Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Dinner

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Serious skiers go to great lengths (and often out-of-bounds) to find steep, narrow chutes like the 70 at Kicking Horse, near Golden—all of which are within the resort's borders. For the less daring, there are plenty of intermediate options, such as the 700-acre Crystal Bowl—on its own as big as the average Vermont ski area. kickinghorseresort.com, lift tickets $67. Revelstoke Mountain Resort At 3 years old, B.C.'s newest ski destination is still largely a secret. It's so uncrowded you can park a stone's throw from the high-speed gondola that accesses the biggest vertical drop in North America: 5,620 feet. When Revelstoke's 15-year plan is completed (around 2022), the resort will encompass a whopping 10,000 skiable acres. revelstokemountainresort.com, lift tickets $68. Panorama Mountain Village Even with 4,000 feet of vertical rise (one of the highest in B.C.) and 2,847 acres of skiable terrain, Panorama, near Invermere, stands out most for its family-friendly amenities, like hot and cold soaking pools, and restaurants that double as entertainment. Our favorite: the old mining shack turned dining room in Paradise Basin that's accessible only by snowmobile. panoramaresort.com, lift tickets $68. Whitewater Ski Resort Once a gold boomtown, Nelson has a new claim to fame: its wealth of lakefront Victorian buildings, many housing art galleries, vegetarian restaurants, and tapas bars. Just outside of town, Whitewater's unpretentious ski area consists of a dirt parking lot, two lifts, a handle tow, and a small lodge. Its kitchen, the Fresh Tracks Café, has such a following that its cookbook (with recipes for dishes like whiskey smoked-salmon chowder) is a national best seller. skiwhitewater.com, lift tickets $52. Fernie Alpine Resort Fernie is what every manufactured ski town wishes it was: real. The former mining hamlet's streets are lined with century-old redbrick buildings, and the area is completely surrounded by glaciated Rocky Mountain peaks, creating a unique snowmaking microclimate that produces about 30 feet of powder each year. If a storm rolls in, consider splurging for a First Tracks pass to hit the slopes an hour before everyone else ($173 for up to five). skifernie.com, lift tickets $70.

As an editor at Mademoiselle and Jane magazines in New York City—and, later, as the global creative director of bag company LeSportsac—Elizabeth Kiester learned a thing or two about the fashion business. But when she decided to launch her own clothing line, it wasn't Paris, London, or Milan that she chose as her home base, but Siem Reap, the Cambodian town best known as the default stop for backpackers en route to Angkor Wat. Kiester first visited the country as part of a volunteer project in April 2008 and was so impressed that within six months of returning home, she decided to head back to Cambodia and settle in. "It was like a lightbulb went off for me," she recounts. Kiester's first boutique, Wanderlust, opened in fall 2008 in Siem Reap's Alley West. After a highly successful year, she unveiled a second location in Phnom Penh last month. Both stores sell her brightly colored, billowy cotton tops and dresses—perfect for braving the country's unrelenting heat (21 St. 240, Phnom Penh, wanderlustincambodia.com, dresses $60). Kiester is just one of the enterprising locals transforming these two Cambodian cities. In March, six Phnom Penh–based photographers cofounded Sa Sa Art Gallery, the country's first Cambodian-run collective of its kind; it organizes monthly shows by young Khmer artists (7 St. 360, sasaart.info). And Phnom Penh's hotel scene has gotten a splashy boost from the 16-room Quay Hotel, which combines high design (white-leather Arne Jacobsen chairs, limestone-tiled bathrooms) with community-minded initiatives like donating energy-efficient stoves to villages that typically rely on charcoal burners (277 Sisowath Quay, thequayhotel.com, doubles from $85). Chow, the hotel's restaurant and lounge, draws young professionals with its happy-hour watermelon-mint martinis (from $4). While many of Phnom Penh's developments are entirely new builds, in slower-paced Siem Reap, about 200 miles northwest, even the latest additions pay tribute to the past–appropriate, since the town lies in the shadow of ancient temples. Take the storied Hôtel de la Paix, first built in 1955 and reconstructed in 2005: Last year, it branched out with its satellite restaurant and wine bar Aha, about a five-minute walk away (The Passage, Old Market, hoteldelapaixangkor.com, entrées from $6). The restaurant's adventurous twists on regional dishes (green mango and dried snake salad) embody what makes this country's revitalization so special: a careful preservation of Cambodia's cultural heritage, enlivened with just the right amount of sizzle.

