What $100 Buys in...San Miguel de Allende

There are tourists, there are travelers, and then there's Elizabeth Gilbert. The best-selling writer makes a nice living from turning simple vacations into transformative experiences. Now, with a new travelogue out, Committed, and an Eat, Pray, Love movie starring Julia Roberts on the way (opening August 13), Gilbert details how to get the most out of any trip—even if you've only got a week. The goal: to become part of a place rather than just pass through. How do you break from the tourist mold andimmerse yourself in a destination? Stay put. I've certainly done that exuberant, I-just-want-to-see-everything travel, where it's two days in Bologna, two days in Milan. But those kinds of experiences never made it into Eat, Pray, Love, mostly because I never met anybody. The memories that really stick with me involve making friends. I did that in Rome, where I got to know people over the course of months and really became part of their lives. But you could just as easily spend your week's vacation in one village. It's amazing how quickly you can become integrated if you try. So if you decide to stay put, how do you go about making friends? In Rome, I just put up a sign in a local Internet café that said, "Native English speaker looking for native Italian speakers for conversational practice." Not only did I receive free, really intensive Italian lessons, but I made four great friends who showed me the "real" Rome. How do you document your trips? When I'm traveling, I don't take pictures of scenery; better photographers than me have shot plenty, and you can find that stuff anywhere. I only take pictures of the people I become friends with. Also, I never sit down to write anything unless I have one person in mind to whom I am telling the story. It helps focus the piece. I wrote Committed to my novelist friend Ann Patchett. Is it possible to find an exotic escape without flying halfway around the world? Sure. I've recently become a huge fan of Atlantic City. Step a block from the boardwalk and there are all of these incredible restaurants and stores run by the immigrants who staff the city. My husband and I live about two hours away, and we visit once a month to buy spices and goat meat from this Pakistani guy. When you're in his shop, you sort of think to yourself, What country am I in? But you're right behind the Trump Taj Mahal. And what if you want to go farther for longer? I went down to Chile for my cousin's wedding last year. In the airport, I struck up a conversation with a couple from Vermont. They were living in Santiago for six months before setting out for the rest of South America. They were teachers with really lousy salaries, but they had been saving money for 10 years. People say they can't afford to travel. But if you circle a date on your calendar and make that your single, greatest priority, I guarantee you that you can. THE GILBERT GLOSSARY If eat equals Rome, pray equals India, and love equals Bali, what does drink mean? Or explore? drink vb Ireland "I have really happy memories of what feels like entire weeks spent in Irish pubs." save vb Southeast Asia "My husband and I lived on $15 to $20 a day for the entire 10 months that we were traveling there." play vb Southern France "For me, play is overeating, drinking a lot in the middle of the day, wandering through olive groves, and sampling amazing food covered in truffles—I consider that recreational!" explore vb Africa "Not just for me, but for centuries of Europeans. And it's still underexplored in a lot of ways—and misunderstood."

CHOOSE IT Five foolproof, USB-enabled video cameras for $200 or less. TOP VALUE Not only is the 2 ½-inch LCD screen on the Kodak Zi8 20 percent larger than that of comparable cameras, the smartphone-size unit comes packed with crowd-pleasing features like face detection for filming in a group and razor-sharp HD—at a price significantly less than its competition. kodak.com, $180. SMALL WONDER Slightly larger than a tube of ChapStick (and almost as light), the Easy Shot Clip is the minimalist's preferred device. Attach it to a belt buckle or a bike helmet, and you'll have hands-free coverage of any adventure. The trade-off? A gadget this tiny has no room for a screen. concordkeystone.com, $70. WORTHY UPGRADE At four inches tall and less than two inches thick, Sony's Bloggie MHS-CM5 is one of the smallest cameras at this price to feature a hinged screen—easier to use and normally reserved for cams twice the cost—and a 5x optical zoom, which makes zeroing in on those once-in-a-lifetime clips a breeze. sonystyle.com, $200. THE ORIGINAL Flip Video basically invented the under-$200 video camera, and of the five versions now offered, the original Ultra is still our favorite, thanks to its low price, intuitive controls, and easy uploading. theflip.com, from $150. THE PROFESSIONAL Creative made its name in stereo speakers, so it's no surprise that the company's Vado HD (3rd Gen) records crystal-clear