A Pool of One's Own

"Your kids are less likely to whine for the overpriced snacks and candy in the minibar if you bring along a few of their favorite treats and slip them in among the off off-limits goodies. (justJust make sure the unit does not have a sensor.) For years our kids, now grown, marveled at how the places we stayed always seemed to know exactly what they liked!" —Deborah Cloud, Fairfax, Va. Get more family-friendly travel tips right on your mobile phone! Scan our QR code, here, and then check back each month as we add more tips.

"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. We used to travel with a night-light but 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." —Carol Attar, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. Get more family-friendly travel tips right on your mobile phone! Scan our QR code, here, and then check back each month as we add more tips.

"Slip a scrunchie or ponytail holder through the handles of your family’s suitcase and pull one end through the other. The resulting loop is handy for holding an extra sweater or a teddy bear (just to make sure it’s secure!) as you and your family make your way around the airport." —Leonore Bourgeault, Belmar, N.J. Get more family-friendly travel tips right on your mobile phone! Scan our QR code, here, and then check back each month as we add more tips.

FOR CURRENCYThere are dozens of free currency-converter apps, but Oanda stands above them all for its reliability and depth of data. To calculate exchanges between more than 190 currencies, the app pulls from interbank market rates—what banks use when trading money. For even greater accuracy, the app also adjusts results to reflect the specific transaction type (credit card or cash) you select. Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone. Free. FOR LANGUAGEForeign-language mix-ups can make for some serious travel stress. iTranslate—basically a digital phrase book—comes to the rescue. The app includes 52 languages and translates faster than you can say, “Huh?” Just type in the perplexing phrase and iTranslate displays it back in your language of choice. (The app requires Internet access, but you can store key phrases for future Wi-Fi-free reference.) Android, iPad, iPhone. Free. FOR SIZINGClothing size is unreliable from label to label—and country to country. Now men and women can shop with confidence by using 3-month-old Convert Clothes. When you roll a dial to pick your U.S. size in four categories (clothes, shoes, pants, and bra), the app’s simple interface spits out the corresponding numbers for eight countries, including Japan and France. Whether anything will actually fit is another story. Android, iPad, iPhone. Free. FOR EVERYTHING ELSETraveling can seem like one long equation, from figuring out temperature (Celsius?) to assessing how much gas is left in your tank (liters?). Conversion-catchall Convertbot does the math for you. Spin a wheel to select one of 22 categories—time, speed, even data download size—then type in the amount. The app instantly converts the figure into the desired unit of measure. You’ll never go over the baggage limit in a foreign country again. iPad, iPhone. $2.   See more popular stories What Your Bank Won't Tell You About Currency Conversion Citibank and Chase Drop Foreign Exchange Fees on Some Cards 11 Places We'd Rather Be on a Wednesday