Volunteer vacations continue to grow in popularity. After all, they are a great way to experience local culture and also enjoy a rewarding volunteer experience helping others.

But while traditional volunteer vacations do not require special skills — other than a desire to help others — skilled volunteer vacations actually utilize the unique qualifications of individuals to ensure even more meaningful results for everyone involved.

As many vacationing fishermen know, it’s always the locals who know the best spots. But here’s how you can find them, too. There are now websites that offer hints on where to find the best fishing spots, based on everything from water temperature to water composition to time of year.

At Land Big Fish.com, well over 2,000 fishing spots are listed in the US and Canada. Plus, you can find links to guides and local fishing companies for further help. Fishing Map.com is pretty much what it sounds like: lists of fishing maps for hundreds of lakes and rivers in North America. And Angling Technologies.com not only offers free maps; it also encourages users …

I had four winter days to spend in Arizona, and I wanted sun and snow — diverse terrain in close proximity. I started in Tucson where, in January, the afternoon temperature peaked in the mid-70s, and enjoyed two blissful nights at the Tucson guest ranch Hacienda del Sol. I then made my way 90 miles southeast to Bisbee, a mountain town known once for copper mines, and now for art galleries. Shortly after I arrived, snow began to fall, and it fell steadily for most of my two-day stay.

Hacienda del Sol is a former girls’ school that catered to East Coast students and operated from 1929 to 1940. Later it became a …

Love that hotel coffeemaker or your in-room iron? Well, before you use any hotel appliance, read on to find out what you need to know. It’s no secret that some hotel rooms can be filthy. But some of the potentially dirtiest spots are ones you might not think of. For example, always check the inside of your hotel coffeemaker carefully, as people have found everything in them from methamphetamine residue to toilet paper to condoms.

And if you do find anything that’s particularly disgusting, insist on a new appliance, not just a cleaning. As for other appliances, before plugging anything in, like an iron or hair dryer, take a close look at the cord. Make sure there are no breaks …

If you’re like most travelers of a certain age, you’ve probably got boxes of vacation photos just lying around. Here’s how to take them into the digital age. Why not bring those old shoeboxes of vacation photos into the digital age?

Now there are services where it’s as easy as mailing in your old photos to receive a DVD containing your newly-digitized photos.

BritePix.com will scan up to 500 photos for 39 cents per picture, but ScanCafe.com will do up to 1,000 for just 27 cents and at a higher resolution.

Then there’s Scan My Photos.com, which will scan up to 1,000 photos for just 5 cents per picture. The drawback?

The scanned images may not be sharp enough to blow …

Most of us know to be on guard against hidden fees and charges when traveling, but some new car rental fees are being hidden extra well. Rental car companies are becoming famous for their extra fees, but some of the latest ones are sneaky even by their standards. While many companies now offer an E-Z Pass device for highway tolls, they will charge you for the privilege.

Avis and Budget charge $1.50 per day, while Hertz charges $2.50 per day, capped at $10 per week. But at Dollar and Thrity, it’s a staggering $8.50 per day. And that charge is for every day of the rental, regardless of how many days you use it. And it doesn’t include the tolls themselves, …

Dear Peter,

I heard you talking [the other day] about unsanitary conditions in hotel rooms. Very good.

I would like to point out to you another unsanitary condition that occurs in many hotel rooms I stay in, and it drives me crazy.

March 25, 2007

I just received this email:

[Dear Peter],

I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Unfortunately it ended badly, as we were among the 100,000 stranded by US Air in Philly. We spent all day Saturday at the Charleston Airport.

They finally put us on a flight to Philly at 4:30ish. They were crazy to do this since they must have known the chaos in Philadelphia.

When we arrived there, it felt like we had descended into hell.