What's your best travel tip? Send us your tips, and if we publish one, you'll get a one-year subscription to Budget Travel (or a renewal). E-mail us at Tips@BudgetTravel.com. Best (Money-Saving) Tips Ever! Our newly reissued Smart Traveler's Passport has never been more relevant, thanks to its 133 savings ideas. Send us even more: If we illustrate your tip, you'll get a free book (and a year's subscription). The right stuff I used to bring a small pillow on flights, but it was always falling between the seat and the window, and I'd wake up with a stiff neck. Now I pack a camping stuff sack and fill it with soft things like a sweatshirt and an airline blanket to make sure it's big enough that it stays in place. Lisa Silverman, Valley Village, Calif. Savvy siblings Instead of being loyal to one airline, I always opt for the least expensive fare. But that makes it difficult for me to collect enough miles on one airline for a free ticket. So now my sister and I trade frequent-flier miles with each other. (Some reward programs let you donate your miles to a family member for a small fee.) Swapping miles gets us our free flights twice as fast. Helen Dimaras, Toronto, Ont. Thwart thieves When you're driving a rental car on vacation, buy a local newspaper and keep it on the dashboard or on one of the seats. Burglars often target tourists, but the paper will make your car look like it belongs to someone from the area. Judy Walcoff, Bloomington, Ind. No iron, no problem On our last trip, my husband and I discovered that you can use a hairdryer to remove wrinkles from clothes. Hold the nozzle a few inches from the fabric and move it back and forth slightly. The wrinkles will disappear in a few seconds. Dottie Gilberti, Prescott, Ariz. Easy money In France, ATMs sometimes distribute €50 notes, but many shopkeepers won't break them—especially when you're buying a €2 pastry. However, if you make sure your ATM withdrawals aren't divisible by 50, you'll get €20 notes. Fees add up, so you don't want to take out just €40 each time. Instead, request €130. Save the €50s for museum shops, which have no problem breaking large bills. Shelby Foster, Fremont, Calif. Toiletry hanger Cramped cruise-ship bathrooms don't always have enough towel bars or counter space for all my products, so I bring a quick-release suction cup with a hook and hang my toiletry bag from it. I bought mine at harborfreight.com for $2, and it holds up to 15 pounds. Charles Schmitter Jr., Wolverine Lake, Mich. What's in the bag? It's a good idea to keep a copy of your packing list with you when you travel. If the airline loses your luggage, the list will come in handy when you need to replace the contents. Holly Huhn, North Conway, N.H. Check, please On the last morning of a cruise, I noticed long lines of people holding their final statements and waiting at the main desk to challenge individual charges. Instead of leaving this until the last minute, ask for a printout of the bill a day or two before the end of the cruise. If there are any discrepancies, you can resolve them then, and you'll be able to kick back on your final day on the ship. Jack Sigano, Nutley, N.J. Clean sheets If you're planning a trip and will be staying in a questionable hotel, make a sleeping bag out of a king-size bedsheet and bring it with you. Just fold the sheet in half vertically and sew the bottom and two thirds of the side closed. Sara Trotta, Lockport, Ill. Laundry secret I often wash my clothes when I travel, but it's a pain to make room for both detergent and fabric softener in my suitcase. I now pack a few Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets in a Ziploc bag. You use one sheet per load, and it washes and softens clothes and eliminates static. Linda Strand, Corpus Christi, Tex. Diner's club If you have a great meal on vacation, ask the maître d' if the place has a sister restaurant with a different type of cuisine—you'll get the same owners, service, and quality. My wife and I did this in Buenos Aires and followed one fantastic dinner with another. Kevin Mullins, Newton, Mass.

