Los Angeles can be daunting, even for longtime residents. As an Angelino, I picked up some handy tips from an LA Times article called "How to park for free at LAX and other life hacks from L.A. locals." The free parking at LAX tip wasn't much use to me — motorcycles park for free. I no longer ride a motorcycle. But learning I can park my car in loading zones after 6pm and on Sundays was a surprise. — MF

My chief go-to guide for Europe is Rick Steves, who has made yearly trips to Europe over 40 years, and personally updates his guides. I trust his advice for anywhere in Europe and found him incredibly reliable in his details. He’ll not only tell you where to go, but also what window to get the ticket the fastest, and when is the best time of day to visit, etc. Most important, he will guide you to the best experiences – the evensong choir at the church, the cheesemaking place with samples, the back entrance to the museum, etc. Standard guides like Lonely Planet or Fodors are obliged to cover the whole country, while Steves smartly just directs you to the selected best. I have all the Rick Steves’ guides, and keep them updated. I find it very worthwhile to optimize my travel by buying the latest edition for a relatively small price compared to the cost of the trip. For a good example try Rick Steves’ Best of Europe (2024). — KK

Japan is not as expensive to travel in as many believe. This excellent video guide to budget travel in Japan is very relevant now that the yen is so cheap. How Expensive is it to Travel in Japan? Is a 30-minute YouTube video by a British Guy, Abroad in Japan, and he covers all the tricks of cheap Japan travel that I know. — KK

I still buy travel guide books. But in addition to them, I find the most useful, the most up-to-date, and most interesting travel advice is found in the Rick Steves’ Travel Forums. I find these forums to be more reliable than either Trip Advisor or Reddit, with a very high signal to noise ratio. Usually there is a narrow topic already in process for what I am looking for (say, seeking a personal driver in Crete, or whether a particular border post is opened, or the best place to rent a car in Poland), and if not, then I can make that question to ask. The big downside: they only cover Europe. (There is one thread for the rest of the world, which is good, but not organized.) — KK

If you need to renew your US passport there is a pilot program to renew it online, but you’ll need 8 weeks to process it. Mailing it in is currently faster. But if you are not comfortable mailing your passport, consider this official state department beta program Renewal Online, which only accepts a limited number of applicants per day. (Thanks for the tip from our sister newsletter, Nomadico – written for people who work while they travel.) — KK

I just completed a six-day walk across the island of Bali. We carried only day packs and our luggage was forwarded each day. We walked roughly 77 km from Ubud, up to the volcanoes in the center of the island, and then finished on the north coast. We had two guides to lead the way through the rice terraces, and we slept in local villages, Balinese style along the way. I highly recommend the organizers, who charge only $500 for the whole trip, including all the vegetarian meals along the way. This is miles off the tourist, or even backpacker, tracks. The hosts, Astungkara Way, also offer a 10-day version which goes coast to coast. — KK

I love this visual guide that shows the best months to visit all U.S. national parks. It's easy to read and will hopefully take the guesswork out of planning your next outdoor adventure. Here is the accompanying blog post about the criteria used to determine the “best” times to visit each park. The creator considered factors like historical visitor statistics, seasonal weather, road and trail closures, and even special annual events like bat flights and wildflower blooms. — CD 

Close.city is an interactive map designed to help you find neighborhoods in the United States that are within a short walking distance of amenities like supermarkets, public transportation, cafes, co-working spaces, bookstores, and other facilities. It's useful when searching for a hotel, Airbnb, or apartment that's near the kinds of places that are important to you — MF

I am about to leave on a walk-and-talk, which is a week-long moving salon. A group of 10 people walk 100km in a week, while in conversation, including a 3-hour conversation each evening dedicated to one topic, suggested by the participants. Craig Mod and I have been running these in many countries to great success and we wrote up all we know in 21 pages so you could host one yourself, with your own group of friends. Free PDF, at How to Walk and Talk. — KK

You could not pay me enough money to get onto one of those mega cruise boats, with multi thousands of passengers. However it turns out that small boat cruises are one of the best ways to do a vacation. I define small as less than 40 passengers, and ideally less than 25. You are on a floating hotel with meals so the everyday hassles of moving each night are removed. A small boat can debark and embark very quickly and visit many smaller places (villages and wilderness) that a huge boat cannot. You make your own entertainment: They encourage very active days, dropping you off to hike, canoe, bike, walk, snorkel, or kayak in the morning; you return for lunch and then repeat in the afternoon. They avoid shopping ports. Of course, the per person rate is higher for a small vessel, but we’ve found the difference very much worthwhile, as these have become our favorite vacations. A few of the tours that are 5-7 days long that we are familiar with are below. 

Galapagos — The boats sail at night. Every morning you wake up to a brand new island with a brand new biome. Lots of snorkeling and hiking with naturalists. We used Happy Gringos. 

Inland Passageway, Alaska — Head north through the calm inland sea, visiting glacier strewn fjords, wildlife close up, and native American islands. Kayaking, too. We used Alaskan Dreams. 

