Tips & Tricks

With summer vacation season approaching, the hunt for great travel deals has moved to the top of a lot of to-do lists. But as you're clicking around the Web for cheap flights and bargain hotel rooms, and crunching the numbers to see how much fling you can afford, don't forget to check for discounts that may be lying fallow behind the plastic in your wallet.

Recent images of a cruise ship limping back to port after an engine malfunction didn't do the cruise industry any favors heading into the summer vacation season. And cringe-worthy accounts from passengers who had to make do without power or working toilets for five days may have turned some travelers off cruising for good.

You know the types: the over-chatty seatmate, the pre-teen blasting LMFAO at full decibels through his headphones, the log-sawing snorer who doesn't realize he's depriving you of a good flight's sleep. Traveling often means finding yourself exposed to sounds, sights, and stomach-turning stenches you'd rather avoid. Here are a few tips on how to deal with common travel annoyances.

Security lines are one of the biggest headaches in airline travel. Queues are long, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is always changing the rules, and you never know how long it's going to take to cross that checkpoint and make it to the promised land.

In a lifetime of traveling the world for business and pleasure, Tom and Joanne O'Toole of Willoughby, Ohio, have learned to pack one essential item to ensure a pleasurable hotel stay: light bulbs.