When you arrive in a town in a country that's not your own, check out the local culture by heading for the grocery store.

You'll find more new food experiences than you would in a restaurant at half the price -- and you can still dine out!

For instance, on a trip to Denmark, we visited a village's grocery, looked at all the interesting foods, and bought some fabulous cheese, yogurt and smoked fish. We took it to a park and had the best lunch of our trip. (If you plan to do this, don't forget to throw some plastic cutlery in your suitcase!)

If you want to eat a better meal on your next long-haul flight, request a vegetarian (or kosher) meal when you book your tickets.

In addition to being fresher, the vegetarian and kosher meals on airlines -- which are often the same -- are often tastier than their meat-based meals. In addition, on U.S.-based flights, the meals often are less mixed together, making them easier to dissect/remove parts that don't appeal to you.

If you arrive late, ask if the hotel has a room for the physically challenged that has not been booked for the night. Many hotels will hold this room until late in the day -- but if it isn't booked by someone who needs it, they will release it to a latecomer.

These rooms are larger than regular rooms, with added space around the beds and in the bathroom to accommodate wheelchairs.

The benefit to the traveler is less of a feeling of being stuffed in a sardine tin.

No need to buy fancy vacuum-packed bags for space-saving packing. Use one gallon-sized Ziploc bag for underwear, another for bras, and another for socks.

Fold (or roll) the items and put them in the bags (I can fit a week's worth of each in one bag). When all items are in the bag, squeeze to force the air out, and zip it.

I put these in the lid portion of my suitcase, so security sees the bags clearly if they open my suitcase. Of course, an added benefit is that my things take up much less room than they otherwise would.