This is the most ignored and underestimated factor in travelling. People think it is a waste of money and it is not needed for a few days' travel. However, expense of a few dollars is better than the expense of a few thousand if something unfortunate happens. Moreover, it is easily available through most of the credit card companies. In addition to medical expenses, evacuation and repatriation, you can also make a claim on your travel insurance in case of loss of checked-in baggage, delay in baggage, personal accident, loss of passport, trip delay or hijack.
This is a real steal, which is overlooked by most of the people. Not collecting airline miles and hotel points is like giving money to airlines and hotels in charity. The frequent flyer program is an incentive program operated by an airline to reward customers for their continued loyalty. As a traveller, you earn free miles for the miles that you fly on a particular airline. Many credit card companies partner with airlines to offer a co-branded credit card. In such cases, do all your purchases and payments through credit card, and make sure that the credit card gives bonus points for every payment made. If you are lucky, you can even get a Trans Atlantic Air ticket free.
Various travelling websites take commission from the hotels for their advertisement, so if you directly contact the hotels, they willingly give you good discounts. Before calling a hotel, just check their price online and negotiate for a bigger discount or ask them about their ongoing offers.
Asking local about the best food joints will surely guide you to a neat joint where you can find authentic local cuisine in reasonable rates. You can also use crowd-sourcing websites like Yelp, Foursquare, Time Out, or Open Rice when you travel. These sites are global sources of information where you can find top rated (by locals) restaurants around the world.
Airline ticket booking should be done neither too early nor too late. It should ideally be done about two to three months before departure, as airlines begin to start rising or lowering fares based on demand and competition. Moreover, if you are going to search flights over multiple days, search incognito (Ctrl+Shift+N) as booking websites and airlines use cookies to track behaviour and may jack up prices if they see you returning often.