Mekong River — Sail from Siem Reap (and its Angor Wat) in Cambodia, all the way downstream to Ho Chi Min City on the coast of south Vietnam, with bicycle excursions along the way. Mark used Aqua Expeditions.

Turquoise Coast, Turkey — Join a gulet sailboat long the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, stopping at ancient Greek ruins, Turkish villages and swimming coves. These cruises have become very popular with party versions for young adults. I don’t remember who we used but try, Sail and Stay.

Superficially, large cruise boats claim to follow similar routes, but trust me, small boat cruises are a different species well worth your time. — KK

Tip: When charging your phone on the go in a cafe, lounge, hotel, or friend’s house, place something large like your backpack or purse or coat RIGHT NEXT to the charger. You are far less likely to leave two things behind, and therefore less likely to forget the charger. — KK

PamPam lets you create custom maps in minutes and it’s fun to use! I was able to quickly search for and add points of interest by simply describing them to an AI. Then, I customized them with stickers and text. It feels very playful. For an even faster map-making experience, you can copy and paste text or a link to a list of places. PamPam is free for personal use and that includes 5 maps, 100 spots, and up to 500 views per month. I decided to test it out by making a nostalgic map of my hometown in under 5 minutes, and here's what I created. If you're unable to view it, it's probably because I have a free account and I've reached the limit of 500 views. However, you can check out the templates here. — CD

Our sister newsletter, Nomadico, serves people who work while they travel, or who work in temporary homes in far away places – such as digital nomads. Its editor, Tim Leffel, keeps tabs on the cheapest places to live around the world, and once a year he writes up his rankings and recommendations of where the best bargains are, for short visits or months’ long stays. His “The Cheapest Places to Live in the World in 2024” is deeply researched and well presented. — KK 

Japan is open to tourists again. Despite its reputation, Japan can be one of the cheaper developed places to travel in. Currently their exchange rate per dollar is the highest it has been in many decades. This 11-minute video by Abroad in Japan will give you all the concrete details on how to travel in Japan with minimal money. It was posted 6 years ago, but the info is still valid. — KK

Mini Tokyo 3D is a website that displays a cartoon-like view of the worlds’ most populous city. It shows where trains are, represented by moving blocks. It also has links to live webcams throughout the city, so you can take a closer look at what’s happening in different areas. — MF

If you need to wash and dry clothes while traveling, here’s a drying tip from Jono Hey’s excellent Sketchplanations newsletter. First, wash your garment in the hotel sink. Then, lay it flat on a towel, roll the towel up tightly, and wring it out. After that, remove the garment and drape it over the towel rack to dry.  “With any luck,”  writes Jono, “your underwear will be wearable again in the morning. And if it's not quite there, there's often a hair dryer to help finish off.” — MF

Visit AirPano to watch 360 videos of beautiful places on Earth, from Tokyo’s Shibuya Scramble pedestrian crossing (the busiest in the world), to a village of the Warao Indigenous people on the Orinoco River in Venezuela. My travel bucket list grew after watching some of these videos. — MF

U.S. passport holders are allowed to visit countries in the Schengen area (which comprises most of Europe) for up to 90 days in a 180 day period. That can become tricky to calculate for digital nomads and other frequent travelers, but a free iPhone app called the Schengen Calculator makes it easy to see how many days you have remaining. Schengen Calculator Free is a similar app for Android. — MF

Our sister newsletter, Nomadico (free), delivers four tips weekly to folks who work while they travel or travel while they work. Nomadico is written by Tim Leffel, who runs the Cheapest Destination Blog, and is author of the constantly updated book, The World’s Cheapest Destinations, now in its fifth edition. The premise behind the blog and book is that you can travel at a higher level, or for twice as long, or for half the price by heading to cheaper destinations. Because of complex factors including monetary exchange rates, these cheaper destinations can often offer extremely high quality experiences, so they are a real bargain. Tim keeps up with the latest news, addresses lingering concerns, and knows the latest bargain places. — KK

The idea of a cruise has been ruined by mega-ships carrying 5,000 passengers. You could not pay me enough to get on one of those. But the fundamental idea of going on a journey that returns to the same bedroom each night while pulling right up to that day’s destination is pretty awesome – and entirely doable. The secret is to sign up for a very small-boat cruise, the smaller the better. Ideally 12-20 passengers, or a maximum of 40. Instead of round the clock entertainment and food, a small boat can land at tiny villages, or wilderness places that a mega boat can’t get to, deboard instantly (instead of hours), and let you kayak and snorkel or fish right off the back. The best small boat cruises are design to maximize outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking during the day, instead of shopping in port cities. We’ve had great small-boat cruise experiences in the Galapagos, the Turkish coast, and recently Alaska. Yes, small boats are more expensive per day, but since they include transportation, lodging and meals, they are very much worthwhile every now and then. We had a fantastic journey on this 9-day Alaskan Dream Inside Passage Sojourn visiting small Alaskan towns, a native American village, and glaciers that big boats can’t get to. — KK