We have been traveling the last two winters, since we work in tourism and there is no work during that period. We visited several countries in Europe, the States, several countries in Asia and South Africa.

Maybe a known trick already, but what really helped us was unlocking your phone, this can be done starting at €5 or sometimes free by your provider. First thing we did when we landed in a place. Get a prepaid sim card with data and we had google maps, yelp and just google in our hand. This saved us a lot of time. Also when you call a hotel or car rental you call local, so it saves you also a lot of money.

Another great tool we discovered was EZ-Call. This app calls local and then dials the number from your contact list. Always great quality, especially since there is not everywhere great 3G service and with Skype there is often a bit of a delay in the conversation. Worth the try.