audio. Add to that low-light sensitivity, crisp HD, and four gigs of internal memory, and you've got a power-packed machine—just about the size of a deck of cards. us.store.creative.com, $180. Keep It Short Of the most popular YouTube videos, 52 percent are between 3 and 5 minutes long, while the top eight viral videos highlighted on advice site webvideovirtuoso.com averaged 3 minutes and 55 seconds. SHOOT IT Expert tips to keep you aiming straight. TELL A STORY Every video should have a narrative arc, says Eric Lange, a director of photography for Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. For example, if you're taking a road trip, record your packing and prep, hijinks on the road, and, finally, a recap of the journey. TIME IT RIGHT According to Kevin Flay, a wildlife cameraman for BBC's Life series, prime filming times are right after sunrise and two hours before sunset. The light is perfect, the animals are out, and your kids are probably raring to go, anyway. CONDUCT INTERVIEWS A golden rule: Cameramen should not be narrators. Instead, recruit your travel companions to be video personalities, says Lange. Let them talk you through the sundae bar on your Caribbean cruise or the taxi ride through Times Square. USE ZOOM Boring footage is often a problem of perspective. Instead of remaining at a fixed focal length, Lange recommends that you practice zooming in from a wide angle to a close-up, or zooming out from a detail shot to the full scene. ACT AS A TRIPOD No matter how great the footage, camera shake is a deal breaker. To reduce wobble, keep your knees loose and your feet—and camera angle—wide. If you're filming one-handed, Lange suggests bracing your other arm across your chest for stability. BE PATIENT! Great shots take time. Flay spent two weeks observing Komodo dragons in the wild before capturing the animal attacking its prey; you can wait two minutes to line up a stunning clip of your Costa Rican jungle trek. Ride the Wave According to a recent study, the best time to upload on YouTube is between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. midweek—so your videos can be ready and waiting when lunchtime traffic hits its peak. CUT IT Have hours of footage? Time to get ruthless. GET WITH THE (RIGHT) PROGRAM Editing software has never been more user-friendly, but two programs rise above the rest: iMovie '09 for Macs (apple.com, free as part of iLife '09, $79 separately) and Avid's Pinnacle Studio HD for PCs (shop.avid.com, $50). Both make cutting segments simple, and they also have one-click features, including an image stabilizer that gives you the steady hand you wish you'd had. ADDRESS THE AUDIO Every movie needs a soundtrack, and both Studio HD and iMovie excel in this department. Studio HD comes with a tool kit of sound effects (animal noises, car horns), while iMovie lets you insert songs from your iTunes library. And both programs allow you to record a DIY voice-over. JAZZ IT UP EVEN MORE DreamWorks doesn't have a monopoly on special effects. With both iMovie and Studio HD, you can tweak colors (add sepia!), insert graphics like route maps, or tack on credits that roll out at the end. SHARE IT The only video-hosting sites worth your time (other than ours!). VIMEO Best for: Show-and-tell with family and friends This 6-year-old site, a granddaddy among its peers, is a favorite with serious videographers because of its HD capabilities and processing speed. It's also the best option for folks with more modest goals: for example, proving the fish you caught really was THAT BIG. The layout is cleaner than most, extra features optimize videos for viewing on pretty much all devices (cell phones, large-screen monitors, iPads), and privacy options block any unwanted eyeballs. Basic service is free but only allows one HD upload a week. Unlimited HD uploading costs $10 a month. vimeo.com. TRIPFILMS Best for: Contributing to a global video guidebook The more than 7,500 user-generated clips on Tripfilms detail everything from kayaking expeditions in Kailua Bay to street food in Seoul—and adding your experiences to the mix couldn't be easier. The straightforward interface lets you upload videos, write captions, and e-mail your finished pieces to friends, all in one step. There's no limit to how many posts you can make, and if the site's editors like your work, they may single you out for "TripVlogger" assignments to various spots—with Tripfilms picking up a portion of travel costs. tripfilms.com. ZOOM AND GO Best for: Giving your two cents on the places you've been Imagine a mashup between TripAdvisor and YouTube. On Zoom And Go, users have already contributed more than 14,000 hotel and destination video reviews—all vetted by the staff—and your three-minute clip could be among them. Users ("zoomers," as they are called on the site) can set up Facebook-style personal-profile pages to show off their videos, photos, and travel stories; meet other zoomers; and generate new friends in the process. zoomandgo.com.

