When taking a trip with multiple destinations, my wife, Patti, and I want any lost luggage to find us in the destination country.

For example, we flew to Lima, Peru, in May 2015 and inserted our names along with our hotel name and address into our luggage tags. From Lima to Cuzco, we inserted the name of a new hotel, and the same for our flight to La Paz and the trip back home. This way, if our luggage was lost, it was more likely to be delivered to our destination hotel.

On...

Many opportunities abound for doing "service travel" and making a difference somewhere in the world, often at minimal cost to the traveler. One example is the United Methodist Church's Primetimers Program (Atlanta, GA; 404/942-4015, www.umcmission.org/primetimers), which offers trips that combine education and service at very reasonable prices.

I also have led and participated in Volunteers in Mission trips through the United Methodist Church, visiting such diverse...

Typically, when Americans travel internationally, their wireless carrier will offer some version of a reasonably priced international roaming plan for voice, text and data. Often, these plans cover at least 140 countries, or about three-fourths of the world's nations. These plans are likely to include the countries on your itinerary.

As I learned the hard way several years ago in Jordan, always check in advance to confirm that every country you plan to visit is covered. Many of...