To make sure yours will perform well in low light, look for an ISO (or light-sensitivity rating) that goes up to 1600. Note: While there’s no real downside of having a higher ISO, anything above 1600 will be superfluous for most folks. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: 11 Fascinating Cameras Online Resource Guide: Gadgets, Gear and Travel Tech Touch-Screen Cameras

Leave dead batteries (and tangled cords) behind with these streamlined, portable power sources. 1 More Outlets, Less Mess No more forgetting your phone by that awkward plug under the hotel bed. The new AViiQ Portable Charging Station corrals all your devices inside a tidy nylon organizer and can charge three USB-equipped gadgets from a single wall socket. When it’s time to pack up, it zips into a slim 1.25" x 5" x 10.25" folder. aviiq.com, $80. 2 Power Now and Later Electronics tend to conk out at the most inconvenient times (during a hot-air balloon ride, say, or mid camel trek). That’s no problem for the pocket-size iGo Charge Anywhere. Just juice up before you leave the hotel room, then use it to boost your phone, camera, or MP3 player’s battery on the go—its replaceable tips fit dozens of devices. igo.com, $40 with one tip, extra tips from $8. 3 Let the Sun In It takes 13 hours for Samsonite’s Window Solar Charger to absorb enough rays for a full recharge, but you can start the process on the plane and finish up on the beach (or in a cafe or rental car). The 4" x 4" x .5" panel, from the luggage brand’s new travel technology line, fits most any mobile phone and has a built-in backup plan for cloudy days: a USB port for speedy, electricity-assisted charging. samsonite.com, $50, available in mid-October. 4 Extend Your Talk Time On the road, you’re more likely to use GPS-based features that strain a phone’s battery. Instead of trolling around for an outlet at every turn, outfit your handset with the PhoneSuit Elite Battery Case for iPhone 4. The compact case, with its built-in battery, can provide up to two more days of power or fully revive a dead battery in two hours—without adding bulk. phonesuit.com, $80. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Top 10 Hottest New Travel Gadgets Travelers Reveal What's in Their Bags Greyhound's New Low-Cost Buses, with Wi-Fi

Anyone can quickly book a cheap flight between U.S. cities. But when your travel plans are complicated, sometimes it helps to hand over research duties to an expert—for a fee. Here's a cheat sheet to a few travel services with great track records at helping travelers. Fortnighter, tailored itinerary-planning Let's say you want to know the basics about a destination you're visiting, but the information in guidebooks about the latest restaurants and shops may be out of date, and you don't have time to do much online research. Enter Fortnighter, which charges about $100 to $200, depending on the length and complexity of your trip, to provide a detailed cheat sheet planning your itinerary. The site posts a sample itinerary. These typically three or four page documents are written by a noted travel writer who has fresh, on-the-ground intelligence. Jetsetter's personalized itinerary-planning service Honeymoons are one example of a type of trip where you want everything to go perfectly, because, if a trip goes bad, people can start pointing fingers at each other. Why not shove off the planning responsibility into the hands of an expert. That's goal of the flash-sale site Jetsetter, which launched an itinerary-planning service this summer that's similar to what Fortnighter offers. Its contributors have written for major travel magazines and guidebooks and they usually live in the locations they're writing about, so they have up-to-date information. If Jetsetter were a coffee chain, it would be Starbucks, compared to Fortnighter, which would be like the independent Chicago coffee chain Intelligentsia. As with coffee, relying on a big corporate service has advantages and disadvantages. Cranky Concierge air travel planning assistance This digitally savvy update of the old-fashioned travel agency offers a team of concierges, who help you pick optimal flights and take action to re-route you in the event of an emergency cancels your flight (hurricane, etc.) They'll book your tickets, too, but it's not necessary—unlike traditional travel agents, they're not incentivized via commissions to steer you to a particular airline against your best interests. Cranky Concierge coverage varies in price by how many people are traveling and the complexity of the itinerary. For example, a family of four can pay $60 for round-trip for coverage that includes: finding child and infant fares if available; picking the best available seats (given your family's size and the ages of your kids); fielding your questions about airline rules for strollers, car seats, and breast milk; re-book your family in the event of a flight cancellation; and follow up with airlines in any dispute resolution, should something go amiss during your flights. Mygola for specific trip-planning questions Ask an expert to do online research for you to answer your specific travel question, and pay a tip. To ask more than one question for a trip, pay $30. Or buy a year's worth of access to asking questions for $90. Pluses: No forms to fill out, no sales pitches to wade through. The experts appear to be especially strong on recommending flights, hotels, and sightseeing jaunts in India and Asia. Note of caution: The theory is that you get what you pay for, with better answers when you pay, but how will you know if the answer is accurate unless you have something to compare it to? If time allows, ask your question in an online forum for free, first, on a site like Reddit, Lonely Planet's ThornTree, or MetaFilter. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Beware of fake "direct" flights One-tank escapes for seven cities Poll: Are quick trips abroad worth the travel time?