Love your mozzie net -- If you need a mosquito net, buy one that includes poles and sets up like a tent. (I use this Skeeter Defeater from Long Road Travel Supplies.) Hangable nets are useless when there’s nowhere to hang them.

Learn to Skype -- Skype, a free service that allows you to make calls over the Internet, is the cheapest way to call home. The drawback: for it to work well, you need a solid Internet connection, which can be hard to find in some developing countries. If you plan to Skype often, you may want to bring your own headset.

Be your own office assistant -- Create sticky labels with addresses of anyone who deserves to get a postcard. You won’t have to carry an address book, and you’ll know you sent all required postcards when the labels are gone.

Buy visas along the way. It takes a little planning, but buying a visa in the country adjacent to where you’re going is usually cheaper than buying it from home and requires less paperwork. Just make sure there’s an embassy for country #2 in country #1, lest you get stuck without one. Also remember to ask about multi-country visas, which also can save you money.

Cipro for the sicko. Convince your doctor to prescribe several doses of Cipro, or Ciproflaxin, an antibiotic that treats bacterial infections — pretty much anything that forces you to spend your entire day squatting over the toilet. Since travelers often suffer from stomach bugs in developing countries, it’s smart to have this drug handy. Bring Bacitracin ointment, too, and use it; even small cuts become easily infected when you’re not at home.

Make room for music. Ditch something in your pack so you can bring lightweight, portable speakers for your iPod. You’ll use them at hostels, on the beach, everywhere you want to share your music with others.

Wear your torch. Bring a headlamp and an extra set of batteries. You’ll use it on dark, unlit streets when the power goes out, in hostel dorm rooms when you want to read late at night and on late-night bush taxi trips.

Ask for the cheapest room. When checking into a hotel, ask if there’s a cheaper room. When they show it to you, ask if there’s anything cheaper. Since hotels make more money booking expensive rooms, they’ll sometimes place guests in, say, a double when all the client really needs is a single. Remember to ask whether there’s a dorm, too.

Look for books. Ask hostels whether they have a book exchange where you can leave a book you’ve already read and take one left by another traveler. If you’re always on the lookout for book swaps, you’ll never need to carry more than one book at a time.