Trattoria Heaven in Tuscany

Dancing the tango in Argentina takes more than just a command of the steps and some semblance of rhythm. You also need to understand the subtle signals that regulate life in a milonga, or tango hall, where tradition still holds great sway. With one misstep, you may kiss finding a partner good-bye. Partnering up The man always invites the woman to dance, but not verbally. Instead, he tries to catch his desired partner's eyes from across the room and nods, a move called a cabeceo. This allows a woman to avoid a man she doesn't want to dance with and saves the fragile male ego the humiliation of being turned down publicly. "Some even consider it a faux pas to walk over to a woman's table when she is not looking at you," says Julio Balmaceda, a tango dancer and instructor in Buenos Aires. Switching it up After a woman accepts a man's cabeceo with a nod or a smile, they meet on the dance floor. A tango at a milonga is essentially a 12-minute date—pairs usually start dancing at the beginning of a three-to-four-song set called a tanda and then switch partners during the musical interludes that separate the sets. Breaking off a dance in the middle of a tanda is considered an insult. A pair who dance together for three tandas in a row are proclaiming themselves off-limits to other prospective partners. "Unless you want to dance with the woman you came with all night, you have to make signals to other men that it's all right to ask her to dance—by dancing with other women yourself or sitting at separate tables, for example," says Marina Palmer, author of Kiss & Tango: Diary of a Dancehall Seductress. Dressing up Sneakers and jeans are acceptable at some informal dance halls, but at traditional milongas, men wear suits and dress shoes and women opt for clingy dresses and spiky heels. "People with beat-up shoes don't get asked to dance—it's similar to smelling bad or having stained clothes," says Alicia Muñiz, co-owner of the Buenos Aires tango shoe store Comme Il Faut. Manning up With so many people sharing such a tight space, collisions are inevitable—especially when men go against code and lead their partners the wrong way (the right way is counterclockwise, around the floor). Other times, accidents happen when a man leads his partner into showy kicks or spins—a crowded milonga no-no. If two couples bump into each other, the man who caused the collision is expected to extend a verbal apology to the offended couple. But the golden rule of tango is the less chitchat, the better. "If you or your partner makes a mistake, stumbles, or steps on the other's toes, try to ignore it and go on as if nothing happened," says Palmer. "The idea is to hang on to the moment and the intense communion between two dancing souls. If you start apologizing too much, the spell is broken." WHERE TO TANGO If you want more than a tourist-friendly tango show, here are three authentic Buenos Aires milongas. Don't plan on arriving before 11 p.m. Salón Canning Informal dances are held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, drawing a young crowd. Jeans and sneakers are OK. 1331 Scalabrini Ortiz, 011-54/11-4832-6753, parakultural.com.ar, $6 cover. Niño Bien Thursday is the big night at this belle epoque dance hall. It attracts an older, more classically dressed crowd. 1462 Humberto I, 011-54/911-4147-8687, $5 cover. La Calesita On Saturdays in the summer, residents in the Nuñez neighborhood throw an outdoor party that combines two Argentine favorites: tango and barbecued steak. 1350 Avenida Comodoro Rivadavia, 011-54/11-4743-3631, $4 cover.

At a London restaurant three years ago, Olivia Giovetti, a Los Angeles writer with a severe allergy to hazelnuts, asked if the crepes on the menu were made with Nutella. The waiter assured her it was chocolate—but he was wrong. "Thankfully, I had an EpiPen with me," says Giovetti. The pen came in handy, but still. Who wants to have to go to those lengths? And imagine if there were a language barrier on top of it all. Giovetti took one big lesson from her experience: Double-check with the chef! Here are four other pointers to help you eat with abandon, wherever you plan on going. Bone up on the local food Before you leave home, create a menu of simple—and safe—dishes you can order abroad (your favorite ethnic restaurant may be able to help you out). If you're going on a tour, ask the operator about regional differences in the food that may affect you. Chat rooms on food websites are also a good source for information. Giovetti says she has posted questions on chow.com before several trips and received helpful advice from other travelers on specific dishes to avoid. Get carded Be sure to carry a note card that clearly states, in the language of the country you're visiting, what foods you can't eat. Showing this to the waitstaff at a restaurant will save you the trouble of trying to explain your restrictions. You can order the cards in about 30 languages at selectwisely.com (from $6.50) and allergytranslation.com ($7.50). Make a flight plan As long as you give them advance warning, many airlines will cater to your particular allergy needs by preparing special meals, such as ones that are gluten- or lactose-free. But then, there's also the potential danger of the free bags of peanuts. Carly Goldberg, a student in New York who is allergic to nuts, offers to buy her seatmates a drink if they agree to pass up their peanuts. "Most people are pretty receptive to it," she says. Beat the dinner crowd Eating out at off times will ensure that waiters will be able to focus more attention on your needs. Calling ahead also gives restaurants more time to prepare, especially if they need to make changes to a dish. And if you feel like you're still not getting through to the waiter when you're ordering, go straight to the source: "You need to talk to the people in the kitchen," says Kellie Schmitt, a journalist living in China who is allergic to pine nuts. "They're the only ones who know exactly what's in each dish."

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!