Tips & Tricks

Do you know the appropriate amounts to tip while traveling? You can now.

For all its wonders and delights, travel also can be stressful. Even experienced travelers may have a sleepless night before a trip (oh those restless dreams of missed flights and lost luggage), or find themselves halfway through an adventure feeling a little wistful for their own bed and familiar food.

Don't get us wrong: We love a good guidebook. But when it comes to finding under-the-radar travel spots-the little seafood joint with no sign that was the highlight of your Caribbean trip or the candle-lit hut in Austria where you sipped mulled wine with the locals after sled runs under the stars-you usually have to dig deeper than the official editor-approved must-do's. Here are a few ways to go about unearthing travel tips that will really make your vacation one to remember.

Maybe your sister wants to split a summer shore house. Or your college buddy is mounting a 30th-birthday expedition to Burning Man. Celebration vacations – any birthday that is divisible by 5 – and multigenerational gatherings are on the rise in 2013, says travel analyst Peter Yesawich of MMGY Global. With more people teaming up to split costs and create memories, chances are high that you'll be involved in a group trip sooner or later.