I sure do like to travel. In my life plan, the most important elements to my existence are are family, health, happiness and travel. Fortunately for me I have been able to combine all of these elements in one big happy life package.

Here are five humerous but useful travel tips that I picked up over the last 2 decades from traveling around the globe. From the ruins of Machu Picchu to the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, as well as 40 of the 50 states, here are just a few of my long list of travel nuggets for local travel in the beautiful united states. I have accumulated these particular ones over the last 5 years, and best of all they don't cost a dime!

1. The Versatile Hotel Coffee Packets: While traveling in the Midwest, I almost suffocated in my economy rental car that smelled of dog and body odor. Out of desperation, I placed the coffee filter pack from my hotel on the dashboard hoping to act as perfume. To my surprise, not only did the car adopt the cozy aroma of ground coffee, the filter bags actually seemed to absorb the odors in about a day.

2. Getting Full Use of the Campfire: When camping in the Sonoran desert, we build a warm fire when the sun set to keep us warm while we ate our dinner. Remembering a story I read when I was a boy, I placed four medium sized river stones around the fire (not in the fire). When we were ready to go to bed, I wrapped each of the rocks in a bath towel. Please note that they were hot but not sizzling to the touch. To make a long story short, we all slept like warm babies with our little packages in our sleeping bags that night!

3. Customize Your Luggage: When the cheap plastic wheels broke on my suitcase, I decided to replace them with an old pair of Rollerblade wheels. My suitcase lasted another five years and the gliding of the wheels were so much smoother and quieter that I replaced all my other luggage wheels with them.

4. Put Your Library Tax Dollars to Use: I own a timeshare in Hawaii. One day I discovered that as a local property tax payer I qualified for a library card. I don't know if you have been to a library lately, but now when I am on vacation I can rent CDs and DVDs and best of all its closer than the nearest Blockbuster.

5. Let Technology Be Your Guide: If you want to get more detailed information on a desired destination, consult YouTube and Google. With YouTube you can find lots of people who post videos of their trip. This will give you a good feel for the true lay of the land rather than some post production masterpiece that was paid for by your resort. Use Google satellite to see what the actual terrain looks like and if your short walk to the beach requires crossing a four lane highway.