It's Okay to Eat Ice Cream Twice a Day and Other Savvy Travel Tips

3. Pay for the Guided Tour at the Entrance
It's tempting, if you're travelling on a tight budget, never to pay extra for a guided tour of anything. Admission prices to prime attractions can be steep enough. But outside almost every major tourist attraction, you'll find locals willing to act as unofficial guides. For a smaller-than-official fee, they will walk you through, pointing out the stuff you don't want to miss and then, when it's over, leave you alone.

I visited the Basilica of Born Jesus in Old Goa recently. I'd hired my own inexpensive taxi to get there and spent as much time as I wanted strolling through the historic Portuguese colonial buildings on my own. But when it came time to visit the most famous site in Old Goa, the Basilica, I said 'yes' to one of the local men standing outside the church doors offering un-official guide services. He was asking about 50p for the 20-minute tour. At the end I gave him one pound for it. (See Subrule c)

He told me how the stone floor was cut, where the wood for the pews came from, and about the annual Old Goa festival. He led me to the gold-and-glass casket on a high altar where the last mortal remains of the famous Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier are kept. He used a laser pointer to show me how you can look into the casket and see Xavier's actual body. Maybe it's grim that a centuries-old corpse is on view, but it's nice to have a friendly guide who, if you tell him it's grim, will laugh with you and say, 'Yes, many people say that. A strange religion.'

Subrule c: In Struggling Countries, Remember How Much a Little of Your Money Can Mean to a Local
Thirty lempira can seem like a lot of money when wadded up in your pocket in Honduras. But it's actually only worth 50p. In London, it buys you a newspaper. In Tegucigalpa it buys a family dinner for a week.