THE TRAVELER Leon Logothetis, a London broker who jumped ship at the chance to work for the Discovery Channel show Destination Future. The experience inspired his own show, Amazing Adventures of a Nobody, which cataloged his super-frugal adventures from New York to L.A. and from Paris to Moscow. THE PLACE Logothetis isn't the first man to attract a following by traveling with a daily budget of $5. Arthur Frommer, creator of the Frommer's travel guides and Budget Travel magazine, wrote Europe on $5 a Day back in the late 1950s. But Logothetis has taken on that challenge in the 2000s, when $5 may not even buy you breakfast. During last year's winter holidays, with no TV crew around, Logothetis and a friend took a road trip in New Zealand, and they wound up in Havelock, amid the wineries and waterways of the South Island's northern tip. "We had just arrived by ferry from the North Island, and headed directly to Havelock to eat some mussels," he says. The town is known for its green-lipped mussels, which are superior in size and, many argue, in flavor to other mussel varieties. Logothetis favors The Mussel Pot, where diners sit around the fireplace on chilly evenings. "It bills itself as the world's premier mussel restaurant and doesn't disappoint," he says. Havelock, Logothetis discovered, has more going for it than mussels. The village—with less than 500 residents—sits at the head of the wide, startlingly clear Pelorus Sound, and a boat or kayak boarded at the marina leads to winding waterways where dolphins jump from the water and dark-green mountains jut steeply into the air around every turn. First populated by gold miners and timber workers, Havelock's tiny downtown is chockablock with cute two-story colonial buildings that now house galleries and restaurants. "Both the North and South Islands of New Zealand are filled with dreamlike scenery and picturesque little towns," says Logothetis. "But of all of them, Havelock is my favorite. It's just this little slice of heaven, with great food, super-friendly people, and an amazing setting." To experience the region's natural beauty at its best, Logothetis recommends kayaking or taking a water taxi from Havelock to the Nydia Track, as "beautiful and serene a walking trail that you can find," which leads to blissfully undeveloped beaches, as well as Te Mahoerangi, a remote ecolodge with cabins and dorm accommodations. THE DETAILS It's a 30-minute drive from Picton (where ferry service connects the North and South Islands) to Havelock or a five-hour drive from Christchurch; car rentals, budget.co.nz, from $40 a day; The Mussel Pot, themusselpot.co.nz, steamed mussels $12; Te Mahoerangi, nydiatrack.org.nz, cabin for two $65. Your turn! Have you discovered a place like these while traveling? Share your stories by posting a comment at the bottom of page 1: Binn, Switzerland.

THE TRAVELER Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, a Travel Channel series devoted to exploring local cuisines that keeps Zimmern globe trotting for about 30 weeks each year. THE PLACE When your specialty is bizarre food, your travels take you well beyond the world's slick capitals and posh restaurants. It's the off-the-beaten-path spots that hold the most promise for Zimmern. One of his recent favorites is the Westman Islands, off the south coast of Iceland. "Most people who go to Iceland stay in Reykjavík, and if they leave, it's to do a one-day excursion somewhere north of the city," he says. So naturally, when he set out to shoot a recent TV episode, Zimmern took his crew south. "I wanted to connect with the real Iceland," he says. When he landed on Heimaey, the only inhabited island in the wild volcanic archipelago, the first thing Zimmern noticed was the locals. "They look like they just stepped off a Norse boat!" he says. In fact, the 15 islands are named not for the Norse settlers but for the Irish they enslaved; the Norse referred to the Irish as Vestmenn, or Westmen. Heimaey's roughly 5,000 inhabitants are still mostly a mix of Norse and Celtic descendants. The principal industry is commercial fishing, and the wharf is lined with unassuming seafood restaurants. "They're packed during lunch and dinner," Zimmern says. "I'd walk down the row and pick a different one for each meal." The just-caught fish—cold-water species like cod and halibut—are usually prepared in a traditional European style, sautéed in brown butter. "In the States, cod gets kind of a bad rap," says Zimmern. "But here, it's the most pristine, beautiful, flaky white fish." Ever the adventurous traveler, Zimmern explored the islands by hitching rides with local fishermen. If a professional operation is more your speed, go with Viking Tours. The 90-minute ride circles Heimaey, yielding picture-perfect vistas of rugged sheer cliffs, with killer whales splashing offshore, plus a healthy population of puffins. Venture inside Klettshellur, a sea cave formed by crashing waves; a crew member will likely play a tune or two on a saxophone to demonstrate the dramatic acoustics. For a live music blowout, accompanied by bonfires, plan your visit for August's annual rollicking Westman Islands Festival. THE DETAILS It's a 20-minute flight from Reykjavík, but weather-related cancellations are common, icelandair.is, from $80 round trip. The more reliable ferry takes about three hours. It travels through open sea, so the ride can be rough, eimskip.com, one-way ticket from $21. Viking Tours, 011-354/4-88-4884, boattours.is, $38; Hótel Mamma Guesthouse, Vestmannabraut 25, 011-354/481-2900, from $125. One caveat: the recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano has dropped some ash on the islands, so this may not be the year to go. Your turn! Have you discovered a place like these while traveling? Share your stories by posting a comment at the bottom of page 1: Binn, Switzerland.