Roll out driverless pods at airports Someday, driverless pods may be zipping passengers between an airport and its parking lots. Fully automated, pods are more convenient than shuttle buses driven by humans. Currently, 18 pods are being tested at London Heathrow's Terminal 5. They let you board when you want to, rather than wait for a bus on a fixed schedule. Punch in your destination, such as a parking lot, on a touch screen. Then leave the driving to the machine, which glides on rails at speeds of 25 mph. A bonus perk: The pods are battery powered, so they don't spew out environmentally destructive exhaust. Improve the design of coach seatsHong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airways has reinvented the economy-class seat: As the seat reclines, the bottom slides forward, but the back stays in place. So the passenger sitting behind doesn't have to endure a seat hovering inches from his or her chin. The new seats are especially welcome on long-distance hauls—which happen to be routes Cathay Pacific flies regularly. American Airlines is among the other carriers reportedly interested in installing similar, slide-forward seats. Try in-cabin mood lightingPoor cabin lighting on a long flight may worsen jet lag. For instance, exposure to bright light at an hour when you are ordinarily asleep can confuse your body's internal clock. But smart cabin lighting may actually help your body adjust to a new time zone—and beat back jet lag. Virgin America has an in-cabin lighting system that subtly shifts through 12 shades of violet, including a welcoming, bright blue-purple during the day, a softer violet hue after dusk, and a deep, calming near-black on red-eyes when it's time to sleep. Elsewhere in the world, Air Canada, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways offer mood lighting on many long-haul flights. Let passengers check bags before they get to the airportSchlepping your bags isn't fun. It's also not necessary—at least not in the many capital cities where you can drop checked luggage at bus or train stations and forget about it until you land at your destination. Many passengers can check bags at London's Paddington station (for Heathrow flights), Vienna's Wien Mitte station, Moscow's Kievsky Station, and Hong Kong Station. In the U.S., the best advance luggage-check option is at Walt Disney World: Guests staying at Disney lodging can check bags at their hotel before hopping on the free Magical Express ride to the Orlando airport. Ditch the paper boarding pass (once and for all)Boarding passes printed on flimsy paper seem almost as outdated as paper airline tickets. Now, cell phone check-in is allowed at many airports, such as Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles's LAX. Punch in your phone number at check-in and a bar code appears on your phone via e-mail or text message. Security officers and gate agents scan your phone's screen, making for an entirely paperless process. Some airlines, including American, Continental, and Delta (plus its sister unit, Northwest), plan to adopt the new technology at every airport gate nationwide. Give more power—sockets—to the peopleSometimes it's the simple things that count. Virgin America not only became the first airline to offer Wi-Fi on every flight, but it did so in an especially sensible way, with standard sockets (no adapter necessary) at every seat on the plane. Because while Wi-Fi is nice (even when there's a fee for it), it's even nicer to know that you won't run out of juice in the middle of a flight. Sockets obviously work with portable DVD players and cell phone chargers, too. Replace outmoded radar-tracking systemsRadar is outdated. Locating a plane's position can take up to half a minute, a long time when planes are traveling at speeds over 500 mph. To play it safe and avoid accidents, planes fly extremely far apart from each other. They also fly routes that zigzag rather than go straight. The reason? Aircraft need to remain within signal range of radar beacons, which are irregularly spaced around the country. To shave flight times—and improve safety—the FAA is rolling out NextGen, a GPS-based air traffic control system that provides real-time plane locations to pilots and air traffic controllers. Using GPS technology (already in trial use by Alaska Airlines), planes will be able to fly straighter, more efficient routes while maintaining a safe distance from other aircraft. But we may have to wait until 2025 to see this technology adopted nationwide. Sigh. Make upgrades easierWith most airlines, upgrading is an esoteric process that may involve loyalty program points, elite status, or just dumb luck. But when you check in at the airport for a Spirit Airlines flight, the kiosk presents a simpler formula. The screen may inform you that one of Spirit's Big Front Seats (the carrier's version of business class) is available for as little as $35 extra. The roomy seats are often dispensed on a first-come, first-served basis close to departure time. Depending on how you're feeling that day, you may very well decide that an upgrade to a more comfortable seat is money well spent.