Today's travel tip.... carry (and use!) a phrasebook.

Sure, we Americans stick out like neon signs in Amish country, but that doesn't mean we can't try to blend in. Learn a few words ("1,2,3," "please," "thank you," "beer" and "bathroom" for starters) in the local dialect and you'll be amazed at how far you'll go.

Think about it - you're walking down the street, minding your own business, iPod in your ears and a fanny-pack-wearing, camera-clutching family stops you and starts yammering on in Farsi or something. You don't speak it, of course. And when you don't understand them, the family just starts yelling loud, making dramatic gestures until they're screaming and flailing all over the sidewalk.

Sound pleasant? Of course not...

Yet, why do we Americans insist on doing the same thing everywhere we go?

Sure, stammering out a coulple mispronounced phrases can be embarassing, but it gets you out of your comfort zone. Locals are usually impressed by your (meager) attemps to learn the language and will smile, correct a pronunciation and then respond in perfect English 75% of the time anyway.

And then, you've made the first step to making a new friend... all because you chose to show respect for the culture you're visiting, subtley acknowledged your outsider status and learned something new.

Now that's the only way to travel!

Oh, and pick up lines, while they are just as ineffective abroad, are still fun to learn anyway. And they remain a staple of my limited French... JAY VOO DRE VOUV-WAW CESS-SCHAW OH-LEE?

You'll thank me later. I promise.