How have you kept expenses down while planning for international travel? I’ve found the following ideas useful:1) Money conversions. Generally, I’ve stayed away from travelers’ checks because I like to travel as simply as possible, and not all the places where I want to spend money will accept them. During one recent venture, my family found the cheapest place to exchange wasn’t at banks, but at our local AAA office (of course, take into account the cost of membership if you haven’t already got it). In the foreign country, though, I’ve found banks are usually the best option.2) Pack in travel-sized amounts. Michelle Snow at suite101.com recommends all sorts of ways to get mini toiletries while traveling. Hotel samples spring to mind, but some people from this article have refined this technique into an art.3) Use Ziplocs. I learned this trick from several well-seasoned traveling friends – pack clothes in 1-gallon Ziploc bags. Not only does this compress air out of your attire, but it keeps them relatively fresh and new.4) Go in groups, and consider off-season times such as the fall or winter months. Not only do groups provide companionship, but they also help you save on items that can be shared – for example, buying a cheap international cell phone to call home; sharing discounts on items bought in bulk; splitting the costs of staying in a hotel room; etc.5) Hone your haggling skills. This was perhaps my hardest lesson to learn overseas: many cultures consider bartering a way of life. Just one example: A hawker in Kenya told me a music CD cost 900 Kenyan shillings (about US$12.30). After several minutes of bargaining and being assured numerous times that I was beautiful (had I sported the face of a cow, I doubt it would have made much difference), he agreed to the offer of 420 shillings (about $5.70). I was informed later that he would probably have taken 200 shillings (about $2.70).So when I went to Greece a few months later, I experimented with offering a 10-euro note for six souvenirs that cost 2 euros each – technically speaking, a 12-euro cost. To my surprise, the Athens bazaar salesman accepted with such alacrity that I wondered, could I have gotten away with seven souvenirs?6) If brave enough, try do-it-yourself tours (or avoid prepackaged ones). We didn’t learn this trick until after we had paid for a prepackaged cruise. During the trip, we met an Australian couple who had joined the cruise without signing up with any travel company. They had to arrange their own transportation, but the time spent in research was probably offset by the money saved. (By the way, we chose Gate1 as a cheaper yet just as effective cruise package as the more expensive Insight Tours – we just had to wait for the Insight tour group to leave ahead of us). 7) Buy at supermarkets and out-of-the-way places. Bottled water cost 2 euros a liter at some tourist sites, but we discovered the same-sized bottles at 0.70 euros at a grocery store in Limassol, Cyprus. And if you see a hawker near the Acropolis in Athens selling 10 postcards for 1 euro (and you happen to want postcards), it’s a good deal! We found out too late that other places were selling postcards around 1 euro each.This is by no means an exhaustive list, and you could have even better ideas and insights. If so, please share them.